IN 2008 THE MAJOR EVENT IN THE REGION WAS THE VISIT OF TURKISH PRESIDENT TO YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.12.2008 GMT+04:00

Towards the end of the current year we all witnessed the unprecedented
venture of Turkish intellectuals "Armenians, we apologize" which
once again proved the reluctance of Turks to reconcile themselves to
their own history, as well as showed the profound hatred that Turkish
society feels for Armenians.

The year of 2008 was also a time of reformatting the South Caucasus
Region. After the "five-day" war of Georgia against South Ossetia
it became clear that new division lines were to be outlined in the
region. No doubt unwilling to do it himself, President of Georgia made
a "regal" present to RF that had long been waiting for an opportunity
to gain revenge against the USA for the too profound an interference
it had in the solution of Caucasus problems. The result was a much
more chaotic bedlam in which even the most Â"skillfulÂ" states were
unable to "catch a fish".

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ But let us review the events one at a time. In 2008
elections were held in three South Caucasus countries, Russia and
the USA. On January 5 presidential elections were held in Georgia,
and on November 4 in the USA. Rather many events occurred between
these two dates, and some of them were fairly unpredictable. On
February 17 the United States recognized the independence of Kosovo,
which immediately produced a Â"domino effectÂ" and caused obvious
discontent in the self-proclaimed republics of the former USSR. In
spite of all the claims of the United States that "Kosovo cannot be a
precedent", it turned out that South Ossetia and Abkhazia had chances
to gain independence too, but from another world power, Russia.

As for the regional events, probably the most important of them was
not the meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in
St. Petersburg but Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Yerevan
on September 6. It is quite likely that the August crisis might have
played a role in this visit, but the latter became a reality also
due to the change of power in Armenia, as the former leadership in
the person of President Robert Kocharyan and FM Vardan Oskanyan saw
absolutely no chance of meeting on this level. By the way, backstage
talks between the diplomats of the two countries have rather a long
history. Gul’s visit to Yerevan cannot be considered a burst in
the Armenian-Turkish relations, but the first step seems to have
been made. After the Â"footballÂ" diplomacy the meetings between
Foreign Ministers of the two countries are perceived as a usual
thing. However, the situation is not as simple as it may seem. As it
has been repeatedly mentioned, Turkey is determined to gain a dominant
position in the region, the proof of which is the "Caucasus Platform
of Stability" suggested by Recep Tayyip ErdoÑ~@an. Naturally Iran
has no place in this platform. Turkey, as well as the whole world
perfectly realize that the Caucasus Platform is condemned to collapse
without Iran, but the position of "outcast state" that Iran acquired at
former US President George Bush’s will, does not give promise that it
has chances to integrate into the system of regional security. This,
however, gives the Russian side an additional trump-card in next year
talks with the new US President.

It would be no exaggeration to say that another major event of 2008
was the election of Afro-American Barack Obama to the post of US
president. Against the background of the political and financial
crisis caused by the untalented actions of President Bush and his
Administration, Americans were ready to elect anyone who would be
totally different from the Â"lame duckÂ". By the way, skin colour
had nothing to do in this case.

Shortly before the US Presidential Elections in Maindorf, Moscow the
Presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan signed a declaration on
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. A month later
another declaration with identical contents was issued at the summit
of the OSCE Foreign Ministers. Neither of the declarations though drew
the regulation of the conflict nearer in the way it was expected by
the Â"masters of fateÂ" of Karabakh people. The latter do not truly
understand why there should be solved what was already solved back in
1994. Thus, all the statements on "great opportunity", "bright spot",
"burst of relations" are just diplomatic labels that are called to
conceal the negligence and in most cases the unwillingness to read
the labyrinths of the Caucasus policy.

And, finally, towards the end of the current year we all witnessed
the unprecedented venture of Turkish intellectuals "Armenians,
we apologize" which once again proved the reluctance of Turks to
reconcile themselves to their own history, as well as showed the
profound hatred that Turkish society feels for Armenians.

Karine Ter-Sahakyan Â"PanARMENIAN.NetÂ" analytical department

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress