DAVOS VENUE FOR HOPEFUL MEETING OF ARMENIAN, TURKISH LEADERS

Today’s Zaman
Jan 30 2009
Turkey

In January 1988 the tiny ski resort town of Davos, Switzerland, was the
venue of a landmark meeting between Turgut Ozal and Andreas Papandreou,
the late leaders of uneasy Aegean neighbors Greece and Turkey.

The meeting had paved the way of rapprochement between the two
countries, which had one year prior almost engaged in a military
clash over oil-drilling rights in the Aegean.

Twenty-one years later, Davos yesterday evening was preparing for
another landmark meeting between leaders of estranged neighbors Armenia
and Turkey, with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan voicing
hope ahead of his meeting with Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan.

"We have a basic principle. That is, if states never hold talks, it is
impossible to have a peace process. At the moment, you know we have
around 40,000 Armenian citizens. They all have an expectation. In
addition to the citizens, there are around 40,000 undocumented
Armenians. Furthermore, Armenia is a neighboring country," Erdogan
told reporters in Davos yesterday, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Both Erdogan and Sarksyan participated in an annual meeting of the
World Economic Forum (WEF) held in the Swiss town. The two were
scheduled to hold talks in the evening after Today’s Zaman went
to press.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian President
Serzh Sarksyan hope 2009 will be a turning point in Turkey-Armenia
relations.

"Of course, the time for making an assessment on these issues has come
and even passed. There are also efforts by the Armenian diaspora in
the world," Erdogan added, in an apparent reference to the Armenian
diaspora’s constant lobbying efforts for global official recognition
of an alleged Armenian genocide.

"We can resolve [this issue] by taking certain steps. While resolving
this, Turkey won’t be the party ‘giving unilaterally and losing.’ We
will also be happy if there can be an agreement which will provide
mutual advantages for both sides," he said, while stressing that
Turkey’s rapprochement with Armenia did not at all mean harming its
friendly relations with Azerbaijan.

On Wednesday evening Erdogan had talks with Azerbaijani President
Ä°lham Aliyev, who earlier in the day held talks with Sarksyan
concerning the two-decade-long Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that has
uprooted hundreds of thousands of people from both Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

"We will never leave Azerbaijan alone concerning Nagorno-Karabakh. That
is to say that our issues are in a way connected with
Azerbaijan. Despite all these facts, if Armenia is sincere … then
today’s meeting may outline a roadmap following our talks yesterday
evening," Erdogan said.

Late on Wednesday evening, while announcing that he would meet with
Sarksyan, Erdogan said, "We are hopeful but I cannot know how hopeful
Armenia is."Also on Wednesday evening, when asked by reporters whether
he considered his planned meeting with the Turkish prime minister as
"a positive step," Sarksyan briefly said, "I believe it will be so."

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, who is also in Davos, told reporters on
Wednesday that he held talks with his Armenian counterpart, Edward
Nalbandian, earlier in the day. The two ministers were expected to
hold another bilateral meeting in Davos ahead of the Erdogan-Sarksyan
meeting.

"I won’t be surprised if a resolution happens this year," Babacan said.

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