RESUME OF THE WEEK’S EVENTS: PACE, ZURICH AND ERDOGAN
by Karine Ter-Sahakyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.02.2009 GMT+04:00

European structures, and not only them, limit themselves to "fatherly
suggestions" that have long stopped to draw any interest, except for
the offended opposition of certain countries.

Past week was rather rich in political events. The world community
was concentrated on the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) and on the World Economic Forum in
Davos. As expected, in PACE Armenian Delegation was not deprived of
the right to vote. Once more the decision proved that certain levers
of influencing on post-Soviet states are applied in Europe not only
with reservations, but with caution as well.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In fact, depriving a delegation of voting rights,
or other Â"lighterÂ" sanctions may simply put these countries on
a Â"wrongÂ" track. In our opinion, European as well as all the
international organizations follow exactly this policy and not the
infamous strategy of double standards. The policy of holding the
unstable states on a Â"short leashÂ" proved fairly effective not
solely for Armenia. If the Armenian Delegation were to be deprived of
voting rights, similar measures had to be applied against Azerbaijan
and Georgia too, not to mention the mass disorders in Greece late in
2008 that resulted in the death of a teenager and caused real chaos
in Athens. However sad it may be, European structures, and not only
them, limit themselves to Â"fatherly suggestionsÂ" that have long
stopped to draw any interest, except that of the offended opposition
in certain countries. The latter, like in Armenia, is guided by one
single policy – the worse the country feels, the better for us. And
who said that democracy is the best form of government? According to
Sir Winston Churchill, "Democracy is the worst form of government,
but unfortunately, all the others are so much the worse."

This week also marked the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs on
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation, as well as the meetings
in Zurich between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers
and Presidents of the two countries. As expected, nothing new was
achieved – the same tiresome statements on Â"readiness to continue
talks according to Madrid proposalsÂ", Â"inadmissibility of a military
solution to the conflictÂ", Â"necessity to engage NKR representatives
in the regulation processÂ". All these statements sound discordant
against the background of the anti-Armenian rhetoric by Baku, though
everybody has already got accustomed to it. In our opinion, real
burst in the regulation process will occur only when these statements
are made seriously and sincerely. Let us remember that no conflict
has ever been settled in the world with purely good intentions and
"Cast Lead" is a vivid example of it.

And, surely enough, hit of the week, if we may put it so, was the
Davos demarche of Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This kind of actions
can be treated differently, but one thing is certain – leader of the
country, pretending on the position of the regional power, ought not to
behave like that. Moreover, Erdogan’s move was obviously well-thought
out and intentional. Most likely, it was a well-calculated act,
a signal to the Arab-Muslim world: "Look, Turkey is with you." But,
in fact, Erdogan is trying to increase the influence of his country
in the region, the shortest way to which is by exerting pressure on
Israel. The Israeli-Palestine conflict has been going on for dozens
of years and Turkey had never before criticized Israel so harshly
as during the operation in Gaza Strip. Erdogan’s act can be easily
interpreted by the state of domestic policy in Turkey, because, to all
appearances, the struggle between Islamists and Kemalists is coming
to the peak on the eve of the elections of local administration. It
is clear that now more than ever the Justice and Development Party of
Turkey (AKP) needs public support. Otherwise Erdogan may share the fate
of Adnan Menderes, Prime-Minister of Turkey, executed by Kemalists in
1961. Turkish Joint Staff has already announced about its readiness
to preserve strategic relations with Israel, especially in purchasing
military equipment. It means Turkish servicemen are against the AKP,
which, by the way, is not a novelty.

There exists also the Armenian factor in this matter. Only 2
months is left till April, and there is no guarantee that the
new US Administration will listen to the Jewish-Turkish lobby that
successfully torpedoes adoption of the resolution on the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1923. In this
connection it was truly blasphemous to hear the Turkish Prime-Minister
addressing the Israeli President with the following words: "When it
comes to killing, you know well how to do it"…

In all probability, the demarche story will continue, but the question
is who Erdogan was on that day – a national hero or an imprudent
politician. As for the statements of Jewish organizations of the US,
they were quite predictable: fate of the Jews in Turkey, as well
as in any other country, against the background of almost total
anti-Semitism can’t but worry the Jewish Diaspora all over the world.

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