TURKISH DIPLOMACY REMAINS SILENT – ANALYSIS
APA
Feb 19 2009
Azerbaijan
Turkish Foreign Ministry declined to answer insistent questions
Baku-APA. Official Ankara’s recent position on Nagorno Karabakh
conflict is the subject of discussions of the country’s media. Radio
Liberty’s Armenian service reports about the Turkey’s retracting
of its term concerning Nagorno Karabakh for normalization of its
relations with Armenia caused confusion. Turkish diplomacy remains
silent. Turkish Foreign Ministry and Turkish Embassy in Azerbaijan
declined to answer whether Turkey retracted its term concerning
Nagorno Karabakh or not.
It is important to pay attention to the chronology of developments and
statements to imagine the essence of the issue. APA reported quoting
turkgundem.net website on February 12 that one of the participants
of the Armenian-Turkish talks as saying that Ankara retracted its
previous term of withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied lands
of Azerbaijan for establishing the official relations and opening the
borders with Armenia. The radio claimed that only term of the Turkish
government now is the establishing of joint commission of historians
for investigation of 1915 events.
There are reasons of such kind of reports. If we pay attention to
the recent developments, we cans see that Turkey played an active
role in geopolitical arena of South Caucasus. The war between Georgia
and Russia exposed the policy pursued by the US and Russia in South
Caucasus. Official Washington’s approach towards all issues from its
point of view, Moscow’s strict resistance to it and its inadequate
impact on Georgia questioned hopes for two super powers. Turkey took
an initiative and attempted to own regulative lever in South Caucasus
and it was very understandable. Turkey’s Caucasus Stability Pact,
visits to Moscow, Yerevan and Baku showed that Turkish officials had
taken a serious interest in the issue.
Turkey’s attempts on taking an initiative in South Caucasus cannot
be separately considered from interior affairs and integration into
European Union.
It is obvious that the European Union laid commitments on Turkey and
one of these commitments is the normalization of the relations with
Armenia. No doubt the campaigns "We all are Hrant Dinks!", "Let’s
apologize to Armenians!" are linked to this issue. This explains
Turkey’s milder attitude towards Armenia recently. At first sight,
Abdullah Gul’s visit to Armenia, Sarkisian’s visit to Turkey, moreover
a number of meetings on the highest level created impression that
Turkey is active in the South Caucasus, but the real essence became
obvious later.
Long before, leak of information from Turkish official circles to
the local media raised doubts that official Ankara had changed its
position. Foreign Minister Ali Babacan’s interviews and various
statements strengthened these doubts. It is not accidental that in
Germany, and later during his recent visit to Azerbaijan Ali Babacan
preferred to avoid media’s questions about changes in Turkey’s
position in terms of Nagorno Karabakh problem. Foreign Minister’s
repeated statements that Turkey and Azerbaijan separately had talks
with Armenia showed that the unique position of Azerbaijan and Turkey
with respect to Armenia had changed.
On February 12, visiting the line of contact in Goranboy region,
Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kilich expressed Ankara’s
traditional position on Nagorno Karabakh problem. An hour later
Armenian service of Radio Liberty spread the known information and
media again asked Hulusi Kilich to comment on the issue. At that time
the ambassador told APA that he was returning from Ganja to Baku,
he noted that he would concern himself with the issue and make a
statement after returning. Besides, Hulusi Kilich said he did not
believe it. But despite media’s appeals Turkish ambassador did not
say a word. He only said: "I am not the ambassador, who speaks in
the street". Turkish Foreign Ministry was also closed for Azerbaijani
media, nobody wanted to answer such a short and concrete question. On
February 13, Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said in his
statement to Anadolu agency: "The current process between Turkey and
Armenia aim at normalizing the relations between the two countries. On
the other hand, Azerbaijan and Armenia are also having a dialogue. The
processes are parallel. It is expected that an improvement on one side
will have a positive influence on the other side. We do not comment on
the information based on some sensations." As seen, there is nothing
more than the repeat of Ali Babacan’s traditional expressions.
Turkish government said the issue on the level of Deputy Prime Minister
Geybulla Geybullayev and State Minister Cemil Chichek was not true. The
said it was a lie and provocation and that Turkey did not retract
from its condition in terms of Nagorno Karabakh. On February 17,
Turkish parliamentarian, head of Turkey-Azerbaijan friendship group
Mustafa Kabakchi told APA on behalf of Turkish state that the report
was groundless.
It is interesting that the deputy prime ministers of Turkey have made
statements while the Foreign Ministry is keeping silence.
It causes several assumptions. First, part of the government
officials have no idea about these talks; second, some of the Turkish
authorities don’t share this position; third, announcements of the
state ministers and parliamentarians, who have not been involved in the
Turkish-Armenian talks, have no special responsibility. However, Ali
Babacan, who has directly participated in the talks, told journalists
clearly that he prefers to keep silence. For example, early this month
Babacan told journalists in Munich that they targeted to normalize
relations in the region. "We begin talks with Armenia to normalize
relations in the region. If we achieve the normal relations between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey, it will change many things
in the region. If we achieve these changes, it will be advantageous
for all parties. Now we should talk behind the closed doors and let
to make public only what we want to announce."
Today Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his opinion on this
issue. "There is no any change in our position on Karabakh, which could
differ from the official position of Azerbaijan. We determined our
positions together and are continuing it together up to date. It is out
of question. We are sharing the official position of Azerbaijan and are
staying behind this position up to date. Azerbaijan’s fairness in the
Karabakh issue is clear and it was described in the UN resolution too".
However Erdogan left many questions without answers. How important
is the Nagorno Karabakh issue in the Turkish-Armenian relations? How
long will Turkey continue these talks if Armenia doesn’t withdraw
from Nagorno Karabakh? May Turkey open the borders with Armenia
before finding the solution to the Nagorno Karabakh problem? Will
the part of behind-closed-doors talks about Azerbaijan be announced,
or they will announce only what they want?
We are looking for the foreign minister of Turkey and ambassador of
Azerbaijan to find answers to these questions.
…..Azerbaijan is in waiting!
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress