ANKARA HAILS PROGRESS IN TALKS WHILE CONCERNS IN YEREVAN HEIGHTEN
By Allen Yekikan
225_4/7/2009_1
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Turkey’s Uncompromising Position Jeopardizes Talks, Says Nalbandian
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on Tuesday hailed what he called
progress in the ongoing talks to normalize his country’s strained
relations with Armenia. His remarks come amid growing concern in
Yerevan that Ankara’s increasingly uncompromising preconditions on
Armenia may be guiding the negotiations in an untenable direction.
Babacan made his comments during a press conference following the
Alliance of Civilizations Summit in Istanbul Tuesday. A day earlier,
he and Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian met with U.S. President
Barack Obama at a dinner reception for the summit. Obama urged them
to complete talks aimed at restoring ties between the two neighbors.
"We are working on a comprehensive solution and our talks are going
well, Babacan said. "We have made significant progress so far and both
parties have declared satisfaction over the process several times."
But Nalbandian did not share his counterpart’s optimism. In a
written statement issued on Sunday, the Armenian Foreign Minister
accused Turkey of jeopardizing the negotiations process by hinging
the opening of the border on a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, an unrelated issue according to Yerevan.
Turkish and Western media say the two countries are close to reaching
an agreement on a gradual establishment of diplomatic relations and
a reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border.
But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday
that this cannot happen before a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. "As long as the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue is not resolved, it is not possible for us to reach a healthy
solution concerning Armenia," he told a news conference in London,
according to Reuters.
Nalbandian, who was due to arrive in Istanbul on Sunday night,
canceled his flight minutes before departure over the statements. He
later flew to Istanbul Monday.
The Armenian Foreign Minister explained that the unresolved Karabakh
conflict has not been on the agenda of negotiations. "I believe that
the statements, which put forth preconditions for the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations, may be regarded as an attempt to impede
the progress reached in the negotiations," he said in reference to
the remarks made by Erdogan.
The remarks followed Azerbaijan’s stark warnings to Turkey not to
normalize ties with Armenia before a Karabakh settlement acceptable
to Baku was reached. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reportedly
canceled his scheduled participation in the Istanbul forum in protest
of the Armenian-Turkish talks. Aliyev on Tuesday threatened to take
retaliatory measures if the Armenian-Turkish border was opened,
hinting once again that Azerbaijan would cut off Turkey’s gas supplies.
Besides worries over Azerbaijan’s posturing or the possibility that
Turkey and Azerbaijan may be cornering Armenia into an untenable
scenario with karabakh, Nalbandian also expressed serious concern
over Ankara’s efforts to use the rapprochement as an excuse to prevent
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
"It has been said many times, and I want to stress it again, that
the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations can never question
the reality of Armenian Genocide," he said.
Official Ankara sees the warming of relations with Armenia as an
opportunity to be leveraged in its ongoing campaign to prevent US
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. On numerous occasions over the
course of the negotiations process, top Turkish officials, including
the Prime Minister, President, and Foreign Minister, have all warned
the US that any recognition of the Armenian Genocide would torpedo
chances for reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia.
"I know there are strong views in this chamber about the terrible
events of 1915," President Obama said Monday in his address to
the Turkish Parliament. "The best way forward for the Turkish and
Armenian people is a process that works through the past in a way
that is honest, open, and constructive."
Obama stopped short of using the word "genocide" in his address. But
on several occasions, both in his press conference with Gul and in
the Turkish Parliament, he stressed that his views had not changed
on the matter.
"My views are on the record and I have not changed views," he said
standing alongside Gul.
"The President’s willingness to raise his commitment to recognizing the
Armenian Genocide, even indirectly, in his remarks before the Turkish
Parliament represents a step in the right direction, but far short of
the clear promise he made as a candidate that he would, as President,
fully and unequivocally recognize this crime against humanity," Aram
Hamparian, the executive Director of the Armenian National Committee,
said on Monday in response to Obama’s remarks in Turkey. "We expect
that the President will, during Genocide Prevention Month this April,
stand by his word, signaling to the world that America’s commitment
to the cause of genocide prevention will never again be held hostage
to pressures from a foreign government."
During his 2008 campaign for the White House, Obama referred to the
killings of Armenians in World War One as genocide. In a January 19,
2008 statement on the importance of relations between the U.S. and
Armenia, Obama said, "as a senator, I strongly support passage of
the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as
President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide."
US legislators introduced on March 17 a resolution (H.Res.252) calling
on the U.S. president to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide. The
resolution, submitted by representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), George
Radanovich (R-Calif.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.).
Its introduction was praised shortly after by the Chairman of the
Armenian National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Armen Rustamian. In a March 19 letter to the chairman of the US House
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Howard Berman, Rustamian expressed
his strong support for US affirmation of the Armenian Genocide,
stressing that US recognition would be the greatest contributor to
the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.
"I am confident that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the
United States not only would not hamper, but on the contrary will
contribute to the prospects of a thorough dialogue between Turkey and
Armenia," the letter read. "Any durable improvement of Armenia-Turkey
relations must rest upon a foundation of shared respect for truth
and justice."
Erdogan, however, maintains that his nation will never admit to the
"so-called genocide." Speaking to reporters in London Friday he said
that for Turkey, it is impossible to accept a thing that does not
exist," referring to the Armenian Genocide.
A letter from 340 European civil society organizations, sent to the
White House while Obama was in London Friday, stressed, however,
that a US recognition of the genocide would "provide unprecedented
momentum to the process of dialogue between Turkey and Armenia" and
move the entire region toward a "durable peace," based on stability,
justice and democracy.