TURKISH-ARMENIAN TALKS MAY GO NOWHERE, SAYS SARKISIAN

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Friday, April 10, 2009

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–The almost year-long negotiations between Armenia
and Turkey, which have brought the two neighbors close to normalizing
their strained relations, could end in failure because of renewed
Turkish preconditions, President Serzh Sarkisian said on Friday.

"Is it possible that we were mistaken in our calculations and
that the Turks will now adopt a different position and try to set
preconditions?" he said. "Of course it is possible. One cannot exclude
such a thing by 100 percent.

"But I think even in that case we would emerge from this process
stronger. With this process, we have once again emphasized — and the
international community has seen that — that we are really ready to
establish relations [with Turkey] without preconditions."

The remarks came amid growing indications that Ankara is again linking
the normalization of its relations with Yerevan with a resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. The Turkish
government appeared ready to drop that linkage when it embarked on
an unprecedented dialogue with the Sarkisian administration last year.

However, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said twice
over the past week that his country cannot establish diplomatic
relations and reopen its border with Armenia as long as the Karabakh
conflict remains unresolved. President Abdullah Gul likewise
underscored the importance of Karabakh peace when he commented on
Turkish-Armenian ties in an interview with "The Financial Times"
newspaper published on Wednesday.

"The major problem in the Caucasus is the Karabakh question between
Armenia and Azerbaijan," said Gul. "We wish that this problem is
resolved so that a new climate emerges in the Caucasus."

The statements by the Turkish leaders followed an uproar in Azerbaijan
over reports that Ankara and Yerevan are poised to sign this month
an agreement envisaging an end to the 16-year Turkish blockade of
Armenia. Azerbaijani leaders publicly warned their Turkish counterparts
against lifting the embargo before a Karabakh settlement.

Like his foreign minister, Eduard Nalbandian, Sarkisian insisted that
the Karabakh dispute has not been on the agenda of the Turkish-Armenian
talks and that Armenia continues to stand for only an unconditional
deal with its neighbor. Speaking at a news conference on the first
anniversary of his inauguration, he said he still hopes that the
Turkish-Armenian border will be reopened by the time he attends a
football match in Turkey between the two countries in October. "But
my optimism may not prove right," the Armenian leader cautioned,
adding that the Turks could "walk away from our agreements."

The Armenian and Turkish soccer teams already played against each
other in Yerevan last September. Gul paid a historic visit to Armenia
to watch the game with Sarkisian. The so-called "football diplomacy"
raised high hopes for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.

"In my opinion, the ball is now in Turkey’s court," said
Sarkisian. "And speaking of football diplomacy, we have to say that
the ball cannot remain in one court indefinitely. Every football game
has a time limit."

Turkish leaders said until recently that possible U.S. recognition
of the 1915-1923 genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
is the main obstacle to the success of the Turkish-Armenian
negotiations. U.S. President Barack Obama avoided publicly using the
word genocide during his visit to Turkey earlier this week, arguing
that those talks "could bear fruit very soon." Obama is under strong
pressure from Armenian advocacy groups in the United States to honor
his campaign pledge to officially recognize the genocide.

Sarkisian said that Armenian-American lobbying efforts are not directed
from Yerevan. "It’s not we who are prodding the United States to
recognize the genocide," he said.

"Naturally, we constantly consult and discuss issues with leaders of
[Armenian-American] structures, but such a phenomenon cannot exist,"
added Sarkisian. "Those people are very good citizens of the United
States ; and it would not be right to issue instructions to them."