LIFELINE FOR KARS JUST ACROSS THE BORDER

Hurriyet
April 20 2009
Turkey

KARS – If trade is life, one could easily say the province of
Kars in the northeast of the country is slowly losing its will to
survive. While Turkey shut its border with Armenia as reparations
to that country, the declining living standards, bankrupt economy
and migration has left the people of Kars thinking they are the ones
being punished.

Since the closure of the border with Armenia in 1993, an act of
solidarity with Azerbaijan, the city’s economic development was
arrested just when it was so close to taking off. The collapse of the
Soviet Union had opened many opportunities for the city that borders
both Armenia and Georgia, that it believed it was destined to be the
gateway to the Caucasus and to Central Asia beyond.

Whomever one talks to in the city, an overwhelming desire to see
the border with Armenia reopened is often followed with a cautious,
"but." Once the hospitable people of this city start opening up though,
the "but" becomes less intense.

Locals want the border to be opened but their desire for the promised
economic advantages are tempered by the possibility of them being
accused of being "Armenian lackeys" because of the perception towards
Armenians and nationalist pressure that has built up over the years.

FELINE FOR KARS JUST ACROSS THE BORDER
Kars Kafkas University Department of Economics president, Professor
Mehmet Dikkaya, said ethnic divisions also played a part in the way
people addressed the issue. "There are four main ethnic groups in
the province. There are Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Karapalpaks and Turks,"
he said, Karapalpaks being a Turkic group with close ethnic links to
the Kazakhs of Central Asia.

"We can say that Azerbaijanis and Karakalpaks are against any border
opening while Kurds and Turks welcome the move," Dikkaya said.

He said the province was in dire straits in terms of its economic
situation. "Kars has no trade potential. Of the 80,000 who live in
the city, half have green cards," he said. Green cards provide free
healthcare for the poor.

The only sector that keeps more or less creeping along is the
traditional sector of animal husbandry, he said, with the industry
based on dairy products.

"Its organized industrial zone is dormant. If the border is opened,
Kars will become a center on a trade route and its production sector
will pick up. The province shares 325 kilometers of border with Armenia
and has two border gates. Average annual loss of trade in $700 million
since 1993. If the border opens, Turkish exports will increase by
$400 million. If only 20 percent of this passes through Kars, this
region will be a paradise," said Dikkaya. He said Turkish goods were
widely consumed in Armenia. "According to a recent study of ours,
Armenia purchases $100 million worth of Turkish goods a year and all
of it go via Georgia and Iran. We have also learned that there is no
disapproval of Turkish goods there," he said.

Petition The former mayor of the city, Naif Alibeyoglu, who lost
in the March 29 local elections after switching allegiances from
the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, to the opposition
Republican People’s Party, or CHP, said he had collected a petition
for the opening of the border during his term in office. "I collected
50,000 signatures in a city with a population of 80,000. The economic
life of Kars has been suspended since 1993. As a municipality, we
can’t even collect taxes from the locals."

He said opening the border was the first step after which all bilateral
problems between Armenia and Turkey would be resolved with subsequent
steps. The prejudice Armenians feel toward Turks dies once they
visit Kars, he said. "They told us they thought we were monsters. My
granfather’s grandfather was killed by Armenians. There is no reason
to keep bitter memories alive. Dialogue solves everything. Let’s open
the border and start trading.

The real trade embargo is on Kars, not Armenia, says Kars Chamber of
Commerce and Industry Chairman Ali Guvensoy, noting that airplanes
from Armenia frequently land in Istanbul, Antalya and other regions.

"Turkish goods reach Armenia via Iran and Georgia and are sold more
expensively. If there is an embargo, it is on Kars," he said. In
explaining the industrial decline of the province, Guvensoy
said the foundations of 44 factories were laid but only 23 were
completed. "Nowadays, only 18 of them are operational and all 18 are
focused on dairy products. There are a meat plant and a cement factory
but after they were privatized, many workers were laid off. They will
soon privatize the sugar factory," he said.

The region’s economy is now centered on public servants, said Guvensoy,
and added that most locals had begun to pack up and leave in order
to make a living elsewhere.

Still, he said, peace had to be established before the border was
opened, adding, "We want access to Armenia but we need to make
sacrifices and Armenia needs to withdraw from Nagorna-Karabakh."

Guvensoy gave the neighboring province of Igdir and its border gate
Nahchivan as an example to what trade could accomplish. "Trade there
is booming. If the border is opened, ours will too."

Zeki Yagci, a jewelry salesman for the last decade, wants the border
to be opened. "Opening the border will attract investment and create
opportunities for local businessmen. There is no commerce to speak
of in our city. Igdir used to be a district of Kars. Now it is a
separate province and ahead of us. Why? Because there is cross-border
trade there," he said.

Businessman Ozfer Kocal said the local economy thrived when the border
with Armenia was open before 1993. "Closed borders help no one. If
there is an embargo on Armenia, it should encompass everyone. There
are flights to Yerevan from everywhere. There is trade from Trabzon
and Hopa. This embargo is a way of punishing Kars," he said. Kocal
also admitted that a certain environment was needed before the border
could be opened. "Nagorno-Karabakh, genocide claims and demand for
land. If Armenia forgoes these, the doors should be opened," he said.

Shoe-shiner Hasan Perincek sees the economic collapse first hand
everyday, he said. "We definitely want the border to open. Here,
the state is nowhere to be seen. Animal husbandry is the only way
people earn a living. Let Armenia and Azerbaijan settle their own
differences. The city is constantly shrinking because of all the
economic hardship. The city will soon be empty. There are ‘for sale’
signs everywhere. It seems like the city itself is for sale," he said.

Calls for caution Shopkeeper Seyhan Karadeniz also wants the border
to open. "There is no economy here. Winters are long and living is
hard. If the border is opened, business will boom," he said. The
fact that Armenians could go to Istanbul by plane while they couldn’t
cross the border to Kars was a shame.

However, he also said the border could not be opened before the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue was resolved.

Ahmet Sarar, who has been involved in textiles for the past 40 years,
said the city was bankrupt but also noted that the historical animosity
between Turks and Armenians could prove uncomfortable if the border
was opened. "I have my doubts. If the border is opened, the rich
there will purchase land here and their demands will increase. If the
Armenians over here behaved, those across the border won’t," he said.

The head of Kars’ Association for Supporting Contemporary Living,
or CYDD, Vedat Akcaiz, who is also a journalist, said during his
visit to Armenia he had realized that the prejudices there could be
ended easily.

"There, the elderly welcomed me and my associates as ‘Kardas’
[brother]. Unfortunately, the young are very prejudicial. A dialogue
needs to be established as soon as possible," he said.

"There is serious trade between Trabzon and Armenia. What kind of
embargo is this? And furthermore, what is important for us is the
regional Turkic republics beyond Armenia. We don’t want to be the end
of a one-way street. We want to be the gateway to the east," he said.

The opening of the border was just one part of a complicated matter,
noted Akcaiz, adding that the public needed to be ready for what
took place.

"If an Armenian comes here and something untoward happened, everything
could get even worse. There is that kind of potential here which should
not be ignored. We cannot ignore Azerbaijan, the Nagorno-Bkarabakh
issue and Armenia’s demands. If the border is opened before these
problems are resolved, there will be chaos," he said.