ARMENIA, TURKEY ANNOUNCE ‘ROADMAP’ TO NORMAL TIES (UPDATED)

Asbarez
/2009_1
Thursday, April 23, 2009

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–Armenia and Turkey said on Wednesday
night that they have agreed on a "roadmap" for normalizing bilateral
relations after an almost year of intensive negotiations mediated by
Switzerland. It remained unclear, however, whether they will establish
diplomatic relations and open their border anytime soon.

"The two parties have achieved tangible progress and mutual
understanding in this process and they have agreed on a comprehensive
framework for the normalization of their bilateral relations in
a mutually satisfactory manner," the Armenian and Turkish foreign
ministries said in a joint statement. "In this context, a road-map
has been identified."

"This agreed basis provides a positive prospect for the on-going
process," the statement said. It did not specify whether that process
can be completed before a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

At the Expense National Interests

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) on Thursday strongly
condemned the agreement announced by Ankara and Yerevan and said it
could pull out of Armenia’s governing coalition in protest.

"It is absolutely unacceptable for us that relations with Turkey be
normalized at the expense of Armenia’s sovereignty, the viability of
its existence, or the national and state rights of future Armenian
generations, the ARF said in a statement. "Being committed to these
principles, we regard as unacceptable and condemnable the signing
by Armenia’s Foreign Ministry on April 22 of a joint statement with
Turkey."

The influential party has declared time and again, that good-neighborly
relations between the two countries can only be established after the
recognition by Turkey of the Armenian Genocide and the restoration
of the rights of the Armenian people.

Turkey Maintains Preconditions

Before the statement was officially released, the Associated Press
quoted a senior Turkish government official as saying that the
agreement does not mean Turkey is ready to open the Turkish-Armenian
border, closed in 1993. "It is out of question," the official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We don’t want to make any further comment than what is said in the
statement," a Turkish Foreign Ministry source told Reuters. "We will
continue with our policy of silent diplomacy. The time has not come
yet to make announcements on specifics nor on timelines."

The Armenian Foreign Ministry also declined to provide
clarifications. A ministry spokesman, Tigran Balayan, said only that
the roadmap includes "steps to be taken" by the two governments.

The Azerbaijan Factor

Turkish leaders have repeatedly stated this month that Turkish-Armenian
relations will not be normalized until the Karabakh conflict is
resolved in Azerbaijan’s favor. Baku had earlier in April warned
Ankara against normalizing ties with Yerevan before a Karabakh
settlement. Azerbaijan expressed hope on Thursday that Ankara will
stick to this precondition.

"It is the sovereign right of every state to determine its relations
with other countries," Elkhan Polukhov, a spokesman for the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry, told Day.az, commenting on the Turkish-Armenian
statement.

"Nonetheless, Azerbaijan believes that the process of normalizing
relations between Armenia and Turkey should run parallel to the
withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan."

Turkish President Abdullah Gul also called his Azerbaijani counterpart
Ilham Aliyev on Thursday to discuss the normalization of relations
between Turkey and Armenia, Gul’s office said in a written statement.

"Today’s talks were a continuation of consultations between the two
heads of state in the recent weeks and confirmed the traditional
understanding, solidarity and close cooperation between Turkey and
Azerbaijan that contributes to the stability and welfare of the
region," the statement also said.

The US Welcomes

The United States swiftly welcomed the agreement announced by the
two troubled neighbors. "It has long been and remains the position
of the United States that normalization should take place without
preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe," U.S. State Department
spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement.

"We urge Armenia and Turkey to proceed according to the agreed
framework and roadmap," Wood said. "We look forward to working with
both governments in support of normalization, and thus promote peace,
security and stability in the whole region."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton likewise reaffirmed
Washington’s strong support for the Turkish-Armenian dialogue when
she spoke at the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier
on Wednesday. "The Turkish and Armenian governments have sought
U.S. support and encouragement of their reconciliation efforts,"
she said. "And following that request, both the president and I have
supported them fully."

Clinton also implied that the U.S. is trying to neutralize the
strong Azerbaijani objections to the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement
by intensifying its efforts to broker a solution to the Karabakh
conflict. "We’ve sent a State Department official to Azerbaijan,
I think two times in the last three weeks, and we hope that there
will be some resolution in the next months," she said.

Reactions in Armenia

Several thousand protesters took to the streets in Yerevan on Thursday
to protest the announcement by Yerevan and Ankara, condemning the
move as a betrayal of national interests.

The demonstrations came during an annual march through the capital
holding flaming torches on the eve of the national commemoration of
the Armenian Genocide.

Protesters carried banners calling for "Recognition, Restitution,
Remembrance." Others read: "1.5 million deaths will never be forgiven."

Timing of Announcement

The agreement was made public just two days before Armenia and its
worldwide Diaspora will mark 94th anniversary of the start of the
Armenian Genocide.

US President Obama, as a Senator and a candidate for the
Presidency, spoke forcefully, clearly, and repeatedly in support of
U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, frequently criticizing then-
President Bush for failing to properly characterize and commemorate
this crime while in the White House. He is expected to offer his
first April 24th statement, a White House tradition, this Friday.

Ankara has made no secret of its hopes that the dramatic rapprochement
with Yerevan will deter U.S. President Barack Obama from reaffirming
the US record on the Armenian Genocide in his April 24 address to
the Armenian-American community.

Last December, the ARF urged Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian
to exercise caution in this process, saying that the Turks are
exploiting it to scuttle greater international recognition of the
Armenian genocide.

Obama is facing mounting pressure from the influential
Armenian-American community and its members of the U.S. Congress
to honor his election campaign pledge to recognize, in his present
capacity, the first genocide of the 20th century. Among those lawmakers
are Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, and Steny
Hoyer, the House majority leader.

"It is long past the time for the United States to formally recognize
the Armenian Genocide," Pelosi was reported to say on Wednesday during
a genocide remembrance ceremony on Capitol Hill attended by dozens
of her colleagues.

Pelosi urged Armenian-American groups to step up their grassroots
campaign for the passage of a draft genocide resolution introduced
in Congress last month. "We can do any amount of inside maneuvering
in the Congress and Washington, but what is important is the outside
mobilization to bring to bear the voices of people across America,"
she said, according to the Armenian National Committee of America.

The Obama administration has not reacted to the bill yet. Visiting
Turkey earlier this month, President Obama made clear his position
on the Genocide had not changed. "My views are on the record and
I have not changed views," he said during a joint press conference
with Gul. The President also referenced the Armenian Genocide in his
speech to the Turkish Parliament where he stated, "History, unresolved,
can be a heavy weight. Each country must work through its past. And
reckoning with the past can help us seize a better future."