YEREVAN TIGHT-LIPPED ON TURKISH-ARMENIAN ‘ROADMAP’
Emil Danielyan, Tatevik Lazarian

RFE/RL
24.04.2009

Armenia’s leadership remained tight-lipped on Friday about details of
a potentially ground-breaking agreement with Turkey despite growing
pressure from the domestic opposition concerned about its possible
implications.

The Armenian government stopped short of explicitly denying the
purported specifics of the "roadmap" for the normalization of
Turkish-Armenian relations that were reported by Turkish newspapers.

According to the "Sabah" daily, Armenia will formally recognize its
existing border with Turkey and agree to the formation of a joint
commission of historians tasked with studying the mass killings
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. It said historians from other
countries could also join the commission. Turkey will in return
gradually establish full diplomatic relations with Armenia and reopen
the Turkish-Armenian frontier closed it 1993, reported "Sabah."

Another paper, "Hurriyet," claimed that the lifting of the Turkish
blockade will be contingent on a breakthrough in the Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process. "It would be up to Turkey to decide whether to open
the gate," it wrote on Friday.

Commenting on the "Sabah" report, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman
Tigran Balayan said: "One should trust information about such serious
issues only if20it comes from official sources." He did not elaborate.

Armenia’s two main opposition forces demanded, meanwhile, the immediate
disclosure of the "roadmap" which the two countries’ foreign ministries
announced in a joint statement on Wednesday night. The statement
said Ankara and Yerevan have agreed on a "comprehensive framework
for the normalization of their bilateral relations" but did not give
any details.

"The Armenian authorities do not have the public mandate to make
such statements and have in effect put Armenian national interests at
risk by abusing the principle of confidentiality [of the talks,]" the
opposition Zharangutyun (Heritage) said in a statement. It condemned
the fact that the agreement was announced on the eve of the annual
commemoration of the Armenian genocide.

A similar statement was issued by the larger Armenian National Congress
(HAK). "We demand that the authorities immediately disclose that
document," Levon Zurabian, a top HAK representative, told RFE/RL
on Friday.

"I am concerned that this statement could stop more countries
recognizing the genocide," said Stepan Demirchian, another HAK leader.

"We support the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations but not
at the expense of our national dignity."

The HAK and its top leader, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian,
are strongly opposed to the idea of Turkish and Arme nian scholars
jointly determining whether the 1915-1918 mass killings constituted
a genocide. "If there is such a thing in that document, it is
unacceptable to us," said Zurabian.

That Yerevan agreed to the establishment of a Turkish-Armenian body
dealing with historic disputes was seemingly admitted by President
Serzh Sarkisian in an interview with "The Wall Street Journal"
earlier this week.

"You are asking what questions can be addressed by that historical
sub-commission," he said. "I can give you one example. The historic
Armenian monuments in the Ottoman Empire and today. There are thousands
of such monuments. I am sure that Turkey would have many questions
to raise with us."

When asked whether that can include the genocide issue, Sarkisian
replied: "We cannot prohibit Turkey from raising any issue in any
of the sub-commissions, just as they cannot limit us in raising
any issue."

The Armenian leader also hit out at Turkish Prime Minister Recep for
repeatedly stating this month that Ankara will not normalize ties with
Yerevan before a solution is found to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "I
think already now the motivation of Turkey has decreased, because
as you said Prime Minister Erdogan is now offering preconditions,"
he said, speaking two days before the announcement of the "roadmap."

Sarkisian further made clear that he will not visit=2 0Turkey this
October for the return match of the two countries’ national soccer
teams if the Turkish-Armenian border is not reopened or about to be
reopened by then. "I was not supposed to travel to Turkey as a simple
tourist or as a football fan," he said.

The prospect of a breakthrough in Turkish-Armenian relations
prompted renewed concerns from Azerbaijan, which maintains that their
unconditional normalization would deal a heavy blow to its positions
in the Karabakh conflict. Turkish President Abdullah Gul phoned his
Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliev late Thursday in a bid to address
those concerns.

"There is no misunderstanding in our relations," Gul told journalists
on Friday. "We are in agreement that everything that is being done is
of advantage to both our countries, Azerbaijan and Turkey," he said,
according to news agencies.

Erdogan, for his part, appeared to downplay the significance of the
Turkish-Armenian understandings. "We will not take any steps that
will hurt our [Azeri] brothers," "Hurriyet Daily News" quoted him as
saying. "There is nothing that is signed but a finalized protocol."