COURSE CORRECTION
By Oktay Eksi

Turkish Press
May 14 2009

HURRIYET- In Baku yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
the right things and announced good policies. He tried to dispel
the fears of the Azeri people and the entire Azeri administration,
starting with President Ilham Aliyev, that Turkey would sell them
out to normalize its relations with Armenia.

Not only the Turkish and Azeri people, but also all the
relevant parties, including US President Barack Obama – who wants
Turkish-Armenian relations to be normalized and the borders between
the two countries opened – and particularly Armenia, saw that
unless the problems suffered by Azerbaijan, and particularly the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue, are solved, Turkish-Armenian relations can
never be normalized. In fact, Erdogan told a press conference alongside
Aliyev that Turkey shares Azerbaijan’s sensitivity on Nagorno-Karabakh,
adding that unless the occupation ends, the border can’t be opened.

He made a similar statement in his address to the Azeri Parliament. He
said that the Turkish-Armenian border was closed when Nagorno-Karabakh
was occupied by Armenia. He added that when this situation ends,
the border will reopen, and that Turkey can’t proceed without an
agreement with Azeris on the issue. Erdogan said that these two issues
are inseparable.

Aliyev’s remarks show that he was satisfied by this
reassurance. Similarly, Aliyev said that Erdogan’s statements were
the best response to speculation on the issue. So if there was nothing
to disturb Azerbaijan, where did the tension comes from? We all know
that one of the reasons behind Obama’s recent visit to Turkey was the
huge promises he made to American citizens of Armenian origin. For
example, before becoming president, he said that the Armenians had
faced a genocide. But saying this as president was too big a risk. So
he needed something to assuage the Armenians, namely opening the
Turkish-Armenian border.

In truth, he was equivocal on the issue. But the agreement was spoiled
when he used the Armenian word for ‘genocide’ in his statement on
April 24. So both President Abdullah Gul and Erdogan criticized
his statement. But at that time the Turkish-Armenian contacts were
accelerated. Even Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope
that he would come to Turkey through an open border this October to
watch a soccer match between Turkey and Armenia. What’s more, he said
that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue wasn’t discussed during the meetings
with Turkey. So what was Armenia supposed to do, except criticize this?