DEADLINES SHOULD BE SET FOR TURKS, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER VARDAN OSKANYAN IS CONVINCED

Aravot
April 18 2009
Armenia

Yesterday the founder of the Civilitas and former foreign minister,
Vardan Oskanyan, frankly confessed that he had been missing journalists
much and that the launch of his book "Unfinished Decade" was simply
an alleged reason to get in touch with journalists. The book contains
Vardan Oskanyan’s speeches between 1998 and 2008.

While replying to the questions related to Armenian-Turkish
relations, he noted: "For me the recent situation has been a little
bit unclear. Before that both the Armenian and Turkish statements were
more or less consistent and seemed to sound optimistic. And I concluded
that something was moving forward despite my doubts coming from my 10
years’ experience. Actually, I have believed and still want to believe
and wish that there will be a positive result and the borders will
be opened. But the latest state of affairs has a little bit confused
me. On the one hand, there are [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip]
Erdogan’s and [Turkish President Abdullah] Gul’s, but mainly Erdogan’s,
brusque statements clearly stating that Armenian-Turkish relations
will not return to normal and the borders will not be opened unless
the Nagornyy Karabakh issue is settled and unless there are certain
steps forward in that regard. This has been said very clearly and
at the highest level. On the other hand, there is a statement by the
Armenian side that we continue to record progress in the issue.

"If we put those two side by side we get quite a worrying
picture. Is Nagornyy Karabakh dependent on the Armenian-Turkish
negotiations?" Vardan Oskanyan said that he personally wanted to
see the borders open though it would have positive and negative
consequences. But the opening of the borders would have more positive
outcome and that the negative outcome could be regulated by law:
"We should really achieve the opening of the borders, but we should
do this so that the Armenian side does not lose. The difference
between the Armenian-Turkish negotiations during my service period
and the current ones is in the approaches. During my tenure,
the negotiations were not public but the content was almost the
same. Today the contents are kept secret, but the negotiations have
become public. When one publicizes the Armenian-Turkish dialogue,
the Turks always take advantage of this. So, in this very case
publicizing is not in our favour. If a day passes and the border
is still closed or Armenian-Turkish relations are not settled yet,
Turkish diplomats get in a more favourable situation compared to that
of Armenia. At the moment if the border opens, we will get dividends
as well. The question is when this will happen. Do the authorities
have responsibility to give a precise answer to this question? The
time is not working in favour of Armenia in this dialogue."

Vardan Oskanyan is of the opinion that the country’s president has
demonstrated a political will by beginning a dialogue with Turkey
in public. But when it starts not to yield results and even to have
a negative impact on Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan commences to think
that there should be alterations in the approaches. This is what
the former foreign minister suggests: "The Armenian side should set
a concrete deadline, i.e. on this date and at this time, if we are
going to sign [as given] and open the border. Otherwise, let’s stop
the negotiations." Mr Oskanyan is convinced that something of the
kind should be done, otherwise there could also be pressure related
to the Karabakh issue.