TURKEY SHOWS ITS DISCOMFITING SIDE … AGAIN
By Seto Boyajian

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May 22, 2009

Turks used to loath Arabs enough that they preferred to forego
delicious Arab pastries so as to avoid meeting an Arab. Turks even
coined a boastful saying to this effect – "Ne Shamin shekeri, ne
Arapin yuzu" (Neither the sweets of Damascus, nor the face of the
Arab). Armenians by tradition do not nurture such vulgar prejudicial
practices toward other people and nations, epecially towards Arabs,
who have been generous hosts by welcoming into their lands and by
caring for thousands of Armenians fleeing the state-organized Ottoman
Turkish massacres from 1915 to 1923.

Armenians, however, dealing for so many centuries with the Turks,
have developed a keen understanding of the Turkish state of mind in
matters of safety, security and trade. This experience has taught
Armenians that words of the Turkish leadership do not translate into
their true meaning when they are put into action. For this reason,
it would be most appropriate to adapt the above Turkish saying with
a corrective twist – "Ne Turkin sozi, nede onun ishi" (Neither the
Turk’s word, nor his action).

Recent pronouncements by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
come once again to prove, unfortunately, that the disparity between
Turkish word and action is real. It appears that this discomfiting
Turkish attitude towards Armenia and Armenians has become engrained
in Turkish body politic.

Last week, during his visit to Azerbaijan, Erdogan reiterated that
Turkey will neither reopen the border and nor establish diplomatic
relations with Armenia so long as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains
unresolved. Despite the ongoing bilateral negotiations between Armenia
and Turkey, he explicitly reaffirmed the position that there was a
linkage between those negotiations and the Karabakh problem.

At the joint press conference with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev,
Erdogan made this position crystal clear. He stated, "Occupation of
Karabakh is the cause here and closing of the border is the effect. It
is impossible for us to open the border unless that occupation ends."

While in Russia, Erdogan sought Russia’s support for his country’s
bid for a role in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. At a joint news
meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, he claimed that
"Turkey and Russia have responsibilities in the region." He said,
"We have to take steps for the peace and wellbeing of the region. This
includes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Middle East dispute,
and the Cyprus issue."

In diplomatic parlance, Erdogan’s claims can only serve the dual
purpose of undermining the Karabakh peace process supervised by the
OSCE Minsk Group (co-chaired by France, Russia, and the U.S.) and
trivializing the ongoing talks with Armenia. Erdogan’s linkage of the
two processes is now beginning to be viewed as an exercise harboring
danger to the peace and stability in the region. So much so that,
at the beginning of this week, the OSCE Minsk Group delegated one
of its co-chairs, Ambassador Bernard Fassier, to Turkey to warn the
Turkish government on its recent linkage policy.

According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, the French co-chair attempted to
impress upon Turkey that the Karabakh peace process cannot be linked
to the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations, and warned Ankara
that any attempt to link the two can harm both processes. Ambassador
Fassier asserted, "The normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations should
not be confused with the Karabakh conflict. These are different and
parallel processes." He further stressed that for the Minsk Group,
as well as the U.S., Turkey-Armenia negotiations and Karabakh peace
talks are separate processes.

All this adds up to one fact. Namely, words and action are not
correlated in Turkish diplomacy. The tragic aspect of this reality
is that the Obama administration – despite its predecessors’ vast
experience in Turkish unreliability unless supported by billions of
dollars of American money and/or diplomatic/political concessions at
the expense of American values and principles – has yet to learn not
to trust Turkey without verification.

With regards to the promisingly budding "friendly" relations between
Turkey and Armenia, the Obama administration was duped into accepting
Turkey’s word as opposed to its real intents and action. As soon
as the April 24 Presidential Statement was issued, the April 22nd
Armenian-Turkish foreign ministerial joint statement with its fanciful
"roadmap" wore out its utility. Now, the National Security Advisor,
the White House Chief of Staff, and the U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations have to explain to the President Turkey’s linkage policy that
is endangering the parallel yet separate processes of Turkey-Armenia
negotiations and the Karabakh conflict resolution.

The trio advisors pressingly urged the President – and they carried
the day – to avoid the word Genocide without serious consideration of
the Turkish intent. They failed to grasp that Turkey was playing for
time – at least until April 24, because Turkey would never seriously
entertain the possibility of opening its borders and establish normal
diplomatic relation with Armenia, unless the following three conditions
are met by Armenia:

a. Cessation of the pursuit of the Armenian Genocide recognition
internationally;

b. Acceptance of the voided October 1923 Kars Treaty; and,

c. Return of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani jurisdiction.

With all the Turkish hoopla and hype, the President’s said top
advisors did not get and still do not get that Armenia will always be a
hindrance to Turkish strategic designs beyond the Caucasus, that Turkey
cherishes regional interests in conflict to U.S. interests, and that
Turkey seeks to boost its regional role to the detriment of the U.S.

These geopolitical factors should raise serious concern with our
President and his advisers. Hopefully, the next time around, they
too will begin to appreciate the Armenian experience and acquire the
expertise to detect the distinction between Turkish word and action.