THINK TANK FAULTS TURKISH APPROACH ON ARMENIA TIES
By Ayla Jean Yackley

Reuters
May 29 2009
UK

ISTANBUL, May 29 (Reuters) – Turkey is making a mistake by linking an
improvement in ties with Armenia, including reopening their shared
border, to a settlement of Armenia’s long-running conflict with
Azerbaijan, a think tank report said on Friday.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said this month that the border
would remain shut until Armenia withdrew from Nagorno-Karabakh, an
enclave it has controlled since it fought a war with Azerbaijan in
the early 1990s.

His comments highlighted the seriousness of the Karabakh problem for
Turkey, despite the announcement last month of a joint Turkish-Armenian
"road map" towards re-establishing diplomatic ties and opening
the border.

"Tying the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement to the Karabakh issue, which
won’t be resolved for a long time, is a great mistake, because Turkey’s
policy of punishing Armenia has yet to yield the results it wants,"
said Aybars Gorgulu, co-author of the report for the Istanbul-based
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation.

"Normalisation appears indexed to resolving the Karabakh issue,
making it the most serious obstacle, even if the issue is not part
of the bilateral talks."

Turkey shut the border in 1993 in a show of support for Azerbaijan,
its traditional Muslim ally. Its continued closure has hampered
Armenia’s economy and is one of many factors complicating Turkey’s
bid to join the European Union.

Gorgulu said Erdogan’s latest comments — made after a meeting with
Azerbaijan’s president — "negatively impact the rapprochement"
with Armenia.

Turkey’s lack of diplomatic relations with Armenia has so far failed
to help Azerbaijan reclaim its territory, although normalisation is
also unlikely to bring about a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Gorgulu said.

Alexander Iskandaryan, his co-author, said it would be Russia
that played the decisive role in settling the dispute, as it still
wielded influence over Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet
republics. The United States and France are also involved in diplomacy
on the issue.

Armenia and Turkey trace their dispute to massacres of ethnic Armenians
by Ottoman Turks during World War One. Armenia says these amounted
to genocide, which Turkey denies.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress