SARKISIAN WILL DITCH SOCCER DIPLOMACY UNLESS BORDER OPENED

Asbarez
Jul 28th, 2009

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian insisted on
Tuesday that he will not travel to Turkey in October to watch the
return match of the two countries’ national football teams unless
Ankara moves to reopen the Turkish-Armenian border.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul extended a relevant invitation to
Sarkisian after paying a visit to Yerevan in September last year,
during which the two leaders jointly attended the first Turkey-Armenia
game. The so-called "football diplomacy" ushered in a Turkish-Armenia
rapprochement that left the two neighbors on the verge of normalizing
their strained relations earlier this year.

But negotiations between the two countries have come to a standstill
after the countries on April 22 issued a joint announcement on a
"roadmap" to normalizing relations. The announcement came on the eve of
the annual anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Turkish
government and its timing is believed to have allowed U.S. President
Barack Obama to backtrack on his pledges to officially recognize
the genocide.

The statement was soon followed by repeated declarations from the
highest levels of Turkey’s government conditioning the establishment
of diplomatic relations with Armenia to a resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict favoring Azerbaijan.

9 CGiven the existing situation, we certainly expect to witness soon
constructive steps with which our [Turkish] partners would try to
create a proper environment for the return visit of the president of
Armenia," said Sarkisian. That means taking "real steps" to honor
Turkish-Armenian agreements reached during the year-long dialogue,
he said.

"That is, I will leave for Turkey if we have an open border or stand
on the brink of the lifting of Armenia’s blockade," added the Armenian
leader.

The remarks reflected Sarkisian’s frustration with Turkey’s
unwillingness so far to unconditionally establish diplomatic relations
and reopen its border with Armenia despite concessions made by
him. Yerevan insists that the Turks dropped their preconditions for
normalizing bilateral ties during months of fence-mending negotiations.

Analysts close to the conflict, however, point to a long-running policy
in Ankara that has sought to couple rapprochement with Armenia to
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in an attempt to convince international
mediators that the the success of one process hinges on the other.

Sarkisian is accused of willingly allowing Turkey to gain a foothold
in the Karabakh peace process and sacrificing U.S. recognition of the
Armenian genocide without securing the lifting of the 16-year Turkish
blockade or any guarantees for Karabakh. He is also being condemned
for his apparent acceptance of a Turkish proposal to form a panel of
historians that will "examine" the events of 1915.

Earlier in July, a two-day Pan-Armenian conference in Stepanakert,
organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, demanded Sarkisian
make immediate and drastic corrections to his administration’s
flawed approach to both the ongoing negotiations with Turkey and the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks. A resolution, unanimously passed by the
summit’s 135 delegates on July 14, demanded that Armenia immediately
break off from negotiations with Turkey.

The ARF shortly after called for the resignation of Armenia’s Foreign
Minister Eduard Nalbandian to eliminate "the negative consequences
that have emerged in the foreign policy domain."

Under growing pressure at home, Sarkisian issued his warning to Ankara
after talks with Serbia’s visiting President Boris Tadic. He said he
briefed Tadic on his Western-backed diplomatic overtures to Turkey.

Sarkisian said the two leaders agreed on the need for a peaceful
resolution of conflict in the Balkans and the South Caucasus "in
accordance with the principles and norms of international law."

"We believe that there are no universal ways of solving conflicts,"
he told reporters. "Every conflict has its own history, causes and
its own unique course."

It was an apparent rejection of parallels between the conflicts over
Nagorno-Karabakh and K osovo, a breakaway Serbian region that has
been recognized as an independent state by much of the international
community. Kosovo’s secession in strong support for the principle of
territorial integrity voiced by Serbian leaders.

Tadic himself has called for the application of that principle to
the Karabakh dispute in the past. With journalists not allowed to
put questions to either president, it was not clear if he stands by
that statement.

Also, Serbia was one of the few European nations that voted in March
2008 for a UN General Assembly resolution that upheld Azerbaijani
sovereignty over Karabakh and demanded an "unconditional" Armenian
withdrawal from occupied Azerbaijani territories.