NALBANDIAN SAYS ‘DON’T PANIC,’ WHILE DAVUTOGLU EYES KARABAKH
By Ara Khachatourian

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Sep 2, 2009

As Armenia’s foreign minister, Eduard Nalbandian told reporters
Wednesday that there was no need to panic over the Turkey-Armenia
roadmap protocols, his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu promised
a swift resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In fact, Nalbandian brushed aside legitimate concerns about
national issues, and in a rather pedestrian move used yet another
animal analogy. When asked whether the provision on recognizing
present-day borders amounted to Armenia’s acceptance of the Kars
Treaty, Nalbandian said: "Don’t look for a calf under a bull." This,
coupled with his "don’t fish in murky waters" from several weeks ago
demonstrates the level of sophistication of Armenia’s chief diplomat
and the indifference with which this new page in Armenian history is
being treated.

This non-chalance-or arrogance-further exasperates matters, as Turkey,
having raised its position through the provisions of the protocols,
is moving forward and engaging stakeholders and players to garner a
resolution on Karabakh.

"To be able to turn this normalization [between Turkey and Armenia]
into permanent peace, we are expecting a forthwith settlement on the
dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan with the contributions of the
international community," Davutoglu told reporters late Tuesday.

Turkey has already launched a new diplomatic initiative for mobilizing
international actors in this regard, according to sources. Davutoglu
held a long phone conversation with the foreign ministers of France
and the United States, two members of the Minsk Group. The issue was
already largely discussed with Russia.

Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also be a harbinger for a quick
fix to Karabakh when next month he attends the UN General Assembly,
of which Turkey is a permanent member.

So, assurances by President Sarkisian and Nalbandian do not silence
the alarm that was sounded after Monday’s announcement. Nor, does it
reassure Armenians around the world that their very national interests
are not up for grabs for the myriad nebulous benefits the opening of
the border is said to bring.

What has become crystal clear since Monday is that continued insistence
by Armenia’s leaders that they have demanded no preconditions in the
negotiation process was misleading at best and a lie at worst.

Unless the definition of the word "precondition" has changed since
April 22 when the so-called "roadmap" agreement was announced,
the provisions on the establishment of relations between Armenia and
Turkey are peppered with preconditions that corner Armenia into making
concessions and pose an extreme threat to our national interests,
security and future. Clearly, Turkey is not wasting any time.

The Sarkisian administration’s self-righteous posturing and hollow
promises signal that they are either truly out of touch or are the
stranglehold on Armenia is so tight that they are unable to catch up
with the paradigm shifts that have occurred since that ill-fated day
in Moscow in 2008 when Sarkisian extended the invitation and kicked
off the so-called "soccer diplomacy" fiasco.

>From the onset this process was doomed and the administration did not
ask for or seek national consensus, instead it turned away allies,
alienated a significant portion of the Diaspora and polarized the
entire nation.

The upcoming six weeks are a critical time for Armenia and
Armenians. The protocol-mandated six week domestic political vetting
period leading up to the return soccer match in Istanbul and the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs visit at the end of this month with the
revised Madrid Principles will test how adeptly we, as a nation,
can maneuver this crucial turning point in history.

Political forces and organizations in the Diaspora must come together
to ensure that their decades-long struggle is not pushed to the side
in favor of a defeatist agreement and the Armenian government, with
its president, foreign ministry and Diaspora ministry should rally
the entire nation toward an uncompromising national solution.