‘I REPEAT, NO PRECONDITIONS’: US ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE ON ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

Tert.am
30.09.09

Summing up U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meetings with the
foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon
referred to the establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations, states
the US Department of State official website.

Speaking on the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, Philip Gordon reconfirmed
U.S. assistance to the process.

"We support the process that is designed to lead to normalization
between Turkey and Armenia — establishment of diplomatic relations,
opening a border. This is a difficult process that faces some political
opposition in both places, and it’s hard for both governments. And so
when we say reasonable timeframe, we mean just that: that it’s not just
the process that we want to see, but we also want to see a conclusion
to the process, and that’s what we’re underscoring when we say that.

"And as you know, the Armenian Government itself has long underscored
that this should move ahead without preconditions and in a reasonable
timeframe. So that is their view of it, as it is ours."

In answer to the question if "without preconditions" implies that
Armenians don’t stipulate that Turkey recognizes the genocide, Philip
Gordon said "no preconditions means no preconditions on either side."

"There are lots of things that one could try to link this process to,
and what we are saying is that the process is inherently valuable,
that we think that Turkey-Armenian normalization is a good thing,
and it shouldn’t wait for other things to get done or be linked to
other things; it should go ahead," Gordon said.

He also added that "Armenia, without an open border with Turkey,
is isolated. We saw during the war in Georgia in August 2008 that
it could be even further isolated when negative things happen in the
region. And a normal relationship with Turkey would hat would benefit
the people of both countries today. It would facilitate trade between
them. And so we actually do think that there is a historic opportunity
in the region."

In answer to a comment stating that "there’s no immediate benefit
for Nagorno-Karabakh," Philip Gordon said, "What we’ve said — and
that’s, again, this issue of no linkages and no preconditions — we
think Turkey-Armenia would benefit the two countries in and of itself."