KARABAKH ISSUE JUST ONE OF SUBTOPICS OF COMPLEX ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS
Leyla Tagiyeva

news.az
Dec 22 2009
Azerbaijan

Alexander Rusetsky News.Az interviews Alexander Rusetsky, director
of the Tbilisi-based South Caucasus Regional Security Institute.

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan assured the press that during the
negotiations with President Obama he said Turkey will not normalize
relations with Armenia before the latter withdraws its troops from
the occupied Azerbaijani land. Do you think this is true, and will
the United States accept this position?

The truth is that the Armenians were forced to flee the land on which
they had been dwelling and forming their culture for many centuries.

On one side of the border is Ararat which they consider their national
symbol and the ruins of Ani, one of the first capital cities of
Armenia. This prompts a reaction from the Armenians including the
occupation of part of Azerbaijan and provocative action in Georgia.

The Karabakh issue is just one sub-topics in the complex
Armenian-Turkish relations and unless the issue of their legal and
worthy return to these territories of the present-day Turkey, the
insinuations of improvement of relations will be just a lie- this
international quasi-peacekeeping actions will do not any good.

Will Georgia benefit or lose under such consequence: "resolution
of the Karabakh conflict-opening of the Armenian-Turkish relations"
and in case of changes in this consequence?

Georgia will benefit from the good neighbor relations between
its neighbors not contradicting to its strategic interests. I do
not recommend settling these regional issues without Georgia’s
participation. Neighbor countries should also take a more active
and open part in the settlement of Georgia’s conflict. On the whole,
the countries should reach a permanent regional format which plays
consultative functions.

This will promote creation of a general security system in the South
Caucasus.

How do you assess the overall diplomatic activeness of Turkey on
stabilizing situation in the South Caucasus?

This is the activeness which has a great importance for international
security and this is a constructive policy. This is how I evaluate
the resulting vector. Yet, we should take into account that all
these activities primarily come from all the threats that Turkey
feels especially after summer 2008.

What do you think is the cause of this activeness of Ankara?

This is connected with many aspects including the opportunity to curb
Russia’s aggression and the US access. These are preventive measures.

But they are not sufficient to preserve balance of powers in Turkey’s
favor. Here one can single out the process of strengthening of ties
between Turkey and Iran including on limited presence of off-region
actors.

What is the reason of the current readiness of Armenians to contact
with Turkey which is perceived by Armenia as one of the main enemies
in the region?

The reasons are speculative intrigues of the global concern that
have no real opportunities to bring the case to a positive result. I
do not think that the real interests of Armenia and Turkey or their
ordinary citizens are quite taken into consideration in this game.

Do you think Turkey that also has problems with Armenia will be able
to attain normalization of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations?

Certainly, it will. Turkey can create an opportunity for Armenians to
return the territories from which they were forcedly driven away. They
should return there not as tourists. We should not forget that not only
ethnic Turks took an active part in the mass termination of Armenians
which is very important. Not Turks should bear responsibility like
victim Armenian mentality considers. This is Turkey and, perhaps,
not only Turkey that must bear responsibility as a state.

In this case Armenians will be obliged to return Karabakh Azerbaijanis
to their homelands and to surrender the occupied lands and the conflict
will finally be oriented to resolution.

This will not weaken Turkey, but on the contrary, it will strengthen
this country in Europe and Asia. The important is that the decision
was reached by not the left-wing but the right wing parties. Then
this decision will be worthy and full of sense.