WHAT WOULD BE WITH GUL NOW
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir.am
3/02/10

It is interesting to know what Serge Sargsyan would do to Abdullah
Gul if the Turkish football national team scored now and not on
October 14, 2009 in Bursa 4 days after the signing of the Armenian
and Turkish protocols. At that time, though the Turkish footballers
scored, Serge Sargsyan seemed to be happier than Gul showing to the
world that football is just for fun and diplomacy is work which he
carries out successfully.

Now the situation has much changed. Listening to the speeches of the
members of the Republican Party, you start thinking that Gul is lucky
not to have to watch a football match jointly with Armenians.

Otherwise, if the Turks scored, Serge Sargsyan sitting next to him
would not manage to say anything to Gul because the RP members would
precede him who now are engaged in tearing up the Turkish government
with their statements.

The reason is clear. Turkey is not ratifying the Armenian and Turkish
protocols and keeps affirming that until there is no progress in the
Karabakh issue, it will not ratify them. And after the RA CC decision,
the Turkish party started presenting it as a precondition by the
Armenian side trying to shift the blame for freezing or failing of the
process on Armenia. Armenia has only to hope for the international
society not to accept the Karabakh issue as a precondition and not
to agree with the Turkish affirmations that the decision of the RA
constitutional court is a precondition.

The international society seems to support Armenia in these issues
and welcomes the CC decision stating that the Armenian and Turkish
relations and the Karabakh issue are not to be tied. Turkey seems to
have to get excited even more, but you see, Turkey is calmer than
Armenia. At least, Turkey, maybe invented, but presents concrete
accusations to Armenia, and Armenia does not do anything else bur says
"you are fool, yourself". Besides this, and besides hoping that the
international community perceives well, the official Yerevan does
not have any other response.

In general, in the whole Armenian and Turkish process, the official
Yerevan does not seem to have anything to say. Either it hugs Turks
when affairs move forward, or it insults them when processes stopped.

Yerevan does not seem to have participated in the Armenian and Turkish
process otherwise. This is the reason why Armenian learns about
the turnovers of this process in the night because Yerevan does not
know what is happening during the day. Most likely during the day,
somewhere something is decided, then Yerevan is called and informed
that a statement has been adopted or a document has been signed.

After, Yerevan has only to praise the Turks or to complain of them.

Now, since there is no night decision, Yerevan finds fault with the
Turks. While the Turks are perhaps busy with preparing a regular
"night". Of course this does not mean the night cannot be good
for Yerevan too. But the problem is not its being good or bad, but
Armenia’s role and status in it.