TURKEY IS AFRAID OF THE PROTOCOLS

Agos Weekly
=news&news_id=1444&cat_id=11
Feb 21 2010
Istanbul

The protocols, which plan for the creation of diplomatic relations
between Armenia and Turkey, set out a neighbourhood policy that can
incorporate the common past, and call for the opening of the land
border, are turning out to be more than Turkey can swallow.

Today, the Foreign Ministry of Turkey desperately tries to use an
annotation of the Armenian Constitutional Court in the approval
of the protocol. The campaign is on to make Turkish public opinion
believe that Armenia proposed an "additional condition" and "damaged
the essence" of the protocols. Yet, this campaign has to assume that
the public’s opinion is so ignorant as to be easily manipulated. As is
known by the Turkish public and the world, it was Turkey that proposed
additional conditions and bound itself unwisely with these additional
conditions. It was Tayyip Erdogan who made the issue of Karabakh
almost a "pre-condition" and committed to it in the Parliament of
Azerbaijan while there was not a single mention of Karabakh in the
protocols… Minister of Foreign Affairs Davutoglu also spoke in
the same manner, making the protocols an extension of the "alliance"
between Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Actually, Armenia should have objected at that point. They didn’t,
Turkey was shown tolerance, and apparently, this was the mistake.

However, along with the entire world noting that there was no
relationship between the protocols and Karabakh, Turkey withdrew inward
and it was revealed that the domination strategy conducted through
self-confidence in this process only turned out to be self-deception.

It cannot be taken seriously to pretend that the annotated approval
of the Armenian Constitutional Court is an obstacle. Before all else,
demonstrating any country’s reference to its own constitution as an
obstacle can be only possible for those who are alien to the state
tradition. The constitution in question was in force before the
signing of the protocols and was associated with the Declaration of
Independence in 1992. That the Armenian Constitutional Court approved
the protocols only by adding an annotation shows that they pushed their
state mentality to the limits. A society that believes in the existence
of genocide wholeheartedly and feels it in every family individually
allows disputability of this matter by the hand of the supreme court.

The annotation refers to article 11 of the Armenian Declaration of
Independence, and says that Armenia will support "the efforts in the
international arena for the recognition of 1915 Genocide". What can
be more natural? Or, is it supposed that signature of the protocols
implies that Armenia ceases to regard the 1915 events as genocide
officially? What is the use of a "historical commission" in this case?

As the protocols do not imply that Turkey names 1915 as genocide,
they do not prove that Armenia gives up the genocide argument,
either. Both countries will sustain their general stance in line with
their ideologies and constitutional frameworks. This is the meaning
of the protocols in opening a door between two countries without
offending their ongoing attitudes.

Unfortunately, while Turkey has passed the "democratic threshold" on
the Armenian issue, it has not passed the "psychological threshold"
yet. Turkey is afraid of the protocols… This is the only way of
explaining the awkward "conspiracy" scenes of Davutoglu. Isn’t it the
same timing every year for the draft likely to be brought to the U.S.

House of Representatives? Davutoglu claimed that it is "not
unconscious"… Was he expecting it to be unconscious? What would be
the "right timing" if he were a member of the Armenian Diaspora or
a U.S.

parliamentarian? Departing from the absence of any time pressure on
Turkey when the protocols were signed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs
has complained that Turkey was put under pressure by using the date
of April 24. It would be asked then, "What have you done so far?" Or,
are we doomed to such a shallow point of view that they could expect
the opening of border and postponement of the recognition of the
genocide eternally by signing a protocol?

It is not possible to imagine that the Foreign Ministry and the
state of Turkey could approach the matter so superficially. However,
no one should assume that the society of Turkey is so simple-minded
as to be satisfied with state manipulation. The only reason for the
blockage of the protocols period is that Turkey could not pass the
psychological threshold coming from the past and the government could
not carry this burden.

Turkey was scared of the protocols because it means "normalization"
that is not to be controlled by any state. In other words, both
societies will get to know each other again and recall their own
history together. The "Armenian" side longs for meeting and recalling,
the "Turkish" side is anxious about this. The past to be revealed
brings the "clean" history established by the Republic and the
dependent "clean" identity down to the ground, to reality.

In fact, the protocol is just a ghost… Turkey is scared of its own
past, itself.