OSKANIAN ‘ASTONISHED’ BY SARKISIAN’S STATEMENT ON TURKEY ARMENIA — FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER VARTAN OSKANIAN SPEAKS AT AN EVENT ORGANIZED BY HIS CIVILTAS FOUNDATION, UNDATED.
Ruzanna Stepanian

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26.04.2010

Former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian slammed on Monday the official
freezing of Armenian parliamentary ratification of the fence-mending
agreements with Turkey, saying that President Serzh Sarkisian has
opted for the worst possible response to the Turkish delay tactic.

Oskanian said the effective collapse of the normalization process has
vindicated Armenian critics of Sarkisian’s Western-backed policy of
rapprochement with Turkey. He also insisted that the Nagorno-Karabakh
negotiating process has taken on a dangerous turn for the Armenian
side.

"I am astonished by two things," Oskanian said in a written statement,
commenting on Sarkisian’s April 22 announcement. "First, the government
is openly acknowledging that for one whole year they watched as Turkey
placed preconditions before them, Turkey exploited the process for
its own benefit, and they not only tolerated this, but continuously
insisted that this is not happening and that this whole process is
a big success and an unprecedented diplomatic victory."

"Second, if there were half a dozen possible exit strategies from
this situation – from doing nothing to revoking Armenia’s signature –
the government has chosen the option least beneficial to us," he said.

"Turkey no longer has an obligation to open the border before the
Karabakh conflict is resolved, which is what Turkey had wanted all
along. The Armenian side did that which is most desirable for Turkey:
neither ratified the protocols, nor revoked them, thus giving Turkey
the opportunity to continue to remain actively engaged in the Karabakh
process."

Oskanian, who served as foreign minister in the administration of
former President Robert Kocharian from 1998-2008, has been a vocal
critic of the Turkish-Armenian protocols signed last October. He
has repeatedly said that Ankara has no intention to unconditionally
normalize ties with Yerevan and will exploit the protocols to halt
broader international recognition of the Armenian genocide and try
to clinch more Armenian concessions to Azerbaijan.

In his April 22 televised address to the nation, Sarkisian accused
the Turks of having done "everything to protract time and fail the
process." But he said he has decided not to walk away from the deal for
now "out of respect" for the United States and other foreign powers.

"It was clear from the beginning that a prolonged presentation of the
desirable as real is not sustainable, and that the government would
have to finally acknowledge reality," said Oskanian.

The former minister, who currently heads a Yerevan-based
think-tank, the Civilitas Foundation, also stood by his claims that
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks mediated by the U.S, Russia and France
are "proceeding unfavorably" for the Armenian side. "The situation
must be corrected, even if that requires making clear policy changes,"
he said without elaborating.

Oskanian earlier expressed concern about the still undisclosed
changes which the mediating powers made late last year in their "basic
principles" of a Karabakh settlement originally put forward in 2007.

The Azerbaijani leaders have welcomed those changes, saying that they
made the proposed settlement largely acceptable to Baku. Yerevan’s
public reaction to the modified peace plan has been more ambiguous.