TIME-FOR OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM: HURRIYET
news.am
Armenia
April 30 2010
NEWS.am posts the article "April 24: A time for optimism and pessimism"
by Barcin Yinanc published in Turkish Hurriyet daily.
"When Turkey started the reconciliation process with Armenia it had
two aims: to curb Armenia’s ‘genocide’ recognition efforts and to
find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in exchange for
the normalization of relations and the opening of borders. Yet
the Nagorno-Karabakh dimension got lost in the process. That was
the critical mistake that made the process doomed to failure," the
daily reports.
"Turkey had to keep the Karabakh dimension in sight and get the
Azerbaijanis at least indirectly involved. The statements of the ruling
Justice and Development Party, or AKP, that Baku was informed at all
stages never reflected the truth. The Ä°lham Aliyev administration
not only insisted that it was kept in the dark but also emphasized
that it needed to be consulted, not just informed," the source says.
"Most probably, the current government took the &’two states, one
nation’ concept to mean &’Ankara decides, Baku follows. Since that
concept was not perceived as such by Baku, the AKP government has
hit the wall. That’s why Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rushed
to Azerbaijan and made his famous statement that the normalization
protocols signed with Armenia will not pass Parliament prior to
a solution on Karabakh. I believe that by doing so, he delivered a
fatal blow to the reconciliation process, and it was at this time
that the process got stuck,’" the daily informs.
"The Armenians, however, have proved better at mismanaging the
process. Actually, one should not be that surprised-after all, we are
the children of the same land. The Armenian Constitutional court’s
decision offered the alibi the AKP was looking for on a golden plate.
Turkey did not miss a minute to use the court’s decision to hide its
unwillingness to pass the protocols through Parliament. Armenians
made an even bigger mistake by suspending the ratification process,
just ahead of the annual statement by U.S. President on April 24. If
Yerevan thought it could exert pressure on President Barack Obama
to use the &’g’ word, it probably saw one more time that strategic
interests outweighed moral values. Not only the &’g’ word was not used,
the suspension of the ratification process by Armenia has let Turkey
off the hook," the source reads.
"The government tried to negotiate a deal with Armenia, trying to
convince them to establish a commission of experts that will inquire
the past. But Turkey’s real counterpart for the past tragic events are
the Anatolian Armenians, some who live in Turkey and others dispersed
all over the world. If we want to face our past and reconcile with our
mistakes, we need to first start from the Turkish Armenian community.
The whole discussion is taking place in the absence of Turkish
Armenians. We need to immediately take measures to improve their
rights and respond to whatever needs they have; be it the restoration
of their churches or the solving of the problems of their foundations.
We should start to communicate with the Armenian diaspora as well,"
the daily says.
"By doing so, we should reiterate the fact that Turkey has closed
its borders with Armenia not because of its efforts to make genocide
claims recognized internationally but because of its occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh. And that while an internal process of reconciliation
with the past will speed up in Turkey, genocide claims will be less
of an important issue, while Karabakh will continue to be the main
obstacles in relations with Armenia," the daily emphasizes.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress