OLD QUESTION, DIFFERENT TENDENCIES: ARMENIA, TURKEY TAKE UP NEW APPROACHES TO NORMALIZATION
Naira Hayrumyan
03.05.10
In the wake of Armenia’s announcement of having suspended ratification
of normalization protocols with Turkey, some Armenian politicians want
to toughen demands on renewed negotiations, to include territorial
claims on land overtaken by Turkey during the Armenian Genocide.
According to vice-chairman of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
Galust Sahakyan, Turkey does not admit the Ottoman-era genocide of
Armenians because it understands that legal claims will inevitably
be made by Armenia.
"The people who fell victim to the policies of bloodthirsty Turkish
authorities owned land and property. That is why we offer Turkey to
settle all these issues diplomatically. Otherwise, the very notion
of the Turkish state may be shaken," said Sahakyan.
In fact, Sahakyan has warned Turkey that unless it ratifies
the protocols without preconditions, Armenia will start making
territorial and other claims. So far, Armenia has officially advanced
no territorial claims to Turkey.
Head of the opposition Heritage Party’s faction in parliament Stepan
Safaryan believes that Yerevan should clarify its position regarding
the Treaty of Kars. It was that treaty signed in 1921 that defined
Turkey’s current borders and the treaty is not recognized by Armenia.
Safaryan says that a new process should be started with Turkey on
establishing diplomatic relations and opening the border. "And if
Ankara again sets preconditions, Yerevan should raise the issue of
compensation and borders," said the Armenian lawmaker.
Another major tendency in the process is barefaced attempts by
Turkey to link the Armenian-Turkish process with the settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"We accept the concept of ‘without preconditions’ in Armenian-Turkish
normalization, but something else comes before it for us, namely
ensuring peace in the region, which is impossible without resolving
the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan," said Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently.
Armenia’s former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, meanwhile, believes
that the suspension of the protocols ratification process has freed
Turkey from all commitments on opening the border.
"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," wrote Oskanian in an opinion piece last week.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said: "If someone wants
to establish relations with their housemate, this does not mean that
all problems in the house or in the district must be solved for that.
According to this logic, we should have told the Turks that until
issues were resolved with Cyprus we would not engage in a relationship
with them."
The third important tendency observed recently is the activation
of the Nakhijevan factor. The currently Azeri exclave of Nakhijevan
was handed over to Azerbaijan under the Treaty of Kars for "temporary
protectorate". Now Turkey says that it is the guarantor of Nakhijevan’s
security, that Nakhijavan is alone facing the threats coming from
Armenia, said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. He said that
the security and welfare of Nakhijevan is "our security and welfare."
Based on the current situation opposition parties in Armenia call for
revoking the signature of Armenia put to the protocols last October.
Secretary of the parliamentary faction of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) Artyusha Shahbazyan stressed that the
decision of the Armenian authorities to suspend the Armenian-Turkish
protocols ratification process did not introduce any real changes
in relations between Ankara and Yerevan, because at any moment the
protocols may be again put on the agenda of parliament and ratified,
which is not favorable for the Armenian side.
The opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC), in its turn,
disseminated a statement in which it blamed the authorities for their
failure to dissociate the Armenian-Turkish process from the Karabakh
settlement. "Getting the [Armenian] renunciation of the genocide
without paying anything for that, Turkey is now building on its
victory, demanding the return of Aghdam and Fizuli [Armenian-controlled
districts surrounding Karabakh] to Azerbaijan.
And judging by some reports, it has already received the support of
a number of states in this issue," the ANC said in the statement.