TURKEY WILL KEEP PROMISES GIVEN TO AZERBAIJAN – EXPERT
Lala B.

news.az
May 7 2010
Azerbaijan

David Barchard News.Az interviews David Barchard, an expert on
Turkish history, the Communications and Design Department at Bilkent
University.

What can you say about the decision of President Sargsyan to suspend
the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey?

I am disappointed with this statement made in anticipation of April
24. It reflects the conditions established in the world and related
to Armenia. But I hope this step will get the due assessment of the
representatives of the world community that are interested in peace
in the region.

How will this decision affect the Karabakh settlement? For example,
the Armenian analysts say that Sargsyan’s decision will push Turkey
to greater compromises in the relations with Armenia and separation
from the Azerbaijani-Turkish agreements.

The process has frozen and I hope there will be the required
stimulation of the process by the world community in order to attain
progress in this direction. People in Turkey are very principal in
their attitude to the Azerbaijani factor in this issue. Meanwhile,
the public opinion in Turkey is very sensitive to this problem and
I would not say that the position of the position of the Turkish
government coincides with it.

Are you sure that Turkey will keep loyal to Azerbaijani interests in
its ties with Armenia?

Yes, I think that Turkey will always keep promises given to Azerbaijan
in line with the interests of its people.

Obama did not use the word "genocide" in his message to the Armenian
community on April 24. Does it mean changes in the attitude of official
Washington to Turkey and regional problems?

No, this is just the repetition of events that have occurred earlier.

I would like to repeat that former US president Bush Jr. also avoided
this word, using ‘violence, termination’ and others. I think they
will continue replacing the word ‘genocide’ with some other concept.

However, Armenia continues putting pressure. This will continue
unless the world does not create a more informed opinion regarding
this issue and I am not quite sure that this will occur soon.

I do not expect great changes in the situation. It is obvious
that the deterioration of the US-Turkish relations may cause many
implications, in particular, this may affect the Injirlik base,
which is a cornerstone of the US presence in Middle East.

On the one hand, Armenians say they are ready to normalization and on
the other hand they are trying to impose ‘genocide’ on the word. What
do you think is the reason of such a discrepant position of Yerevan?

Here we can speak of the pressure put on Armenia. Probably, Sargsyan
is not happy about his actions against Turkey. In particular, there
was a strong pressure on the part of different forces in period on
April 24. It is not surprising that the diaspora which has large
material potential puts such a pressure on Armenia.

Do you think the world will ever recognize independence of Nagorno
Karabakh like it once recognized independence of Kosovo like Russia
has already recognized independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia?

I do not think this will happen as the situation in Nagorno Karabakh
does not meet the relevant criteria.

On the whole, the recent history in Mediterranean and Black Sea
region proves the serious mistakes in the US foreign policy. The same
mistake is the creation of conditions for the greater rapprochement
of Azerbaijan with Russia. I hope Americans will change their current
approaches to solution of the regional problems.