TURKEY KEEPS INSISTING ON NON-CONSTRUCTIVE PRECONDITIONS – EXPERTS

10:33 * 26.02.15

Turkologists in Armenia express their criticism of Turkish foreign
minister’s recent statement linking the bilateral reconciliation
process with the unsettled Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

According to Artak Shakaryan, Mevlut Cavushoglu’s call for leaving
Nagorno-Karabakh without Armenians fully fits within the logic adopted
in the 1990’s (when Turkey closed its state border with Armenia as
a sign of solidarity with Azerbaijan).

“Back in the 1990s, Turkey would insist on the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue, with Armenia always saying that the relations should never be
contingent upon third countries. Armenia never imposed any condition
on Turkey to urge for the withdrawal of its troops from Cyprus, and
it never made it a precondition for [normalizing] the Armenia-Turkey
ties,” he told Tert.am.

“We have always been ready for the unconditional normalization
of ties, but we also saw that Turkey wouldn’t back away from its
preconditions. So Turkey alone is to blame for the failure.”

In a speech in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, on Wednesday, the
Turkish official slammed Armenia for a “failure to pass the openness
test” which he said led to the decision to withdraw the 2009 bilateral
protocols from parliament. He also reiterated the Turkish authorities’
earlier calls for “liberating the Azerbaijani territories”.

Noting that the Turkish authorities have so far taken no essential step
to enforce the bilateral protocols signed in Zurich (Switzerland), the
Turkologist said he finds that the ball is now in that country’s court.

“For them, the protocols’ signing was not principally essential;
what mattered was their availability. The Turkish side was doing all
its best to keep the protocols on the agenda, so the withdrawal from
the Armenian parliament makes them nervous,” Shakaryan said, adding
that he expects the country to do everything possible to keep the
documents alive.

Speaking to Tert.am, Turkologist Levon Hovespyan described the
Turkish official’s remark as an attempt to justify the country’s
earlier efforts towards derailing the process.

“The entire process’ failure is due to Turkey, as their activities
in the past six years were targeted at killing the process. So Turkey
translated that into action. All they can do now is to pretend, with
statements of the kind, that they are ready to keep the process going,”
he added.

The expert said he hasn’t seen any constructive step by Turkey over
the past period, with the only strategy remaining the rhetoric of
preconditions.

“It is important to note at the same time that the Armenian side’s
decision did not come as a surprise to Turkey, but they will long
speculate that fact, demonstrating that the ball is in Armenia’s
court. That’s for certain. Turkey has clearly shown what policies it
pursues and what intentions it has, i.e. – the language of blackmails
and use of pressure mechanisms,” he added.