Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Sept 6 2008
Gül’s visit raises hopes for symbolism paving way for thaw
Turkish national soccer team players arrived in Yerevan on
Friday. They play against the Armenian team today.
President Abdullah Gül will become the first Turkish president ever
to set foot in Armenia today in a visit largely viewed as symbolic but
that may well spur a period of rapprochement between the estranged
neighbors.
Gül will meet his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan, for about an
hour and dine with him before proceeding to Yerevan’s Hrazdan Stadium
to watch a World Cup qualifying game between the two countries’
national soccer teams. Officials have warned against overestimating
the meeting, underlining that it will be a "framework" meeting
discussing in general terms the primary bilateral disputes and a
Turkish proposal to establish a Caucasus platform to resolve regional
disputes.
But despite the short length of the meeting with Sarksyan and the
largely symbolic nature of the visit — Gül will stay for only five
or six hours in Yerevan — there are hopes that it could spark a
period of reconciliation eventually paving the way for a restoration
of relations between the two countries. Ankara severed its diplomatic
relations and closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in protest of the
Armenian occupation of a chunk of Azerbaijani territory in a dispute
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. According to the official policy,
ties will not be normalized unless Armenia withdraws from Azerbaijani
territory, stops backing its diaspora’s efforts to win international
recognition for Armenian genocide claims and officially recognizes its
border with Turkey.
If Turkey and Armenia can move beyond the symbolism to re-establish
normal relations, that could have huge significance for Turkey’s role
as a regional power, for energy flows from the Caspian Sea and for
Western influence in a South Caucasus region where Russia flexed its
muscles last month by sending troops into Georgia.
"Football [soccer] diplomacy will become a new term in the
international community’s lexicon," if after Saturday’s match there is
a real improvement in relations, former Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian told Reuters.
Russia’s decision last month to send its forces into Georgia, an
ex-Soviet state which borders both Armenia and Turkey, has convinced
many that it is time for Ankara and Yerevan to put their differences
aside. Western-backed pipelines shipping oil and gas from the Caspian
Sea to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast bypass Armenia and bend north
instead to go through Georgia. With that route looking vulnerable
after the Russian intervention, Armenia could be an attractive
alternative route.
Russia’s actions — which have unsettled its neighbors and been widely
condemned by the West — have also encouraged NATO member Turkey to
seek a bigger role as a regional power broker, a task hampered by its
lack of ties with Armenia.
"The crisis in Georgia has underlined the importance of good
neighborly relations in the region, including Turkish-Armenian
relations," said Olli Rehn, the European Union’s enlargement
commissioner.
Not everyone welcomes Gül’s visit. Turkey’s main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) urged the Turkish president not to
go. In Yerevan, the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party said it activists
would be at the airport where Gül is to arrive and the soccer stadium
to stage protests demanding Turkey recognize genocide claims.
Observers in both countries hope substantial negotiations will follow
on from Gül’s visit. For Yerevan, a first step would be for Turkey to
re-open the rail link with Armenia. For Ankara, it would be for
Armenia to stop lobbying foreign parliaments to recognize the genocide
claims, and for some movement on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. "I
suppose for Turkey it wants to strengthen its position in the region
and immediately wants to avoid a situation next year when the US
Congress would most likely pass a resolution recognizing the killings
as genocide," said William Hale, an author and expert on Turkish
politics.
The key, though, is what happens after the final whistle blows on
Saturday. "This is a feel-good all around," said Oskanian, who now
heads the Civilitas Foundation for democracy and development
issues. "The challenge is to make it a meaningful win-win and it can
be that only if there’s a continuation to this initial demonstrative
period," he said. "If this doesn’t happen … then Turkey will have
demonstrated that all this was just a show. And that means both
Armenia and the region will be the losers."
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Azerbaijan lawmakers, media resentful of Gül’s visit to Armenia
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has refrained from
criticizing President Abdullah Gül for making a visit to Armenia,
saying it is a decision that should be left up to Turkish authorities,
but Azerbaijani lawmakers and newspapers have voiced their disapproval
of the visit.
"It is not possible for Azerbaijan to get involved in this issue one
way or another," Mammadyarov told reporters on Thursday. He also noted
that his country supports Turkey’s proposal for a Caucasus Stability
and Cooperation Platform, a scheme that is planned to include Turkey,
Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
But lawmakers in the Azerbaijani parliament criticized the
visit. Sabir Rustemhanli, chairman of the Party of Citizens Unity,
claimed that Gül’s visit to Armenia was a result of pressure from the
United States and the European Union. He also warned that the visit
might undermine Azerbaijani trust in Turkey and said Turkey "should
keep its promises" of not having formal ties with Armenia unless
certain conditions are met.
Guler Ahmadova, a deputy from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, said
Armenia was still supporting propaganda efforts around the world
against Turkey and Azerbaijan and expressed regret that Gül had
decided to visit Armenia. Ä°stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
06 September 2008, Saturday
TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH REUTERS Ä°STANBUL