ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SARGSIAN’S MEETING WITH TURKISH PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN DIDN’T ROUSE A KEEN RESPONSE
By Hakob Chaqrian
AZG Armenian Daily
03/02/2009
Armenia-Turkey
Before that, Edogan upbraided Israeli President Peres
In our previous issue we mentioned that Turkish Foreign Minister
Ali Babacan and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made obscure
announcements of the possible meeting with Armenian President Serzh
Sargsian in Davos, in order to keep the arranged meeting from the
counteraction of the opposition.
In spite of their watchfulness, on the threshold of the meeting Deputy
Chairman of the Republican People’s Party Onur Oymen delivered a speech
in the Turkish Grand National Assembly and blamed Erdogan’s government,
"The Armenian government hasn’t yet freed even a village in Nagorno
Karabakh. It hasn’t renounced its Karabakh strategy. The relations
with Armenia develop with unilateral concessions of Turkey".
Perhaps Oymen’s speech might be considered as an attempt to cast
aspersions on Sargsian-Erdogan meeting, if not Edogan’s participation
in the session of the World Economic Forum under heading "Gaza – a
model for the Middle East", when the Turkish Prime Minister upbraided
Israeli President Shimon Peres (live broadcast) and abandoned the
conference-hall demonstratively.
To all appearance, this sensational incident has cast aspersions
on Sargsian-Erdogan meeting that according to the Turkish Public
TV remained in the shadow of the incident. The meeting was hardly
touched on by the Turkish newspapers as well.
Moreover, PM Edogan met with Serzh Sargsian after abandoning the
conference-hall of the above-mentioned session, when he had already
decided to return to Ankara.
Perhaps it was the reason why the meeting between the Armenian
President and Turkish Prime Minister lasted for about 30 minutes,
according to Turkish sources. The sides spoke with each other with
the help of interpreters that actually shortens the duration of the
meeting in half.
Erdogan didn’t make any announcement at the end of the meeting,
that is why Turkish Public TV represented only RA President Serzh
Sargsian’s announcement mentioning briefly, "The first meeting of the
two leaders is an important step in Turkish-Armenian relations. While
assessing the meeting Sargsian said, ‘It was our first meeting. I am
sure that it was useful. It was a step forward on the way to solution
of available issues. Time will show the impact of the meeting on
Turkish -Armenian relations".
By the way, the same source informs that the previous day of
Sargsian-Erdogan meeting a conference wad held in the framework of a
forum under heading "Big game again". According to the Turkish TV,
a meeting was arranged between the leaders of Turkey, Armenia and
Azerbaijan in the framework of the conference, but in vain. Instead
of the Armenian President Serzh Sargsian RA Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian participated in the conference together with Turkish PM
Erdogan, Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Iranian Foreign Minister
Mottakki. The participants mainly concentrated on Armenia-Turkey and
Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.
According to the Turkish Public TV, in his speech Turkish PM Erdogan
said, "The aim is to contribute to the peace in the region. The sides
should take bold steps. It will be sad if those steps fall victim to
the activities of Diaspora".
In response to Erdogan, Armenian Foreign Minister Nalbandian first
demanded not to concentrate on those activities (Diaspora) in Davos
and then he reminded about the favorable atmosphere created after
Turkish President Gul’s visit to Yerevan underlining the necessity
of opening of the border and establishment of diplomatic relations
between Armenia and Turkey without preconditions.
What about RA President Serzh Sargsian, with not participating in the
above-mentioned conference he evidently failed Ankara’s plan to hold
a trilateral meeting of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Turkish Presidents
in Davos under the patronage of Turkish PM Erdogan; President Sargsian
had already met with his Azerbaijani counterpart in Zurich.