ARMENIA WILL NOT BENEFIT FROM OPENING THE BORDER, A FORMER DEPUTY DEFENCE MINISTER SAYS AND OFFERS CONDITIONS TO TURKEY
Nelly Grigoryan
Aravot
April 15 2009
Armenia
[Correspondent] What processes are going on in the region and to
what extent are they connected with the [possible] opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border, taking into account Russia’s and the USA’s
activity?
[Former Deputy Defence Minister Vahan Shirkhanyan] August 2008
[Russian-Georgian war] set a task of reconsidering strategies for
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The new geopolitical situation
created problems for Turkey as well. The latter got convinces that
NATO’s guarantee is not sufficient for the secure operation of the
Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Azerbaijan understood that it might be
necessary to drop the Nabucco project [gas pipeline to deliver
Caspian and Central Asian gas to Europe bypassing Russia]. The
Turkish-American influence, which had been introduced for years,
started to yield quickly to Russian influence. Naturally, in order
to maintain its influence in the region Turkey had to find a way out
and it calculated that Armenia is the weakest link. The unsettled
Karabakh conflict, the label of an aggressor country, its isolation
from regional economic projects should push Armenia to concessions
and open a new field for Turkish influence.
[Correspondent] Do you believe that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border is possible at present?
[Shirkhanyan] The strangest thing is that Armenia does not only agree
to but also suggests opening the border without preconditions. It
is not clear why Turkey should set conditions when it itself closed
the border, when it itself incited the Karabakh-Azerbaijan conflict,
when it itself used almost all elements of hostilities against Armenia
– threat of using force, demonstration of force, blockade, setting
ultimatums, etc. That is who should dictate conditions to whom? It is
Armenia who has political, international and moral rights to dictate
conditions, and we should use this right. The conditions are the
following: Turkey recognizes Artsakh’s [Karabakh’s] independence,
Turkey recognizes the fact of the genocide [killings of Armenians
in Ottoman Turkey in 1915], Turkey withdraws its military units from
Naxcivan [Azerbaijani exclave].
Afterwards Armenia and Artsakh will decide in a joint referendum to
open or not to open the border with Turkey. Armenia and Armenians will
not benefit anything from opening this border, they will lose, and
Turkey will definitely win both in political and economic terms. The
opening of the border will significantly mitigate the threat of
recognition of the genocide for Turkey. Turkey will demand that the
Naxcivan – Meghri [district in southern Armenia] – Baku road should
be opened. Then Russian troops should withdraw. The opinions voiced
regarding economic benefits are so groundless that I would not like to
speak about those at all. Of course, Armenian-Turkish relations need
to be settled some time. However, the opening of the Turkish border is
not permissible in the current moral-political environment, lack of
trust between the authorities and the public, government corruption,
vulnerability of domestic producers, imperfection of tax and customs
laws in Armenia.
[Correspondent] Can the Karabakh issue be bypassed in talks on the
settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations, as the Armenian government
says?
[Shirkhanyan] Of course, not. Otherwise, the Armenian authorities
would not be repeating the "without preconditions" phrase all day
long. The Turkish leadership never hid that the border was closed to
put pressure on Armenia in the Karabakh issue. In the last four days
the Turkish president, prime minister and parliament reiterated their
resoluteness – by linking the opening of the border to a settlement
of the Karabakh issue in Azerbaijan’s favour.