TO VISIT OR NOT TO VISIT — THAT IS THE QUESTION…
Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Aug 26 2009
Armenia
10:24 / 08/26/2009NEWS.am continues to publish comments on whether
RA President Serzh Sargsyan should visit Turkey or not. The visit
was planned in return for Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s vitis to
Yerevan. However, pressurized by Azerbaijan Turkish side started
putting preconditions and link Armenia-Turkey normalization to
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. And by doing so, Turkey comes in
contradiction with the ‘road-map’ that Foreign Ministries of Armenia
and Turkey have agreed upon. Russian experts assess the situation:
"Definitely, Armenia-Turkey relations need to be normalized however,
the process should not develop at the expense of Armenian unilateral
concessions," Russian Strategic Culture Foundation expert declared.
He hailed RA President’s statement (on that he will not visit Turkey
unless Armenia-Turkey border is opened) as quite an adequate tactical
step that "gives Turkish leadership an opportunity to demonstrate
whether their intentions towards Armenia are fair or not."
As Armenian President has not made his final decision "all depends
on whether Turkish side will reveal a constructive approach or
not." The expert reckons that the visit may as well take place as a
full-fledged official visit rather than within the framework of the
‘football diplomacy’. Areshev considers it will be more reasonable
rather than "making steps unconditioned by the actual situation."
As Turkish side is making contradicting statements, the expert wonders
whether unblocking of Armenian border gate is at all a topical issue
in Turkey: "This problem is mostly treated as a game with the United
States and the European Union. What we see in reality is Turkish
PM Erdogan’s statement directly linking Karabakh issue under Azeri
conditions with opening of the [Armenia-Turkey] border."
However, Head of Russian Military Forecast Center Anatoly Tsyganok
has a diametrically opposite opinion. Tsyganok told NEWS.am that RA
President Serzh Sargsyan should visit Turkey regardless developments
in Armenia-Turkey diplomatic relations. "Armenian President should not
miss the opportunity to have a direct talk with Turkish President,"
Tsyganok asserted.
Alexander Sungurov, President of the Saint Petersburg Centre for
Humanities and Political Studies "Strategy", also said President of
Armenia should make the visit.