TURKEY’S ECONOMIC EXPANSION BIGGEST THREAT TO ARMENIA
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.09.2009 GMT+04:00
Despite the sluggish protests of the opposition and some
pro-governmental parties, the Foreign Minister will sign the
Armenian-Turkish agreement.
Little time is left for consideration till October 14, when
Turkish and Armenian national football teams meet in the frames
of a World Cup qualifying match. The question is whether to sign
or not sign the Protocols on the normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations. Discussions are held not only in Armenia, where the entire
population seems to be engaged in the process, but also in Turkey.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In both countries there are supporters and
opponents of normalization of relations but, frankly speaking,
neither of the sides will be listened to at the decisive moment. Thus,
there will happen what the world powers are pushing the two countries
to. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the number of opponents and
supporters, even for the simple opening of the border is nearly the
same in both countries. For some reason people in Armenia consider
that the Turks want the border opened for the mere aim to crush the
Armenians economically and to dictate their political will. Indeed,
there is a grain of truth in this fear, but it is only a grain since
almost the same is believed also by the Turks: Armenians will stream
into Turkey, build hotels on the shores of Lake Van and inflate
property prices. And all this at the time of crisis and enormous
foreign debt. The trouble is that we basically draw the information
about Turkey from the Azerbaijani media which writes about everything
>From the standpoint of Official Baku. Hence the extreme nervousness
of Baku, which neither the President nor the Prime Minister of Turkey
will be able to dispel.
As for Armenia, despite the sluggish protests of the opposition and
some pro-governmental parties, the Foreign Minister will sign the
Armenian-Turkish agreement. The same applies to Ahmet Davutoglu. And
all these meetings with party leaders are simply a tribute paid to
international and "democratic" standards. However, the Protocols have
an excellent loophole in case of "unpleasant" turn of events: they
shall enter into force only after being ratified by the parliaments
of both countries. And this may result in a number of complications in
the Turkish parliament, which, however, is almost completely composed
of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) members. However, this
majority is not like our silent majority that votes as ordered. Among
the AKP members there are a lot of people really dissatisfied with
Gul and Erdogan’s policy towards Europe and Armenia. And there is
also opposition, led by Deniz Baykal, which roughly speaking, is a
lobbyist for Baku. There exist also ultranationalists who are ready to
just kill anyone who would urge Turkey to reconcile with "unfaithful"
Armenia. So, it is absurd to claim that Turkey merely "dreams" about
conquering Armenia. It is true that Turkey, and before it the Ottoman
Empire, is enemy number 1 for the Armenians. But from a different
outlook, similar enemy to Turkey are the Armenians: disturbing,
always demanding, writing letters to all international bodies. Only
unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, no one wants to listen to them.
However, let us return to the discussions that are becoming more and
more frivolous daily. Indeed, why should the Health Commission or the
Public Chamber of the Republic of Armenia discuss the Protocols? Or
why should it be done by the Agriculture Commission, whose concern,
however, is grounded: the Armenian market might be flooded with cheap
fruit and vegetables from the border provinces, as a result of which
our farmers would eventually go bankrupt.
In our view the right thing to do would not be to discuss the contents
of the Protocols, which are interpreted by politicians in a manner
suitable to them, but to try to produce some legal mechanism that
would help to avoid the negative consequences of the normalization
of relations with Turkey. Instead of "exchange" of opinions we need
laws that would prevent the import of Turkish food into Armenia and
restrict the exports of manufactured goods. In other words, the economy
of Armenia must be prepared for the possible Turkish expansion. This
is very serious because in the view of imperfectness of the laws
and the pursuit of profit, we may simply award the Turks a chance
to buy real estate, and what the politicians say may come true with
the connivance of those same politicians, by the way. In Turkey, for
example, foreign nationals cannot buy real estate for any money. It is
so also in Armenia, but for great amounts you can do everything. So,
in the long run, all these "discussions" are useless; they are just
a great PR-campaign for our politicians, analysts and experts.
In fact, everything will be signed, ratified, President of Armenia
will attend the football match, and the Armenian team will lose
again. The scenario will repeat itself..