Author: Jane Topchian

Turkish Press: Çavuşoğlu: Special envoys of Turkey, Armenia to meet in Moscow

Jane Topchian
BIAnet, Turkey
Dec 27 2021


Çavuşoğlu: Special envoys of Turkey, Armenia to meet in Moscow

Seeking to normalize relations, the two countries appointed special envoys mid-December.
İstanbul – BIA News Desk27 December 2021, Monday 14:59

Moscow will host the first meeting between the special envoys of Turkey and Armenia to discuss steps for normalizing ties between the two countries, Turkey's foreign minister said today (December 27).

Speaking at a year-end evaluation of Turkey's foreign policy, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, "Our impression is that the first meeting will take place in Moscow, as Armenia desires. Aside from the first meeting, we also want communication to be held directly."

He said a roadmap towards normalizing ties needed to be set, adding that this would be on the first meeting's agenda.

Noting that charter flights between Turkey and Armenia would soon begin, he reiterated that Turkey was pursuing its normalization discussions in consultation and coordination with Azerbaijan.

Armenia's rhetoric has so far been positive, said the minister.

Citing the 2009 efforts by Ankara and Yerevan by Turkey to normalize relations, Çavuşoğlu said that though the previous attempt had been conducted in "good faith," the new process was separate.

"Within the framework of this process, new steps must be taken to normalize relations. This will be important for the stability, peace, and prosperity of the Caucasus," he said.

On December 15, Turkey appointed Serdar Kılıç, a former ambassador to the US, as its special envoy to discuss steps for normalization with Armenia. Three days later, Armenia also appointed its special representative for dialogue with Turkey, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan. (PT/VK)

Armenian PM participates in the informal meeting of the leaders of the CIS member states

Jane Topchian
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 28 2021
December 28, 2021, 18:22

 1 minute read

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the informal meeting of the leaders of the CIS member states in St. Petersburg.

The event was attended by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Toka, the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev.

First, the participants of the meeting took a “family photo”, then Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted those present.

Issues related to the development of cooperation in the CIS area, as well as joint measures to combat the coronavirus were discussed at the meeting.

Anna Popova, Acting Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, presented a detailed report on the work and measures taken against the coronavirus.

The meeting ended with an informal dinner of the CIS leaders.

PM Pashinyan, Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin hold phone conversation

Jane Topchian

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 09:32,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin.

Pashinyan and Mishustin discussed “agenda items of the Armenian-Russian trade-economic cooperation and integration partnership within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union,” the Armenian Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout.

“Joint priority issues of the fight against the coronavirus infection were addressed. Nikol Pashinyan and Mikhail Mishustin exchanged congratulations on New Year and Christmas holidays.”

FlyOne Armenia to operate Yerevan-Istanbul flights

Jane Topchian
Vestnik Kavkaza
Dec 31 2021
 31 Dec in 12:20

Armenian aviation authorities have allowed FlyOne Armenia airline to operate Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan charter flights, the airline told Armenpress news agency.

"Several days ago Flyone Armenia applied to the aviation authorities of Armenia and Turkey in order to get the permission to perform charter flights on Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan route. We thank the aviation authorities of Armenia for their positive response," FlyOne Armenia Board Chairman Aram Ananyan said.

Asked when the flights will start, Ananyan said they are waiting for the Turkish aviation authorities' permission.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on December 16 that Ankara was considering the applications of Turkish and Armenian airlines for operating flights between Istanbul and Yerevan.

Earlier, Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismayoglu said that flights between Armenia and Turkey will be resumed after a 2.5-year break. According to the Minister, the Turkish Pegasus Airlines will carry out the flights.

Photo collection about the Artsakh war by Czech photographer wins silver at Tokyo International Photo Awards

Jane Topchian
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 28 2021

The photo collection titled 'Lost War' by famous Czech photographer and editor Lenka Klicperova won silver at Tokyo International Photo Awards (TIFA 2021) in the category of Editorial/conflict. As orer.ru news portal reports, Lenka Klicperova with her colleague Marketa Kutilova visited Artsakh during the war and after it for three times to cover for the Czech television not only the sufferings of the local Armenia population during the intense bombardments of Stepanakert but also the tragedy of the displaced people who had to leave their houses.  

The authors had earlier published a book "The Last One Sets the Village on Fire".


Armenia PM Pashinyan will rule for another 10 years if opposition does nothing, says political scientist

Jane Topchian
 NEWS.am 
Dec 27 2021
09:14, 27.12.2021

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan plans to switch to a semi-presidential form of government, through constitutional reforms, and rule for another ten years as president, political scientist Armen Badalyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

"It is possible to change power in Armenia, but for that an objective must set. If there is no such objective, the opposition naturally starts writing statuses on social media and secondly, you start playing by the rules of the game drawn by the prime minister. And the prime minister has drawn the clear line: he is creating a system of one-man-rule governance, he is taking the local self-government bodies under his control, he took the Yerevan Municipality under his control. That is, we can say that the administrative resource [in Armenia] is mainly under its control. The Commission on Constitutional Reform has become active, which will publish a text of the semi-presidential system of government. The prime minister is likely to hold a referendum and get the percentage he wants—being cut off from parliamentary oversight. He will be elected president for five years, then he will continue for another five years, and ten years later it is already difficult to say who will be what, will not be; he gets a ten-year guarantee. The prime minister is now working on that process," Badalyan said.

Asked whether Pashinyan will succeed in this process, the political scientist said that if the opposition does nothing, Pashinyan will succeed in fulfilling this prediction.

"Apart from a few speeches in the NA [(National Assembly)], I do not see anything from the opposition. A march to Yerablur [Military Pantheon] in September, and a rally near the SJC [(Supreme Judicial Council)], I have not seen anything else. A change of power is possible if the opposition thinks seriously about it. Otherwise, the current leader may hold office for ten years or more," said Armen Badalyan.

Turkish press: Fees for burial plots in Istanbul’s cemeteries increaseFees for burial plots in Istanbul’s cemeteries increase

Jane Topchian
  • December 18 2021 07:00:00

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has approved a new hike in prices for empty burial plots starting in April 2022.

The maximum fee for a burial plot in the city’s famous cemeteries will be 41,140 liras ($2,450), a figure slightly higher than the previous fee of 37,400 liras ($2,250).

The lowest price for a burial plot will be 2,640 liras ($157).

The cost of a plot for a child’s coffin was kept the same, between 1,200 liras ($71) and 6,600 liras ($391), the prices applied last year.

While the fee of plots in cemeteries belonging to non-Muslims remained 500 liras ($30), an empty burial spot next to a specific one – reserved usually for relatives or spouses – went up from 4,800 ($285) liras to 5,280 liras ($313).

Istanbul, a metropolis where 70,000 people die every year on average, hosts 502 Muslim and 67 non-Muslim (Armenian, Greek, Jewish and Latin) cemeteries run by the municipality.

However, since some cemeteries are running out of spaces in the megacity, people have started selling cemetery plots on the black market for astronomic prices.


Armenpress: Armenian Vice Speaker of Parliament, Indian Ambassador highlight importance of North-South transportation corridor

Jane Topchian

Armenian Vice Speaker of Parliament, Indian Ambassador highlight importance of North-South transportation corridor

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 10:27,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Vice Speaker of Parliament, head of the Armenia-India friendship group Hakob Arshakyan received Ambassador of India to Armenia Kishan Dan Dewal, the Parliament’s press service reports.

The Vice Speaker of Parliament said that the rich historical past of the Armenian-Indian relations is the best base for expanding the inter-state ties. In this context he highlighted the Ambassador’s active participation and productive work.

“During the past 29 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Armenia and India managed to turn the deeply-rooted historical friendly ties into warm and partnering interstate relations”, Hakob Arshakyan said, highlighting specifically the role of the friendship groups within the inter-parliamentary partnership.

Talking about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Vice Speaker highlighted the importance of returning the Armenian captives from Azerbaijan and stated that Azerbaijan is not fulfilling the provisions of the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement. He said that in this regard Armenia appreciates India’s balanced statements and role in the international arena. Hakob Arshakyan noted that Armenia reaffirms its support to India over the Jammu and Kashmir issue and expressed hope that the problem will be solved peacefully.

According to Arshakyan, Armenia is cooperating with India in different areas. He brought as an example the export volumes to India which increased almost 20 times compared to 2019, comprising 73,4 million dollars, and the trade turnover between the two countries grew over 2,7 times.

In terms of boosting the tourism cooperation, the sides highlighted conducting direct flights between the two countries. The officials also discussed the partnership in the field of education, in particular noting that more than 3000 Indian students study in Armenia.

The importance of the North-South transportation corridor was also emphasized.

The Indian Ambassador also highlighted deepening the Armenian-Indian relations and stated that a friendship group will be formed in the Parliament of India soon. Kishan Dan Dewal also highlighted the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict with peaceful negotiations within the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

The California Courier Online, December 23, 2021

Jane Topchian

1-         Jesus, Obama and Muhammad Were Turks,
            According to Turkish False Claims
            By Harut Sassounian
            Publisher, The California Courier
            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2-         Anna Turcotte makes history as Westbrook, Maine, City
Council president
3-         Aram Gavoor Appointed Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
            at George Washington University Law School
4-         France’s Zemmour calls for defense of Armenia,
            a ‘Christian’ nation in ‘Islamic ocean’
5-         Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19

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1-         Jesus, Obama and Muhammad Were Turks,

            According to Turkish False Claims

            By Harut Sassounian
            Publisher, The California Courier
            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
There is nothing wrong with being proud of one’s nationality, ethnic
origin or religion. However, when that pride becomes so fanatical,
reaching the level of absurdity, then we are dealing with someone who
has lost all sense of reality.

Turkish political analyst Burak Bekdil acknowledged in his article
published by BESA Center Perspectives: “The Turkish-Islamist psyche is
susceptible to…the pitfalls of honor, fatalism, conspiracism, bombast,
publicity, and confusion.”

Over the years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made many
bizarre statements that raise suspicions about his mental sanity.

Here are some examples of Erdogan’s nutty statements.

In 2014, Erdogan told a group of Latin American Muslims visiting
Istanbul that Muslim Pilgrims discovered America several centuries
before Christopher Columbus: “It is alleged that the American
continent was discovered by Columbus in 1492. In fact, Muslim sailors
reached the American continent 314 years before Columbus in 1178. …In
his memoirs, Christopher Columbus mentions the existence of a mosque
atop a hill on the coast of Cuba. A mosque would look perfect on that
hill today.” Of course, Columbus never said such a thing in his
memoirs.

In another outlandish claim, Pres. Erdogan announced that Turkey will
send a spaceship with a Turkish astronaut to the moon in 2023 on the
centennial of the Republic of Turkey. He speculated that a female
astronaut may be a part of the Turkish space team. It would be
interesting to see how Turkey, a bankrupt country, could spend
billions of dollars on such a far-fetched adventure, not to mention
its lack of space technology. Maybe this whole topic is a hoax to
divert the people’s attention from their woes and empty pockets to
gazing at the moon and stars! A skeptical Turk sarcastically said: “We
cannot go to the supermarket, so how will we go to space?” Another
Turk remarked, “We were not able to distribute masks [for COVID] to
citizens, so how do we go to space?”

Before Erdogan can fantasize about going to space, he should worry
about the collapsing Lira, millions of unemployed Turks, and a huge
percentage of his people suffering from abject poverty. According to
Turkish sources, 34 million Turks are on the verge of starvation. In
the first six months of this year, 1.6 million Turkish families had
their electricity and gas cut off because they could not pay their
bills.

Turkish analyst Burak Bekdil wrote that he “grew up in classrooms
filled up with mottoes like ‘A Turk is worth the world,’ ‘Turks have
had to fight the seven biggest world powers,’ and ‘A Turk’s only
friend is another Turk.’ Our textbooks taught us that the supreme
Turkish race dominated the entire world for centuries; that the
Ottoman Empire collapsed only after a coalition of world powers
attacked it; that we lost WWI because we had allied with the Germans,
who were defeated (not us); and that one day, we will make the entire
planet Turkish. We were taught that an Ottoman warrior could keep on
fighting even after having been beheaded by the [Byzantine] enemy.”

As a result, Bekdil explained, “Turks are hungry for fairy tales about
the good life they did not get to enjoy over the past century, but
believe they deserve. Any feel-good news propaganda, even Erdogan’s
famous ‘The West, including the Germans, are jealous of us!’ tirade,
finds millions of receptive listeners in Turkey’s post-modern
marketplace of absurdity.”

In an article titled, “‘Jesus Was Turkish’: the Bizarre Resurgence of
Pseudo-Turkology,” Luka Ivan Jukic wrote in NEW/LINES Magazine: “You
would be forgiven for not knowing that former U.S. President Barack
Obama was a Turk. Or that Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad were,
likewise, of Turkic origin. You would be forgiven for not knowing that
Russia is really a great Turkic nation, that Kazakhs and the Japanese
are genetically identical or that the legendary English King Arthur
was, you guessed it, a Turk. You would be forgiven because none of
this is true. Yet in countries from central Europe to Central Asia and
everywhere in between, supposed historical facts like these and the
theories they support have made their way from the minds of
overzealous and pseudo-academics into national school textbooks,
popular culture and, indeed, official government ideology.”

In 1932, the Turkish language Institute invented the fake “Sun
Language Theory” which claimed that “the Turkish language was the
source of all human language and therefore all human civilization,”
Jukic wrote. “Linguists from the Institute claimed that language had
been invented by sun-worshipping proto-Turks in Central Asia as they
babbled at the sun.” Furthermore, the Turkish History Thesis claimed
that “Turks had brought civilization to China, Europe, India and
elsewhere when they migrated from the Eurasian Steppe.” These
pseudo-theories found their way into Turkish textbooks and popular
books, brainwashing several generations of Turks. Most adherents of
these pseudo-scientific claims are the followers of Pres. Erdogan.

There is no super race. All people are equal. They are all God’s
children. While claims of superiority may satisfy a vain human
inclination, no one should treat other races as inferior.

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2-         Anna Turcotte makes history as Westbrook, Maine, City
Council president

(Press Herald, Maine)—The Westbrook City Council made local history
last week in unanimously selecting Anna Astvatsaturova Turcotte as its
president, the first refugee and by all accounts the first woman to
fill that role.

A lawyer specializing in international law, Turcotte has long been
involved in advocacy work around her birth city of Baku, Azerbaijan.
She wants to do more for Westbrook.

“I am a Mainer,” Turcotte. “This is my home, and at this point, I’ve
lived here for 30 years, longer than my home country.”

Turcotte’s Armenian family fled Azerbaijan when she was a child
because of attacks on Armenians there. The family spent three years in
Armenia before moving to the United States.

After graduating from the University of Maine School of Law in 2003,
Turcotte worked as a clerk at the International Criminal Court in the
Netherlands. In 2012, she published “Nowhere, the Story of Exile,” a
collection of her diary entries as a child fleeing from her homes.

Her political career in Maine began to take shape in 2013 when she
successfully worked to get the Legislature to officially recognize the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, an autonomous state home to many Armenians
in Azerbaijan.

A few years later, she ran for the Westbrook council in Ward 3.

What she found while out among residents campaigning was pleasantly surprising.

She won the 2015 election with 64% of the vote, defeating incumbent
Councilor Paul Emery. She was unopposed in her reelection bid in 2018
and became the council’s vice president.
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3-         Aram Gavoor Appointed Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

            at George Washington University Law School

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The George Washington University Law School recently
appointed Aram A. Gavoor as its Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

A senior Department of Justice attorney with years of trial and
appellate experience and public law policy expertise, Gavoor also
teaches Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, and other courses at The
George Washington University Law School, where he received the
school’s Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award in 2020 and
2017.

Gavoor is a nationally recognized scholar in the fields of
administrative law, federal courts, and national security law whose
scholarship was cited by the Supreme Court of the United States. He
was recognized by The National Law Journal as a D.C. Rising Star (40
under 40) honoree.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

4-         France’s Zemmour calls for defense of Armenia,

            a ‘Christian’ nation in ‘Islamic ocean’

(Middle East Eye)—Eric Zemmour, far-right candidate for the 2022
French presidential election, called on Sunday, December 12 Zemmour
during a surprise visit to Arrmenia to better defend Armenia, a
“Christian” nation in the middle of “an Islamic ocean”.

The former journalist and commentator, known for provocative
statements against Islam and immigration, is the main challenger to
longtime far-right figure Marine Le Pen for a place in a second round
of France’s presidential election slated for April. One of them could
face the incumbent President Emmanuel Macron in the runoff vote. He
said on Friday that he chose Armenia for his first campaign trip
because "it is an old Christian land” and “one of the cradles of our
civilization.”

During a visit to the monastery of Khor Virap, his first overseas trip
as a candidate, Zemmour invoked what he described as a historical
clash between Christianity and Islam.

“It is the great confrontation between Christianity and Islam which is
reborn today,” he said. “We see it here with a Christian nation, which
intends to remain so, in the middle of an Islamic ocean.”

Zemmour delivered the remarks following a Christian mass at the
historic monastery located near the border with Turkey. “On the border
between Armenia and Turkey, facing Mount Ararat, I want to tell the
Armenians what a model of resistance they have been for centuries,”
the 63-year-old tweeted afterwards.

The 63-year-old presidential candidate for the Reconquete party has
been described by some as “France’s Trump” because of his hostile
rhetoric on migration and Islam.

Upon his arrival at Yerevan airport in Armenia on Saturday, a small
group of protesters shouted slogans against Zemmour, describing him as
a racist, and some held up signs in French that read, “Not welcome,
Eric Zemmour”.

“We have seen French people who fail in their duty because they talk
but they do not really defend Armenia,” said Zemmour.

Zemmour also visited the Armenian genocide memorial near Yerevan.

In Yerevan, Zemmour also dined with members of the local French
chamber of commerce and met with Armenian Catholic Patriarch Raphael
Bedros XXI before holding talks on Monday with four members of
Armenia’s parliament affiliated with the ruling Civil Contract party.

Two of those lawmakers head the parliament’s standing committees on
legal and foreign affairs. The parliamentary press service said they
discussed with Zemmour the “development of French-Armenian relations.”

France, home to a sizeable Armenian diaspora, is among some 30
countries that recognize the mass killings of Armenians during the
First World War as “genocide”.

While accusing Azerbaijan of systematically destroying Armenian
churches, Armenian leaders have long insisted that the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a religious one. Armenia has also had
a cordial relationship with another Muslim neighbor, Iran.

 France is home to an influential Armenian community. The latter was
instrumental in the December 2020 passage by both houses of the French
parliament of resolutions calling on Macron’s government to recognize
Karabakh as an independent republic.

Macron criticized Azerbaijan and accused Turkey of recruiting jihadist
fighters from Syria for the Azerbaijani army shortly after the
outbreak of last year’s war over Karabakh. The French president stated
in September this year that France and Armenia enjoy a “special
relationship” that should be deepened further.

Zemmour complained at the weekend that French leaders “talk but don't
really defend Armenia.”

***********************************************************************************************************************************************

5-         Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19

Armenia continues the fight against COVID-19, as the country continues
promoting the vaccination phase.

The U.S. State Department on July 26 warned American citizens to
reconsider travel to Armenia due to the increase in cases of the
Covid-19.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a
Level 3 Travel Health Notice for Armenia due to COVID-19, indicating a
high level of COVID-19 in the country,” said the State Department.

The State Department also urged U.S. citizens not to travel to the
Nagorno-Karabakh region due to armed conflict.

“The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S.
citizens in Nagorno-Karabakh as U.S. government employees are
restricted from traveling there,” the State Department added.

WHO, with funding from the European Union, in September supplied X-ray
equipment to 7 COVID-19 frontline hospitals – 1 in the capital Yerevan
and in 6 other cities in Armenia.

A new law came into effect on December 10, by order of the Armenian
Ministry of Health, that would allow employers to fire workers who
refuse to provide proof of vaccination. Armenia has the lowest
vaccination rate in the region and Europe.

 Armenia began its mass vaccination campaign in April with authorities
planning to inoculate 700,000 of the country's 2.9 million citizens by
the end of the year. However, only 516,989 citizens had been fully
vaccinated by Dec. 6.

620,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine were donated to Armenia by Norway
with the support of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism within the
framework of the Team Europe initiative is already in Armenia.

Poland has donated a total of 201,640 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca
anti-COVID-19 vaccine worth nearly $660,000. Poland's embassy in
Yerevan said on November 25 that the donation was made by the Polish
Foreign Ministry to Armenia's Health Ministry.

"The entire infrastructure is ready to carry out a large number of
vaccinations. I add that vaccination does not exclude the disease, but
reduces the risk of contagion", Armenian Health Minister Anahit
Avanesyan reported during a recent press conference, adding that the
late entry into force of the restrictive measures was a shortcoming of
her department. According to the minister, they are currently
considering the option of requesting certification of negativity from
Covid or vaccination to enter restaurants and attend concerts.

There were 7,006 active cases in Armenia as of December 20. Armenia
has recorded 343708 coronavirus cases and 7,903 deaths; 328,799 have
recovered.

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Will Armenia, Turkey finally break jinx?

Jane Topchian
Dec 17 2021
As normalization with Armenia remains crucial for Turkey’s broader regional aspirations, there are still major political and psychological stumbling blocks before the process. 
Fehim Tastekin
December 17, 2021

Desperately scrolling through foreign policy titles to alleviate its mounting domestic and foreign woes, Turkey is initiating a new opening with Armenia, aiming to turn decadeslong hostility into hospitality.

Turkey and Armenia have mutually appointed special envoys as the first step in reinstating the ties severed in 1993. This will be followed by the resumption of charter flights between Istanbul and Yerevan. 

The envoys are expected to lay out a road map for the normalization process. Turkey had recognized Armenia after it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 but stopped short of establishing diplomatic relations. Following the occupation of Kalbajar by the Armenian forces in 1993, Turkey sealed off its borders with its eastern neighbor, closing off its land and air borders in solidarity with Azerbaijan. While air borders were reopened in 1995, the land borders remain sealed off.

Establishment of diplomatic ties and unlocking the borders are of critical significance for Ankara to realize its strategic aspirations in the South Caucasus and beyond. Normalization may also help Turkey to repair its tarnished image in the eyes of European and US capitals over Ankara’s military involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh clashes last year.

But not everybody is on board, with some in Yerevan infuriated with the plan. The Turkish military support that helped Azerbaijan recapture seven occupied areas in Nagorno-Karabakh evoked historical enmity toward Turkey in some minds. 

As the Armenian public was trying to reel off from the deep resentment and disappointment over the defeat, Ankara has lost no time in unveiling its aspiration to turn the Azeri-Armenian cease-fire deal into a design that would allow Turkey's political and economic expansion toward the Caspian basin and Central Asia through transportation links and pipelines. 

The design rests on setting up a corridor linking Turkey directly to Azerbaijan through the autonomous Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan along the Turkish border. According to the Russian-brokered Nov. 9 cease-fire deal, Armenia has to allow the construction of the corridor across its southernmost province of Syunik, known also as Zangezur. 

In a bid to secure Yerevan’s willingness, Moscow’s facilitating role and thwart regional rivalries jeopardizing its strategy, Ankara proposed to form a six-way cooperation platform that involves Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Iran and Turkey. Turkish and Armenian diplomats along with their Azeri, Iranian and Russian counterparts gathered in the platform’s first meeting held in Moscow on Dec. 10, days before the normalization plan was unveiled. 

Turkey had engaged in a normalization process with Armenia in the past aiming to prevent the Armenian genocide issue from hampering Ankara’s back-then friendly ties with the Western capitals. Yet the two normalization agreements signed between Yerevan and Ankara in Zurich in 2009 following many rounds of secret talks had been shelved after Erdogan assured Baku that the deals would not be implemented until Armenia withdrew from the contested territories in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian side also suspended the ratification process in 2010. The agreements were declared “void” in 2018. Under the agreements, the borders between the two countries were to be opened within two months after the ratification of the agreements.

Now the new round of efforts aims to smooth over Ankara’s strained ties with the West.

Normalization efforts appear to be a rare positive agenda item between Ankara and Western capitals. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that they “welcome and strongly support” the move. Turkey’s ties with Armenian were standing out as one of the contentious points in the Ankara-Washington line following President Joe Biden’s recognition of the Armenian genocide. Citing a Turkish official, Bloomberg reported that Biden encouraged Erdogan to open Turkey’s borders with Armenia during the two leaders’ meeting in Rome.

Armenian President Nikol Pashinyan’s calculus, meanwhile, seems to be resting on the opening of the borders in a bid to strengthen his country’s economy and eventually diminish the nation’s dependence on Russia. Yet it remains unanswered to what extent Yerevan can distance itself from Moscow, as the former still depends on Russian forces on the ground to maintain security in Nagorno-Karabakh and keep the Lachin corridor linking Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh regions to the mainland open.

The normalization move seems to be in line with calculations of the European Union, which is seeking to gain a foothold in the region. After failing to restrain Moscow’s ambitions in Ukraine, the West was also on the sidelines as Russia deployed a peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, increasing its influence in the South Caucasus. As Russia — one of the co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, along with France and the United States — mediated a truce between the warring parties, Washington and Paris were sidelined as well as other Western powers.

Both the South Caucasus platform and trade routes linking Armenia to Russia via Azerbaijan could be seen as achievements that would further consolidate Moscow’s hold in the region. Russia’s hosting of the platform’s first meeting has also underlined Moscow's role. 

Renewed normalization efforts come at a time when Western capitals have shifted their focus to the region again, aiming to curb Russian ambitions amid tensions over Ukraine. EU Council President Charles Michel hosted Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in a trilateral summit in Brussel on Dec. 14. The Azeri and Armenian leaders also held a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the summit. According to a statement by the council, the two leaders agreed on initiating negotiations on the delimitation and demarcation of the state borders and restoration of railroads. The EU also pledged “technical assistance to both countries” to support the talks.

The two leaders also agreed to make border and customs control arrangements based on the “principle of reciprocity,” while disagreements over land roads have been left for the next round of talks. Reciprocity was a condition demanded by Aliyev in response to Pashinyan’s plans to set up custom points around Syunik. 

Following the meeting, Pashinyan said Armenia would receive railway access to Iran and Russia, adding that relaunch of the railways would be based on internationally accepted border and customs regulations. 

He also stressed the transportation lines will remain under the authority of the countries. While Turkey describes the link connecting Nakhchivan to Azerbaijan as a “corridor,” Pashinyan’s remarks prioritize the relaunch of existing transportation lines and underline Yerevan’s sovereignty on these lines.

Meanwhile, Baku seems in no rush to fully normalize its ties with Yerevan, unlike Ankara, which is hard-pressed for a positive agenda item. Announcing the normalization efforts on Dec. 14, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu signaled caution, stressing that Turkey would “coordinate” every step with Baku.

Leaving some room for Ankara to maneuver, Pashinyan expressed his country’s readiness for dialogue without “any precondition.”

Despite the exciting steps, prospects seem far from certain. Nagorno-Karabakh may no longer be an obstacle to Armenian-Turkey normalization, yet political and psychological stumbling blocks remain intact. 

The most contentious issue between the two countries appears to be the recognition of the Armenian genocide. In a bid to avoid the issue becoming an impediment, the two sides had agreed in 2009 to set up an international commission to investigate the massive killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Domestic opposition in both countries stands as another potential derailing factor, with the Armenian opposition being particularly vocal. Claiming that Turkey was “wishing to destroy the Armenian state,” opposition lawmaker Tigran Abrahamyan warned the government of “devastating consequences.” Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan’s remarks about some preconditions that Turkey was seeking has provided further ammunition to the opposition. In an interview with Le Figaro, Mirzoyan said Turkey set “new conditions” including the corridor linking Turkey to Azerbaijan. Still, Pashinyan's victory in the June 2021 elections provided the president with sufficient confidence to signal positive messages to Ankara.

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party’s de facto alliance with nationalists also poses risks to the normalization process. The normalization process might come at political costs depending on the position that Erdogan’s nationalist allies will take. 


https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/12/will-armenia-turkey-finally-break-jinx