Armenia’s President Sargsyan convened a Friday 10th April news conference to celebrate his first year in office, when he labored for two hours and forty minutes articulating rehearsed answers to sixty prepared and vetted questions from dozens of hand picked state-backed news reporters. The answers did not always match the questions, but his general drift was to hail his amazing achievements, especially the wonderful way in which he has dealt with the burdens of the externally imposed crisis.
Not surprisingly, one of the most keenly followed topics was the Armenian / Turkish negotiations, to which Sargsyan explained that he and his MFA Nalbandian could have possibly been mistaken. Local and international press agencies have been busy reporting Sargsyan’s calculation that talks may end in failure – “because the Turks are now adopting a different position and trying to set preconditions”.
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It is surprising that after so many months of this Sargsyan subterfuge, the numerous news organizations still prefer to steer clear of Sargsyan’s continued deceit of the Armenian public. His statement completely contradicts the actual truth, presumably an attempt to salvage some credibility from his despicable misdealings with this most sensitive issue and in the process, wrongfully accusing his Turkish counterparts of changing their position.
The nearly year long Sargsyan / Nalbandian program of deceit has been comprehensively reported through a string of articles on khosq. In particular, 22 weeks ago the “Karabakh /Genocide – The Final Countdown” article included links to how Eduard Nalbandian continued his efforts to Establish Turkey’s Long-Awaited Independent Commission and how he Derided those Countries which have Already Recognized Genocide, with complete contempt to the Armenian cause.
20 weeks ago the “Karabakh/Genocide – The Deception” article linked to a diplomatic source who said Armenia was to announce the establishment of a Joint Committee of Historians to study the events of 1915. Sargsyan later stepped back from the ‘Genocide Commission’ by saying: first, let our joint border be opened and diplomatic relations constituted, then we can establish commissions, sub-commissions and sub-sub-commissions for any issue. He then re-manoeuvred to say the formation of a commission to investigate the Armenian Genocide is unnecessary and he referred to an “Intergovernmental Process”, which can be established later. Sargsyan’s compliance with another of Turkey’s conditions is also on record, he has publicly announced that he has no ambitions with regard lands in the eastern part of Turkey, and it is well known that he is pursuing his ‘Karabakh Deal’ with equal enthusiasm and in the same deceptive manner.
Turkeys President Gul, Prime Minister Erdogan and MFA Babacan, in total contrast to persistent lies from senior representatives of Armenia’s illegitimate regime, have been absolutely consistent with regard their requirements to open the Turkish / Armenian border, which to repeat includes: 1) resolution of the Genocide issue; 2) Armenia withdraws claims to lands in the eastern part of Turkey, and; 3) the Karabakh issue be resolved under agreement with Azerbaijan. Turkey did withdraw the Karabakh issue from its list for a short period in early 2009, plainly a temporary measure to de-link Karabakh from the sensitive Genocide issue in an understandable effort to dissuade US President Obama from saying the ‘G’ word in the period leading up to Armenia’s 24th April Genocide Memorial Day. That danger has no doubt now been resolved in Turkey’s favour, with backing from the Armenian regime, including a Nalbandian meeting and a Sargsyan telephone discussion with Obama during his 6th / 7th April trip to Turkey. Turkey has since re-established the link with its close Azerbaijani ally and put the Karabakh requirement back on the table.
Through the past months the Armenian regime has repeatedly intimated to the overseas audience that they are ready to comply with Turkey’s demands to open the border, whilst at home Sargsyan and Nalbandian have been feeding repeated untruths to the Armenian public. The process has been well documented by the Turkish and other international media organizations, but Armenia’s state-backed press fails its readers by simply presenting regime untruths verbatim. There should be no doubt that when the 24th April has passed and Obama has not uttered the ‘G’ word, Sargsyan and Nalbandian will return to the pursuit of their self-serving ambitions with Turkey and Azerbaijan, irrespective of the better interests of the Republic and its people – starting with establishment of the commission of historians.
The alternative is to lose the massive compensation package promised – by Turkey, Azerbaijan, the US, Russia and the EU, a loss which Armenia’s bandit regime will not stomach.
Bruce Tasker
Independent Analyst
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