By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier The Armenian Foreign Ministry, in all likelihood, has a comprehensive strategic plan regarding Armenia’s relations with its immediate neighbors (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey), with major powers near and far (China, France, Great Britain, Russia, United States), and with other key states around the world. At the most basic level, Armenia’s leaders are expected to maximize their country’s national interests and counter all anti-Armenian efforts. Based on this simple criterion, I would like to make an assessment of several critical issues related to Turkey, Armenia’s most problematic neighbor. Turkey has not only committed genocide against the Armenian nation and continues to enjoy the fruits of that crime, it also spends millions of dollars every year to deny the facts of history and defame the Armenian people. Ever since its inception, the Turkish Republic has consistently pursued the anti-Armenian policies of its Ottoman predecessors. Turkey has blockaded Armenia since 1993 — an act of war — in order to force it to make territorial concessions on Artsakh (Karabagh). Shortly after Armenia’s independence, Turkish, on at least one occasion, amassed troops on the border, threatening to attack Armenia. Moreover, Turkey has trained and armed Azerbaijan’s military to enable it to invade Artsakh and exterminate its ethnic Armenian population. Turkey also carries out anti-Armenian activities through various diplomatic channels. Turkish delegates regularly join their Azeri colleagues in casting votes against Armenia and Artsakh in the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and the Conference of Islamic States. Finally, Turkey continues to hold hostage its Armenian population, depriving it of the most basic cultural, educational and religious rights. Under these circumstances, it is incumbent upon Armenian officials to carefully weigh whether the decisions they take regarding Turkey inadvertently contribute to their hostile neighbor’s political and economic strength. Here are a few examples of such decisions: Armenia should not accept any preconditions for negotiations with Turkey on the opening of the border and should not have agreed to make a joint announcement on the eve of April 24 which helped boost Turkey’s prestige and undermined efforts to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide by the United States and others. Armenia should not recognize Turkey’s present boundaries and should reject treaties signed by Soviet Armenia, in order not to preclude future Armenian territorial claims. Armenia should not agree to the Turkish demand of forming a joint historical commission to review the facts of the Armenian Genocide, in order to avoid the questioning of the veracity of the genocide and not to harm the chances of its acknowledgment by third parties. Armenia should not allow Turkey to stick its nose in the Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations over Artsakh, in order not to help boost Turkey’s image as a credible mediator in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Syria. Armenia’s President should not attend the October 14 soccer match in Turkey, unless Turkish leaders first abide by their written agreement to open the border. Armenian officials should not help give credence to false Turkish claims that it is engaged in serious negotiations with Armenia. Armenia’s leaders should not support Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union in order not to increase the Turks’ political and economic strength. Given its huge population in comparison with most other EU countries, Turkey would be entitled to a large number of votes in the European Parliament, enabling it to pass anti-Armenian resolutions. Last Fall, when Turkey was desperately seeking votes to join the U.N. Security Council, Armenia and Armenians worldwide made almost no attempts to prevent its gaining such a critical seat for the first time in almost half a century. Turkey can now use that prestigious position to pass resolutions in the U.N. against Armenia and Artsakh. In 2006, in the aftermath of Israel’s attack on Lebanon, Armenia and Armenians did not prevent Turkey from contributing peacekeeping troops to UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon). This made possible the stationing of the Turkish military for the first time since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in an Arab country that hosts the largest Armenian community in the Middle East. Finally, Armenians should boycott Turkish products and should not go on vacation to Turkey in order not to contribute to the economy of a hostile state. Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan should be commended for ordering Armenian government officials not to spend their vacation in Turkey and for encouraging local travel agencies to prepare tour packages at competitive rates for Armenians to vacation in Artsakh. There already exists an overwhelming imbalance between the political, economic, and military strengths of Armenia and Turkey. By carefully considering the impact of their every decision, Armenia’s leaders should narrow, rather than increase, that imbalance! |
Are Armenia’s Policies Making Turkey Stronger?
Comments
7 responses to “Are Armenia’s Policies Making Turkey Stronger?”
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Hey Harut,
You still don’t get it, do you? It has little to do with policy and everything to do with CREDIBILITY!!!! The world is begining to see the truth emerging and don’t like the fact that they’ve been lied to by dashnak Armenians for 100 years! Armenia is a backwater country with very little to offer! No one really wants them within their sphere of influence. Armenia’s greatest import is foreign aid while its greatest export is terrorism! Your corrupt dollars that buy off your corrupt politicians will only take you so far! You have no idea what Turks, upon being united, can do! But you all will, soon enough at this rate!!
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“Finally, Turkey continues to hold hostage its Armenian population, depriving it of the most basic cultural, educational and religious rights.”
Wow, could it be that the entire population of Turks of Armenian ethnic origin must be suffering from Stockholm syndrome?
I’m just wondering how he explains the 100,000 illegal Armenian immigrants that have come running to Turkey in the past few years and prefer living in Turkey to living in Armenia.
Or, how does he explain that Antalya is the number 1 (yes, that’s right, numero UNO!) vacation spot for Armenians.
Are Turks casting spells from across the border? Do they send clouds of (Azeri) gas over Yerevan that compel delirious Armenians to book vacations in Antalya?
The answers, I suspect, will not be forthcoming soon…
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hmmm lets not even discuss the number of wealthy Armenian business men running very proffitable businesses in Turkey. I met one personally in Istanbul, who runs a leather import business… He lives outside of Istanbul, enjoys the luxuries of a 50ft yacht and drives a nice BMW. I know all this because my cousin works for him… Both parties have a fullfiling relationship.
The question I ask is lets look at the flip side… How many Turkish Families live in Armenia (Yet alone wealthy ones who run organisations and employ Armenians???) We all know the Armenians will not have this scenario and burn the Turks at the steak due to their inner longbread hatred of the Turks… This is drummed into them from birth through to early and late educational years by no other than the state.
This little excersise will assist those to undertand what is really happening throughout the Armenian and Turkish world. -
FAP,
I’m thinking your Board scores weren’t too high, because you seem not to have mastered parallelism, not to mention simple thinking skills.
Your cousin’s boss may well be the scion of a wealthy or at least established Armenian commercial family, which has survived the ups and downs of Turkish politics and the pogrom of 1955, not to mention the Genocides of the native Christian peoples. There is hardly news in this. Indeed, many scholars assert that jealousy of Armenian, Jewish, and Greek community wealth is thought to be one of the driving fctors in the Genocides of the Christian populations, and the persecution of the Jews, working its way through the present day, in which hatred of Armenians is now part of Turkish public schools’ curricula. The success of some Turkish Armenians does not rebut the tragedy inflicted on these communities, or their social, political and cultural persecution. Think Hrant Dink and Can Aritman’s accusations.
The chance that anyone, including a Diasporan could establish significant wealth in Armenia today is nil. The country is too poor and there is not enough of a market.
Contrary to your speculation, hundreds of Turks have visited Armenia in the last years, and their reports are uniformly positive. For every Armenian with whom they may have had a tense exchange, 10 people invited them into their homes to share what they had. Hospitality is a universal Anatolian trait; it is not the exclsive domain of Moslem Turks.
Finally, you might ask yourself just as readily what the chances are of an armenian establishing a safe and productive life in Nakhichevan and Baku massacres of innocent Armenian civilians.
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JDA, as always you act exactly as all diasporans do. You are so easy to read. First insult and defame the subject to sidestep the issue.
And as always, come up with a whole lot of BS to prove your point. Everything according to you is a Genocide. You are not worth my time. -
JDA=The RAT,
Here again, I wasn’t going to respond to you any further, but this one required a definite response.
RAT, you once again failed to answer F.A Pasha’s question (typical dashnak Armo tactic)! He asked you “How many Turkish families live in Armenia”? Armenia, by its own choosing, has a 98% purity rate! The ratio of Armenians not only visiting, but moving to live in Turkey (and escape from Armenia, one of the most corrupt and oppressive nations on the planet), versus the number of Turks visiting (forget about moving to live there) Armenia is quite disporportionate (“hundreds of Turks have visited Armenia in the last years” vs. 6,000 Armenians ESCAPING to Turkey from Armenia each month!)! Even you’d have to agree with that!
During the Ottoman Empire, Armenians (after having been rescued from the Byzantines in 1453, from which they were taxed to death, openly raided and their homes plundered, placed into slavery, etc.) were treated well. They were exempt from military service, paid a pitance of a tax, if any, when compared to the rest of the population in the Empire. This allowed them to spend more time to acquire not only wealth, but administrative positions in the empire, even as high as being made grand Vizars in the Sultanate! During the 1800’s, some Armenians began to immigrate to Europe and the US, bringing their wealth with them. Prior to WWI, many Armenians transfered their wealth (currency, gold and silver) to relatives in Europe and the US, helping to deplete the cash and commodities of the Empire. You mention that “hatred of Armenians is a part of Turkish public school’s curricula”. Certainly you can prove this! You are obviously confused with your own hate indoctrination at those AYF “Hitler Youth” Camps here in the US, as well as the private Armenian schools in CA and MA! Everyone knows what goes on in those “schools”!
It sickens me to see the audacity that you have to even mention Azerbaijan! Just who in the hell do you think you are to even have the hutzpah to mention this? Cockroachian, think 1992!!! Besides the many towns and villages where Armenian soldiers committed the most inhumane acts and atrocities, they culminatted in a town called Kohajaly where almost a thousand where slaughtered, other thousands wounded, and many thousands fleeing and becoming refugees! To this very day, there are over a million refugees that are still waiting to return to their homes, to properly bury their dead, and start their lives all over again! You’ve written some stupid things before, but because you are what you are, we didn’t let it bother us. However, when you write a one-sided, totally biased comment about something that you have no clue about, that’s when you cross the line of having even the slightest semblence of decency, and proving to us all that you are simply a hate-filled little man who is full of nothing more than empty words and BS, forfeiting any shred of credibility that you may have once had at some point! You are to be pitied!!!
I wash my hands of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Let’s look at Turkish Schools ran by the ATAA, versus the AYF Hitler Youth groups. We have Childrens days which teach the ideals of world peace and tolerance, as well as educating our kids about Turkish Culture. What about AYF Hitler Youth groups, what about the quote from a little kid named Edna Petrosyan, and how you guys indocrtinate your kids with fanatical far right nationalism, as well as Hitler Youth like marches. That is why many people who compare AYF to the Hitler Youth movement.
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