MOSCOW, October 12 (RIA Novosti) – An important reason for Turkey’s decision to sign a deal on restoring diplomatic ties with Armenia is that it feels cheated by the West and wants to secure its economic interests, a Russian analyst said on Monday.
Turkey and Armenia signed on Saturday historic accords on restoring diplomatic relations and opening borders. The documents have yet to be ratified by the country’s parliaments, and face fierce opposition from nationalist parties in both countries.
Mikhail Aleksandrov, head of the Caucasus department at the Institute of CIS Studies, said: “one important consideration for Turkey was to advance economic ties with Armenia, because the West has deceived Turkey.”
“Turkey is not being let into the EU, the United States created problems with Iraq, and problems have arisen with transit via Georgia because Saakashvili started a war [with South Ossetia], and the Caspian pipeline passes through Georgia.”
“In other words, U.S. policy has jeopardized Turkey’s economic interests,” he said.
Aleksandrov said that because of these circumstances, Turkey proposed a plan of regional integration with the participation of the three Caucasus states, Russia and Turkey.
“However, it first has to normalize relations with Armenia. So as a first step, Turkey has agreed to lift the blockade,” he said.
On the issue of ratification, “the opposition is very strong, even within the ruling parties, both in Turkey and Armenia.”
The European Armenian Federation for Justice has spoken out against the accords, which it says do not take into account issues such as the Turkish genocide of Armenians, recognition of the borders between Armenia and Turkey, and the Nagorny Karabakh conflict.
Turkey has demanded that that Yerevan drop its campaign to have the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 internationally recognized as genocide.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for Azerbaijan, a predominantly Muslim, Turkic-speaking ally of Ankara, following a bloody conflict over Nagorny Karabakh between the two republics.
The region in Azerbaijan, which has a largely Armenian population, has been a source of conflict between the former Soviet republics since the late 1980s and is de facto independent. Azerbaijan strongly opposes normalization of ties between Ankara and Yerevan before the Nagorny Karabakh conflict is resolved.
Armenia and Turkey agreed to a “roadmap” to normalize their relations under Swiss mediation this April. The draft pact between the countries was backed by the United States and European Union.
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