Category: Main Issues

Erdogan Responds to Sarksyan’s Remarks By Backing Azerbaijan

Erdogan Responds to Sarksyan’s Remarks By Backing Azerbaijan

Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 8 Issue: 146

July 29, 2011

By: Saban Kardas

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a one-day working visit to Baku, where he met the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss various bilateral and regional issues. Erdogan deliberately chose Baku as the destination for his second official trip abroad, since he formed his new government after emerging victorious in the June 12 parliamentary elections. Erdogan’s first trip was paid to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) last week. The choice of these two destinations and the messages delivered during Erdogan’s contacts reflect Erdogan’s determination to stand firm on Turkey’s traditional position on the two important foreign policy issues. In TRNC, Erdogan drew red lines by saying that Turkey would not accept the EU’s terms, and a solution to the Cyprus issue will be based on Ankara’s own priorities. In Azerbaijan, Erdogan reiterated his determination to continue with Ankara’s Baku-centered policy in the South Caucasus.

The improvement of economic ties between the two countries was a key item on the two leaders’ agenda. For his part, Aliyev highlighted the investments by Azerbaijani companies in Turkey, which has exceeded $4 billion, and added that Azerbaijan plans to invest another $6 billion in Turkey, especially in the petrochemicals industry. However, in the long-standing issue of the transit of Azerbaijani gas through Turkey to European markets, the two leaders failed to announce a breakthrough. Erdogan noted that the bureaucrats will continue to work on the remaining articles to finalize a deal, which was reached one year ago.

A concrete outcome of the visit was the announcement of the parties’ determination to hold the first meeting of the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSC) in Turkey. This form of partnership has been a new instrument, which Turkey has developed to foster its bilateral relations with neighbors and countries deemed to be strategically important. Despite the initiation of such platforms with Iraq, Syria, Greece and Russia, the delay in the conclusion of the Turkey-Azerbaijan HLSC was an issue of concern for some time. To a certain extent, it reflected the ongoing disagreements, caused by Turkey’s thwarted rapprochement efforts with Armenia. Erdogan, thus, emphasized the importance he places on holding the first HLSC, which might be interpreted as yet another sign of a thaw between Ankara and Baku.

An additional issue on which Turkey has sought a breakthrough for some time relates to Azerbaijan’s removal of visa requirements for Turkish citizens. Although Turkey unilaterally lifted visa requirements for Azerbaijani citizens and managed to sign mutual visa liberalization agreements with other countries, including Russia, a similar agreement with Azerbaijan has been on hold. During Erdogan’s Baku trip, Aliyev said that the Azerbaijani side was not ready to move to a visa-free travel regime and would need more time to complete necessary preparations (Anadolu Ajansi, July 27).

Azerbaijani-Armenian problems and the recent developments in Turkish-Armenian relations also occupied a large part of Erdogan’s agenda in Baku. On the eve of Erdogan’s departure to Baku, Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan’s remarks about Mount Ararat (located within Turkey’s borders) shocked observers. Attending the Armenian Language Olympics, Sarksyan responded to a question from an Armenian youth as saying “I think my generation has managed to fulfill its debt when it was necessary to protect the part of our Motherland, [Karabakh], from the enemies. We managed to do it. … “[Any return of historic territories in Western Armenia] all depends on you and your generation” (Hurriyet, July 26).

A statement issued by Turkish foreign ministry strongly condemned Sarksyan’s comments as “extremely irresponsible behavior,” and took them as an indication “that he does not intend to work for peace” (www.mfa.gov.tr, July 26). During his contacts in Azerbaijan, Erdogan also echoed similar messages, going as far as claiming that Sarksyan should issue an apology for his mistake (www.cnnturk.com, July 27).

More importantly, Erdogan capitalized on this development to reiterate his earlier position on the complicated relations between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. On the one hand, he defined the situation in Karabakh as one of clear occupation by Armenia, which in his view has not demonstrated a constructive attitude toward the resolution of the dispute. Erdogan found Azerbaijan’s approach to the problem constructive, and called on the international community to take the necessary steps for the resolution of the dispute.

On the other hand, Erdogan interpreted Sarksyan’s comments as indication of Armenian’s official position and criticized those who ask Turkey to take steps toward the resolution of its problems with Armenia. Turkish-Armenian normalization, which gained momentum in 2009, had to be stalled partly after Erdogan declared that Turkey would not proceed with its rapprochement unless progress was achieved in the Karabakh dispute (EDM, June 1, 2010). Some have asked Turkey to take limited steps to maintain the momentum in Turkish-Armenian normalization such as the partial opening of the border, even before a solution is reached in the Azerbaijan-Armenian disputes. Referring to these arguments, Erdogan reiterated clearly that Turkey will not proceed with the re-opening of border, before Armenia solves its problems with Azerbaijan (Cihan, July 27).

Erdogan’s reiteration of Ankara’s position was important, especially considering that it was preceded by some positive remarks from Armenian NGO leaders – in Ankara to attend a civil society dialogue – following their meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Foreign Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu. Reportedly, Davutoglu painted an optimistic picture, expressing his hope that the border will be eventually re-opened and Armenians might even be able to buy homes in Turkey , July 20). Indeed, this was not the first time Davutoglu expressed his determination to pursue the Turkish-Armenian normalization efforts, despite many obstacles presented by the domestic politics in both countries and the tight coupling between this process and the Karabakh issue (Today’s Zaman, September 30, 2010).

However, against the background of the failure of the Kazan summit to produce any progress on the Azerbaijan-Armenia dispute, Davutoglu has yet to formulate a genuine strategy to break the Turkey-Armenia-Azerbaijan stalemate so that he can proceed with Turkish-Armenian normalization, which would be a major victory for his “zero-problems-with-neighbors” policy. The statements by Sarksyan and Erdogan’s harsh response only add to the complexity of this already daunting task.

https://jamestown.org/program/erdogan-responds-to-sarksyans-remarks-by-backing-azerbaijan/

July 30, 2011
Operation Sunshine in Cyprus

Does anyone know what Operation Sunshine is, or was? It is, or was, an MI6 operation in Cyprus back in 1959. The details are revealed in the enlightening research of Stephen Dorril under the title “MI6-Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service.”

The summary is as follows: Cyprus was drawn into ethnic conflict in the late 1950s. Armed, right-wing Greek bands were carrying out attacks against British rule on the island and against Turkish civilians – something that would be named as an attempt at ethnic cleansing in today’s world. In response, Turkey secretly helped an embryonic resistance among Turkish Cypriots, organizing and arming them.

The Brits decided to take effective steps. MI6 started to tap some VIP telephones, relying on the cutting-edge technology of the day in order to prevent further killings and provide a basis for a settlement between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The names included the Greek leader, Archbishop Marakios III. While eavesdropping on Makarios’ lines in order to obtain some political and military information, they recorded some other stuff by mistake – “Rather unusual homosexual proclivities,” as described by the book.

That was in 1958 and when Makarios resisted signing an agreement with Turkish Cypriots under the guarantee of Britain, Turkey and Greece in 1959 in Zurich, he had a visitor in his hotel room with some information to share. Makarios changed his mind overnight, came down to the hotel lobby where his Turkish counterpart Fazıl Küçük was waiting and signed the first treaty on Cyprus which lead the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960.

That was Operation Sunshine. That is a part of the background story about how the Republic of Cyprus with Makarios as the president and Küçük as the deputy president was established.

That British-made fragile structure began to fall apart a few years later, ultimately leading to theTurkish military intervention which divided Cyprus into two in 1974.

Being happy with the status quo, Ankara did almost nothing other than support the declaration of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, of which only Turkey recognizes.

Turgut Özal was the first Turkish leader who talked about a “bi-zonal, bi-communal, federal system” in the 1980s. In the mid-1990s, Turkey silently distanced itself from that formula, which was not adopted by the Greeks anyway.

Under the Justice and Development Party, or AK Parti, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan adopted a U.N.-backed reunification strategy, which was rejected by the Greek Cypriots in 2004. The European Union’s subsequent admittance of the Republic of Cyprus (officially representing the separated Turks in the north as well), made Erdoğan upset, like many of the Turks.

Now Erdoğan is going back to Özal’s federal model and is threatening whomever by starting to support two separate states on the island, risking Turkey’s relations with the EU.

That brings us to the threshold of a series of very interesting events in the coming months in the eastern Mediterranean.

Hürriyet Daily News

July 22, 2011
Armenia Ready, Target 2015

Turkish foreign policy recently intensified its attention on the Arab Spring, carrying out extensive diplomatic efforts to secure an immediate resolution for the turmoil in the region. (more…)

July 21, 2011
Cyprus the most racist country in Europe among other negative aspects

In a research study that was done by the European University in 30 countries *Cyprus topped the list in most of the negative categories including: racism, low trust in others, selfishness, negative attitude towards immigrants, possessive individualism, being passive and detached from a set of important issues, and obsession with television while at the same time we are the slowest at becoming an information society. Among our few positive aspects of our society it was found that we are the most satisfied by the public health system, the tax system, the standard of living and trust in state institutions.

In 2006 the 30% of the population was watching more than 3 hours of TV per day and sadly by 2008 this increased to 50%. Considering the quality of TV programmes that are popular in Cyprus this is indeed an alarming issue. At the same time, we have the lowest use of Internet with just 20% of the population engaging into daily Internet activities compared to 40% in case of Nordic countries. On the xenophobia side more than any other European country we do not like people from different cultural backgrounds. More surprisingly Cypriots even present racist tendencies towards fellow Cypriots who have different sexual preferences or different attitudes than themselves.

Cyprus Updates

*Greek part

July 14, 2011
Turkey hopes for Cyprus referendum in early 2012

Turkey hopes for Cyprus referendum in early 2012

Turkey hopes terms for the reunification of Cyprus can be agreed by the end of the year so that a referendum can take place in early 2012, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutogolu said on a visit to the Turkish Cypriot enclave in the north of the island Saturday.

“We hope to find a solution to the Cyprus problem by the end of the year, and hold a referendum in the early months of next year so that Cyprus can take on the presidency of the EU as a new state that represents the whole island,” Davutoglu told a joint news conferences with the president of northern Cyprus, Dervish Eroglu. (Reuters)

July 11, 2011
Cyprus Reunification Still Stalled

U.N. mediated talks have failed to achieve an agreement to reunify the divided island of Cyprus. This is the third time since November the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have met to try to resolve this decades-old problem without success.

Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias (L) and Turkish-Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu stand next to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (C) as he gives a statement concluding a meeting at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, July 7, 2011

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who mediated this latest round of negotiations, is an unfailing optimist. But even he acknowledges progress in healing the divisions of the island is far too slow.

He says negotiators from the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides have worked steadily to move ahead since the last meeting in January. Despite this, he says some important areas still have not been touched.

“For this reason, today’s meeting has been useful and productive,” said Ban. “We have identified some of the difficulties that are standing in the ways of reaching a comprehensive agreement, and we have discussed the need to significantly intensify the negotiations. I have also raised with both leaders the importance of looking ahead at the objective rather than focusing on the problem in minute detail.”

Ban says he is impressed with, what he calls, the commitment on both sides to agree on the details to create a united Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded the island in 1974 following a Greek-inspired coup. Thousands of Turkish and Greek Cypriots fled their homes.

Repeated negotiations throughout the succeeding years have failed to achieve a political settlement to bring the two separate communities together. The major issue of contention concerns property rights. A diplomatic solution as to how to reinstate ownership rights to the thousands of people who were forced to abandon their property has not been found.

Other core issues include governance and power sharing, economy, territory and security, citizenship, and European Union membership. The Greek Cypriot part of the island is an EU member, the Turkish part is not.

This is an ongoing bone of contention between the two sides. It also poses problems for Turkey, whose membership aspirations are tied to the re-unification of Cyprus.

Secretary General Ban says the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have agreed to intensify their negotiations on the core issues when they return to the island.

“I have every expectation that by October the leaders will be able to report that they have reached convergence on all core issues, and we will meet that month in New York,” added Ban. “This will take the Cyprus negotiations close to their conclusion and would allow me to give a positive report to the Security Council on the matter. It would also pave the way for me to work with the parties towards convening final, international conference.”

Ban says people on both sides of the divide are weary of these endless negotiations. He urges both leaders to renew hope and enthusiasm for a solution.

Some analysts believe the prospect of the Greek Cypriots taking over the six-month rotating EU presidency a year from now might act as an incentive to seal a deal.

via Cyprus Reunification Still Stalled | Europe | English. VOA

July 9, 2011