Category: Azerbaijan

Ex-Ministers Downbeat On Turkish-Armenian Deal

Vartan Oskanian

17.04.2009

Emil Danielyan

Two former foreign ministers of Armenia remained pessimistic on Friday about the success of the ongoing Turkish-Armenian dialogue, urging the current authorities in Yerevan to reconsider their diplomatic overtures to Ankara.

A top U.S. official, meanwhile, visited Armenia in what may have been an attempt to salvage the faltering talks between the two neighboring nations. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza met with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian. Official Armenian sources gave no details of the talks, and Bryza was not available for comment.

The diplomat, who is also the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, arrived in Yerevan from Baku where he met Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. Washington has been trying to neutralize Azerbaijan’s strong resistance to the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations before a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. U.S. President Barack Obama personally discussed the matter with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliev, in a phone call last week.

The vehement Azerbaijani protests led Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to publicly state earlier this month that Turkey will not establish diplomatic relations and open its border with Armenia without a Karabakh settlement. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan appeared to echo that linkage as he flew to Yerevan on Wednesday night.

“We don’t say, ‘Let’s first solve one problem and solve the other later,’” Babacan was reported to tell Turkish journalists. “We want a similar process to start between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We are closely watching the talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

Nalbandian insisted on Thursday, however, that Ankara and Yerevan could still hammer out a ground-breaking agreement “soon.” Two of his predecessors are far more pessimistic on that score, pointing to the statements made by Erdogan.

“I don’t anticipate the signing of a Turkish-Armenian agreement in the near future,” one of them, Raffi Hovannisian, said. He was particularly worried about Erdogan’s calls for the UN Security Council to denounce Armenia as an “occupier” and demand Karabakh’s return under Azerbaijani rule.

Vartan Oskanian, who served as foreign minister from 1998-2008, likewise suggested that the Turks have no intention to cut an unconditional deal with Armenia and are instead trying to exploit the talks to keep the United States and other countries from recognizing the 1915 massacres of Armenians as genocide. He said they could also be pressing international mediators to seek more Armenian concessions on Karabakh in return for an open border with Turkey.

“When you make a Turkish-Armenian dialogue public, the Turks always take advantage of that because they face the genocide issue, the issue of European Union membership and the issue of friendship with Azerbaijan,” Oskanian told a news conference. “So publicity here, if we let it last for long, is not to our benefit. With every day passing without border opening or normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations, Turkey finds itself in a more beneficial position than Armenia.

“The moment that the border is opened, we too will start to draw dividends. The question is when that will happen.”

“The Armenian side should set a clear deadline for the Turks — if we sign an agreement and the border is opened on a particular day, it will be fine; if not, let us interrupt the negotiations from that day. Something has to be done,” added Oskanian.

Oskanian also seemed puzzled by President Sarkisian’s assurances that Armenia will “emerge stronger” from the U.S.-backed talks even if they end in failure. “I hope that there is something that the president knows but we don’t know,” he said.

The former minister, who founded last year a private think-tank, the Civilitas Foundation, spoke to journalists before an official presentation of a newly published book containing speeches delivered by him throughout his decade-long tenure. Among those attending the event was Kaan Soyak, the Turkish co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Council (TABC) that has long been lobbying for improved relations and unfettered commerce between the two neighbors.

Soyak asserted that Erdogan’s remarks were “a little misunderstood” in Armenia and did not wreck the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement. “What the prime minister wanted to say is that the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey is very important and within the context of this normalization Turkish diplomats and Turkish foreign policy advisers will be more active in the Caucasus for the settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he told RFE/RL.

“He never set a precondition,” said Soyak. “He believes that all the solutions must be in one package, which includes Azerbaijan and Armenia, but not necessarily the Nagorno-Karabakh area.”

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1610916.html

April 18, 2009
Armenia, Turkey Announce No Deal After Yerevan Talks

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan meet in Yerevan on April 16, 2009

16.04.2009

Ruben Meloyan

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan gave no indications of an impending breakthrough in his country’s relations with Armenia on Thursday as he visited Yerevan to attend a meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) organization.

His Armenian counterpart, Eduard Nalbandian, insisted, nonetheless, that Ankara and Yerevan may still normalize their historically strained relations “soon.”

Babacan refrained from making any public statements during the one-day trip which ended with a meeting with President Serzh Sarkisian. A short statement by Sarkisian’s office gave no details of the talks. Babacan also took part in a separate group meeting between Sarkisian and participants of the BSEC session.

While in Yerevan, Babacan also met with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mamedguliev.

Recent reports in Turkish and Western media said that the two governments could use the BSEC meeting to announce agreement on a gradual normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. However, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled out such possibility, repeatedly stating this month that Ankara will not establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan and reopen the Turkish-Armenian border before a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh.

Babacan appeared to reaffirm that linkage as he spoke to CNN-Turk television on his way to Yerevan. According to “Hurriyet Daily News,” he said the Turkish-Armenian dialogue must run parallel with international efforts to settle the Karabakh conflict.

“Today we have no intention to sign any document regarding the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations,” Nalbandian told journalists after the BSEC meeting. “Negotiations continue. We have made progress and believe that we can really be very close to solving those issues soon.”

Nalbandian also made clear that Yerevan remains opposed to direct Turkish involvement in international efforts to settle the Karabakh dispute. “Turkey will not play the role of a mediator in the Karabakh peace process,” he said.

The Armenian minister was speaking at a joint news conference with Mamedguliev, whose country assumed the BSEC’s rotating presidency from Armenia at the Yerevan meeting. Mamedguliev, a rare Azerbaijani official visiting Armenia, reaffirmed Baku’s strong opposition to the normalization of Turkish-Armenian before Karabakh peace. “Our position is the following: the restoration of links between Turkey and Armenia may only be conditional on the resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he said.

By contrast, Lavrov welcomed the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement. “First of all, this is the bilateral affair of Armenia and Turkey,” he said after the talks with Babacan. “We welcome all steps leading to the normalization of relations between any countries of the region.”

http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/1610097.html

April 16, 2009
DID PRESIDENT SARGSYAN BLAZE A TRAIL TO THE SEA VIA IRAN?

Haroutiun Khachatrian 4/15/09

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s two-day visit to Iran produced a potential breakthrough deal that could ease Armenia’s economic isolation.

Sargsyan and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signed eight agreements during the Armenian leader’s two-day stay in Tehran on April 13-14. Two of those pacts stand to give a big boost to Armenian foreign trade. The first provides a blueprint for the construction of a 470-kilometer railroad between the two countries and the second would lower Iranian trade barriers to Armenian exports.

At present, Armenia’s only viable overland routes to the outside world run through Georgia. That conduit has proven unreliable for Yerevan in recent years, though, given the long-running tension between Russia and Georgia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Turkey and Azerbaijan currently maintain an economic blockade against Armenia, and although there has been much talk lately of a re-opening of the Turkish-Armenian frontier, the normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties, as well as a political settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, do not appear imminent. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The proposed outlet to Iran would not bring immediate economic benefits to Armenia. Under terms of an agreement finalized April 15 by the transport ministers of Armenia and Iran, construction of the railway would take an estimated five years, and cost upwards of $1.8 billion. The first stage of the construction process involves a feasibility study, which is due to be completed by the end of the summer.

Almost seven-eighths of the railway would lie on Armenian territory, stretching from the northern city of Sevan to Meghri on the Iranian border. The question of financing evidently was not addressed during Sargsyan’s Iran visit.

In another potentially significant deal, the two countries agreed to cooperation on the construction of a hydropower station on the Arax River.

One political analyst, Garnik Asatrian, an Iranian studies expert at the Yerevan State University, characterized President Sargsyan’s visit as a “historic step” for Armenia. But other experts were more circumspect. The global economic downturn, they emphasized, makes it impossible to say whether promises made today can be fulfilled tomorrow. Alexander Iskandarian, the director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan, pointed out that already some erstwhile financial heavyweights in the Caucasus, especially Russia, are now finding it difficult to come up with the cash to meet assistance obligations. “Some previously adopted programs are now short of money,” he told EurasiaNet.

Sevak Sarykhanan, an expert with the Noravank Foundation, a Yerevan-based think tank, suggested that the Iranian rail project is, in effect, an insurance policy for Yerevan. If the Turkish-Armenian border reopens in the near future, then Yerevan would have rail access to the Middle East and Gulf regions via the existing Gyumri-Kars rail link. In that case, the Sevan-Meghri-Iran rail route would not make financial sense.

Editor’s Note: Haroutiun Khachatrian is a freelance writer based in Yerevan.

April 16, 2009
Sargsyan – A Year of Deception

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

April 15, 2009
Joint statement of Azerbaijani and Turkish MPs in Milli Majlis

[ 15 Apr 2009 19:24 ]
Baku. Elbrus Seyfullayev – APA. Azerbaijani and Turkish parliamentarians held a forum entitled “Turkey Azerbaijan: joint interests and problems” in Milli Majlis, (Azerbaijani Parliament), APA reports.

Members of the Turkish parliament Yilmaz Atesh, Shukry Elekdagh, Shahin Mengu from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Attila Kaya, Turna Chirkin from the National Movement Party (MHP), as well as MHP Deputy Secretary General Bulent Didinmez and Mahammad Azeri attended the forum.

Leaders of the Azerbaijan’s Ana Vatan (Motherland), Citizen Solidarity, All Azerbaijan Popular Front, Great System and Justice Party, organizers of the forum, as well as members of the parliament from New Azerbaijan and Musavat parties and independent parliamentarians also joined the meeting.

MP, Chairman of Ana Vatan Party Fazail Aghamali said the forum was organized for discussing of issues cooling relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. He said Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) also agreed to attend the meeting, but then they didn’t come to Baku unfortunately. Aghamali said the AKP officials didn’t explain the reasons of their refusal to join the forum.

He noted that if Turkey opens borders with Armenia before the liberation of occupied Azerbaijani lands, there will be no difference between Turkey and Russia and Iran for Azerbaijan. “It is impossible to speak about the stability in the South Caucasus until the liberation of Nagorno Karabakh”.

Turkish MP from CHP Shukru Elekdagh said Turkey wanted peace, security and welfare in the South Caucasus. He reminded that Turkey closed its borders with Armenia in 1993 because of Armenia’s invasion in Azerbaijan. He said Armenia refused to fulfill US resolutions about withdrawal of its forces from the occupied Azerbaijani lands. “If the borders are opened in this situation, it will be impossible to liberate Karabakh. Turkey can’t do it. 95 percent of Turkish community doesn’t want this”.

Elekdagh said Armenia had problems not only with Azerbaijan, but other countries in the region and reminded about the Armenia’s territorial claims against Georgia and Turkey as well.

Chairman of Great System Party, MP Fazil Mustafa also noted that loss of Karabakh means Turkey’s losses in the South Caucasus. “Turkey must be interested in closing of its borders”. The lawmaker said they could sign a statement as a result of the meeting and describe the context of the forum.

Turkish MP from MHP Attila Kaya said they wanted AKP representatives to attend the forum. He said public communities of both countries were protesting the opening of Turkey-Armenia borders and it gave a result. Speaking about the history of friendship between the two countries, A. Kaya noted that one should approach equally to all the problems of Turkic world and jointly take part in their solutions.

Chairman of Civil Solidarity Party, MP Sabir Rustamkhanli proposed to often conduct such meetings between Turkish and Azerbaijani parliamentarians: “We have been talking about the establishment of Parliamentary Assembly of Trukic countries for 16 years. Despite it has been established, but does nothing at all. If this organization functioned well, such situation would not emerge”.

Acting rector of Turkish Giresun University, Azerbaijani Professor Aygun Attar noted that AKP representatives did not join this meeting. According to the professor, Armenians do not give up their genocide claims even in the time when the talks are conducted between Turkey and Armenia at present.

Chairman of United Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev noted that Azerbaijan was seriously concerned about the reports on opening of Turkey-Armenia borders: “We are told that Karabakh problem remains unsolved for 16 years. The policy should be changed. It’s not right. The United States committed the biggest genocide in the world. First, they should recognize the genocides they have committed, then let them demand it from Turkey”.

Statement was made at the end of the forum. The statement was signed by 11 parties of Turkey and Azerbaijan. The statement says that the forum participants conducted detailed and productive discussions over the issue that Turkish and Azerbaijani communities are concerned about. It was reaffirmed that historical, national, religious and economic relations uniting Turkey and Azerbaijan to each other are of sustainable and constant character: “Both communities are very concerned about the spread of recent speculations on intensity of negotiations between Turkey and Armenia, establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of borders. Communities of both countries demonstrated unanimous position against this. The forum participants stressed the importance of demonstrating common position in Nagorno Karabakh, so-called “Armenian genocide”, PKK terror, North Cyprus issues”.

The statement also reads that responsible authorities, political parties and NGOs of both countries should conduct constant consultations and joint meetings in the solutions of any problems henceforth.

April 15, 2009
EU Urges Turkey To Reopen Armenia Border

Georgia — Peter Semneby, EU’s special envoy to the South Caucasus, in Tbilisi, 08Sep2008

15.04.2009

A top European Union official urged EU aspirant Turkey to reopen its border with Armenia, piling pressure on Ankara to normalize ties with Yerevan after U.S. President Barack Obama made a similar call last week.

Peter Semneby, the EU’s special envoy for the South Caucasus, said normalizing Turkish-Armenian ties would benefit the region and would help Turkey’s hopes of joining the bloc.

“Fundamentally this would be a development that I think could lead to further positive developments that would in return benefit us, benefit the region and would therefore benefit Turkey and the European Union,” Semneby told a panel interview including Reuters late on Tuesday. “It (opening the border) will certainly not hurt Turkey’s EU perspectives,” he said.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 to lend support to its traditional Muslim ally Azerbaijan. Armenia and Turkey trace their own dispute to 90-year-old claims that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenia in World War I.

Semneby said the EU is not putting pressure on Turkey to recognize the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 as genocide, a claim which Ankara strongly denies. “I can only talk on the behalf of the European Union, and there is absolutely no such pressure, absolutely not. This is not an issue of ours. We are not involved on that issue.”

Obama, in a visit to NATO ally Turkey earlier this month, also pressed Ankara and Yerevan to complete talks soon. But Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has said the deadlock over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, over which Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in the late 1980s and early 1990s, must be resolved before Turkey and Armenia strike a deal.

Azerbaijan, which sells gas and oil to Turkey, opposes its ally opening the border because such a deal could take away the incentive for Armenia to negotiate over Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a related development, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Tuesday that Turkey should open its borders and normalize relations with Armenia without waiting for a settlement to Armenia’s long dispute with Azerbaijan. “The politicized debate whether to recognize as genocide the destruction of much of the Ottoman Armenian population and the stalemated Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh should not halt momentum” in the talks, the ICG said.

The ICG offers governments advice and policy proposals on how to bring an end to conflicts. Armenia has said that Turkish recognition of the genocide is not a precondition for opening diplomatic relations.

“The unresolved Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh still risks undermining full adoption and implementation of the potential package deal between Turkey and Armenia,” the report said. “Bilateral detente with Armenia ultimately could help Baku recover territory better than the current stalemate,” it said.

(Reuters)

April 15, 2009