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Tag: Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenian, Azeri Leaders Report More Progress In Karabakh Talks

07.05.2009

Gevorg Stamboltsian

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan reported further progress towards the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh after holding fresh talks in Prague on Thursday.

Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliev met there on the sidelines of a European Union summit that offered their nations as well as four other former Soviet republics to forge closer ties with the EU. The meeting began in the presence of their foreign ministers and the American, French and Russian diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group.

Aliev and Sarkisian then spoke one on one for more than two hours. Neither leader made any public statements afterwards, leaving it to the three mediators to present the results of the talks to journalists. Matthew Bryza, the chief U.S. negotiator, said the presidents made “significant progress” towards finalizing a framework peace agreement along the lines of the basic principles put forward by the co-chairs.

“Presidents Aliev and Sarkisian were able … to reduce their differences on our basic principles and generally agree on the basic ideas that they came here to discuss,” Bryza said. “We had some specific ideas and elements of the basic principles we are trying to finalize and they do agree on the basic approach.”

“We plan in coming days and weeks to work together with the foreign ministers to finalize the details of these key remaining concepts within the basic principles,” added the diplomat.

“We are preparing a breakthrough,” said Bernard Fassier, the group’s French co-chair. “We are in a position to identify what could be the break, but we are not yet through. So we need to progress and we are expecting to realize that in the following weeks.”

Fassier, Bryza and their Russian opposite number, Yuri Merzlyakov, refused to disclose what specifically Aliev and Sarkisian have agreed on.

In a written statement, Sarkisian’s office confirmed that the two presidents have narrowed their differences over “some points” of the proposed settlement. It said they instructed their foreign ministers to continue to work on its details with the mediators and to prepare for another Armenian-Azerbaijani summit.

Merzlyakov said Aliev and Sarkisian will likely meet again in Saint-Petersburg, Russia early next month. The two leaders held their first face-to-face talks there in June last year.

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1623675.html

May 7, 2009
Turkey’s new FM meets senior Azarbaijani official as first work

The official’s visit to Turkey comes before Azerbaijan and Armenia summit.

New Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu received Azerbaijan’s deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov as his first guest.

Azarbaijan’s ambassador to Turkey, Zakir Hasimov, accompanied Azimov during the visit.

A statement was not released after the meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Azerbaijan’s deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov, but press members were allowed to take pictures.

Before leaving his post to Davutoglu, Ali Babacan said the political consultation period among 6 countries, including Turkey and Armania, would start in a couple of weeks.

Azimov who is responsible for Nagarno-Karabagh and energy issues among other things, evaluated regional developments during the meeting with Davutoglu.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will meet in Prag over Nagorno-Karabakh in a land occupied by Armenian soldiers during the energy summit that will be held on may 7-8.

Azimov’s visit to Turkey comes before this summit.

Source: www.worldbulletin.net, 04 May 2009

May 5, 2009
New Progress is Turkish-Azerbaijani Union

Turkey feels influence of cold relation’s results with Azerbaijan. Turkish people should act to prevent non-relationship status like immature relational position of Middle Asian countries. Some assertions about Armenian border problem were about silent events among Caucasus states. Importants of them;

– Different actions of Azerbaijan which could be created by Russia,

– Azerbaijan didn’t recognize North Cyprus Turkish Republic,

– Will Turkey stipulate Karabakh, ASALA and Kars Treaty points in new seazon with Armenia?

We know Ahmet Davutoğlu’s doctrinaire position about foreign policy of Turkish government. Now he is new Foreign Affairs Minister of Turkey. But in that time, old formulation of Turkish foreign policy which is formulated as minimum problem and maximum cooperation with neighbors, shares us a neccessity to create new dimensions as dominant policies. Otherwise our initiatives will die before they are born. Example, hanging on New Ottoman mind can not improve without knowing issues of near abroad. There is an obligation to understand which balances are standing on Tbilisi government. And if Turkey learned explanation of Meds Yeghern as last country in the world, there is a vision of small Turkey.

New evolutions of Turkey can not be responsibilities of only Turkish academians and politicians. Turkish media should explore value of East. The world is not covering only London and Paris; Baku, Bishkek, Moscow and New Delhi are other important geographical points.

On this way, Turkey should analise Mackinder’s Heartland theory (who commands Eurasia, he commands all the world) and Stratfor’s “Turkey-Azerbaijan Union” opinion.(It must depend on only Turkish directives) If Turkey don’t know sensitives of other regional states, it will depend on mercies of great powers.

As Turkey we should skillfully play Caucasus chess now. It means that effective situation on Caucasus region of Turkey. Common interests of one nation-two states can create unification above common national and moral values. After the Cold War, Russia had an advantage to use old heritage of Tsarist and Soviet Russian period as to create hegemony on Caucasus and Middle Asia. But it is a rotten activity as a mind of saving post Soviet lines. This state uses imperialistic ideas to create buffer regions because of geostrategically Russia has a dangerous situation as territorial integrity. There are some vital importances of Turkey to create union with other Turkish states:

– Some religious groups which are called as radical Islamic groups by Russia and the USA, should be defined by Turkey as normal social organisations. It is important the thought of Turkey because of strong religious heritage of this geography. Also Turkey should support cultural, educational and scientific activities of these groups.

– There must be useful activations which are referenced by historical background.

– There should be strong works how to create unifications like other international organisations. Example, we see possible circumstances to create Turkish union like Arap League in the table of Bruce Russett.

– Turkish educational stations, universities, trade activities and investors should be supported and given new directions by Turkish state. If Turkey had supported 90. anniversary of Baku’s independence, there would have been friendly commands about Armenian border problem from Azerbaijan.

– Related to Armenia which is a gangrene region, Turkey should compose commisions about near history to finish accusations by Armenia. Turkish academians should investigate Tashnak archives in California and create contr-propagandas in different languages all around the world.

Turkish foreign affairs evolutions are gaining with seeing last results of other states’ activations. We have some duties to create brain storm for having a strong progress.

Mehmet Fatih ÖZTARSU

Baku Qafqaz University

International Relations

May 4, 2009
Levon Ter-Petrossian’s – Mayday, Mayday

May Day is a pagan ritual which marks the end of the colder winter half of the year in the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations – ‘regardless of the locally prevalent political establishment’. But not for Levon Ter-Petrossian, his Mayday was more akin to the Mayday associated with the emergency code word used internationally as a distress signal by ships and airplanes in radio communications; derived from the French venez m’aider, meaning ‘Come Help Me’; the Mayday used to signal a life-threatening emergency by groups such as police forces, pilots, fire-fighters, and transportation organizations – and LTP.

Yesterday, LTP’s Armenian national Congress (ANC) liner was visibly in distress, suffering relentless buffeting from an Armenian regime which terrorized and killed itself into office; which runs a state-imposed lawless society, holds democratic opposition supporters in prisons, and bullies and beats correspondents who try to tell the story. LTP has finally been trumped by the ‘Flying Ace’ which Kocharian has for years kept tucked up his sleeve and which Sargsyan now flaunts with his international partners-in-crime; the ace of capitulation – on Karabakh and on Genocide.

Nevertheless, the regime had prepared well for a potentially massive turnout, which might have been the case. But, according to Levon Zurabyan, vehicles bringing LTP supporters to the meeting from outlying regions were turned back in traditional regime style by security services at the city limits brandishing automatic weapons. In contrast, outgoing vehicles were encouraged to take their Mayday holidaymakers to tend their plots of land in the countryside.

So LTP had fewer passengers than for previous voyages, with the business class notable in its absence. They are distancing themselves from LTP and jumping off his democracy liner, now looking for a Sargsyan lifeboat, in the hope that after regime cronies have finished pillaging the multi-billion dollar [economic rescue] Genocide /Karabakh ‘Sell-Out’ package, the leftovers will help to rescue their small and medium business enterprises. The three thousand or so economy class passengers left on board were seeking cover in whatever sheltered place they could find, realizing they were doomed to go down with the ship and its captain. Riot police were on display in abundance as usual, with bus loads of reserves waiting in the surrounding streets, to make sure nobody jumps ship.

The Turkish press was eager to quote the international AFP, which rushed to report on how LTP announced to his 3,500 supporters that he and his Armenian National Congress are “in favor of the soonest settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations and is ready to support all positive steps.” On this occasion, the Armenian press came to rescue, with Onnik Krikorian, one of Armenia’s last ‘independent’ photo-journalists, using his Global Voice to report the truth of the matter and including the following:

“In a damning indictment of Armenia’s rapprochement with Turkey, opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian accused President Serzh Sarkisian on Friday of scuttling U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide and gaining nothing in return …… We are left to conclude without the slightest exaggeration, that for the sake of prolonging his rule, Serzh Sarkisian has literally ‘Sold Out’ the Genocide. “His next step will undoubtedly be a ‘Sell-Out’ of Karabakh, after which he will become the first Armenian to win the Nobel Prize.”

Unfortunately there is now little hope for an LTP rescue effort, a multi-billion dollar carrot, backed by the power of the international propaganda machine, has succeeded with its ‘Weed Revolution’ for Armenia.

The international community has happily fallen for the Kocharian / Sargsyan ‘Flying Ace’, hailing marvellous Sargsyan achievements with Turkish and Azerbaijani relations. The European Union started the bidding and gambled the virtues of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. But realizing that Sargsyan was not fooled by the bluff, it instructed PACE to throw in the hand, and they joined Sargsyan as co-conspirators.

America then upped the anti with a billion plus dollar cash WB/IMF bet, a calculated bid to draw the ‘Flying Ace’ and knowing it had a win-win situation. Upping the stakes would either call the Sargsyan bluff, with the US collecting the pot, or US losses would be recouped by Obama reneging on his promise to recognise the Armenian Genocide on the 24th April.

Moscow put in its half billion dollar bid in typically shrewd Russian style, reminding the Armenian party that in the event of losses, they would be covered by previous Russian / Armenian agreements. Turkey and Azerbaijan stayed in the bidding with promissory notes, watching the major players jockey for position. Then the US threw in its billion dollar hand and Obama reneged on his Genocide promise as planned.

The players have been at the table for months on end, each ready to back out in return for resolving its problems in the Caucasus. The EU and the US were happy to cut and run to leave the three former Soviet players to finish the game, each hoping that Turkey, which has been picking up strong cards along the way, will not come up with a hand to trump them all.

Armenia still has a better-than-even chance of raking in the entire multi-billion dollar pot; all it has to do is to call the Turkish Azerbaijani bluffs and pick the right time to throw down its Karabakh card. The Republic will then be endowed with an internationally installed bandit regime, which for many generations to come will dictate life in Armenia – and all for the sake of a treacherous Armenian capitulation on Karabakh, which unfortunately included an even more shameful ‘Sell-Out’ of the Armenian Genocide.

In typical style, whilst Diaspora Armenians have been lobbying overseas, Armenians in the Republic have been subserviently watching on as this process moves into its final stage. The fifty or so thousand Karabakhis are up in arms, determined to defend their rights in the light of this Kocharian / Sargsyan ‘Sell-Out’. But there is little hope that they will be able to stop the capitulation roller-coaster, when Armenia’s regime unilaterally withdraws its troops from five of the surrounding territories, egged on by Bryza and his Minsk associates and rubber stamped by the EU.

The tale goes that when the Azerbaijani Defense Minister asked his President if he was prepared to take Karabakh by force, Aliyev answered – “Are you crazy, there are fifty thousand of them”. The Defense Minister answered but we are a country of eight million and our army is several times larger in number than the entire Karabakh population and we have spent billions of dollars on the latest military equipment. Aliyev replied: “But two Karabakhis took over Armenia single-handed and now they own the Republic. Imagine what fifty thousand of them will do to us!”

After the Sargsyan ‘Sell-Out’, Turkey and the rest of the international community will be pleased that that anecdote is now the reality. Unfortunately, it is the reality with which Armenia now has to live – and Armenia, you can blame absolutely nobody for it – except yourselves.

May 4, 2009
Bryza on Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan

[ 02 May 2009 12:35 ]
“We have a fair and balanced proposal on the table”

Washington. Zaur Hasanov – APA. Adviser to US Secretary of State on European and Euarsian Affairs, OSCE Minsk Group US Co-Chair Matthew Bryza’s interview to APA.

– In the first days of the next week, the MFA of Azerbaijan and Armenia will be in Washington. Is it coincidence or you are setting up a meeting with the ministers?

– Of course, it is not a coincidence. Secretary of State Clinton as well as the President have both said they want to help bring about significant breakthrough in Naqorno-Karabakh peace process. So we have both foreign ministers here having separate meetings with our Secretary of State and we, the Co-Chairs are preparing for the meetings of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia on May 7 in Prague.

– Many think thanks in Washington are raising a concern about the Turkish-Russian rapprochement. They think that Russia helps Turks to find a deal with Armenia but instead may ask Turks to halt any future energy pipeline projects which are planned to bypass Russia. Do you have the same concern?

– The experts have a right to tell their opinions. As a person who is responsible for our foreign policy toward this region, I can say that Turkey is a key ally and one of our closest friends in the world and is reliable. Turkey should have decent, normal relations with Russia. And we all know that for years there have been very deep business relationships between Turkey and Russia. For example, projects like Blue Stream which aimed to strengthen Russia’s monopoly over gas transit to Europe. But Turkey has been a very active and reliable partner and helped Europe to diversify its energy supplies, both oil and gas, through pipelines linked primarily to Azerbaijan, but also, perhaps, eventually to Turkmenistan and Iraq. So whatever Russia’s ambitions may be, the U.S.-Turkey strategic partnership is strong and will stay strong. Finally, when it comes to Nagorno-Karabakh, all of the Minsk Group Co-Chair countries are one team and are working together to deliver a breakthrough. Russia will no be able to do it alone. In fact, none of the Co-Chair countries will be able to do it alone; we all have to work together.

– Is there any remark about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the roadmap announced between Turkey and Armenia recently?

– I am not going to comment on the content of the bilateral agreement between two countries. But what I can say is that there are two processes: Nagorno-Karabakh, or Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, and a separate one for Turkey-Armenian relations. They are two separate processes. In fact, we anticipate they both will move forward simultaneously but at different speeds. We may have more progress on one at one time, and it may slow down at another time. They are separate processes moving forward in parallel, but at different speeds. So I would anticipate that the roadmap focuses on Turkey-Armenian relations. But the last point I am making is that the diplomatic and psychological climate in the region will improve due to Turkey-Armenian normalization. And this will also improve the climate for the Nagorno-Karabakh process.

– Are you confident that the border opening will change the climate and help foster the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan?

– In diplomacy there is no guarantee except on international legal issues when there are legal guarantees. What we have is a strong opinion by the U.S. in this case, if Turkey-Armenian normalization moves forward, by the way I am not talking about the opening of border, border opening will happen later in the normalization process, but as this normalization process between Turkey and Armenia begins and goes forward, we believe we will see that the prospect for a solution to Nagorny Karabakh conflict will improve. But you don’t have to trust me now. All we can ask is to give us Co-Chairs some times, several months, to work with the parties to achieve a breakthrough. And if we reach the breakthrough maybe next week in Prague or later on in Saint Petersburg, you will know that we are right. Then, every side will be able to move forward together in confidence. If we don’t achieve a breakthrough, if we are wrong, then we know that Azerbaijan will react. So, our job is to focus all our efforts on achieving the breakthrough so everything can move forward smoothly.

– Do you have any document on table which presidents can sign and reach the breakthrough in Prague?

– I don’t want to suggest that any document may be signed at that particular meeting. The breakthrough, I am hoping for, does not necessarily require the signing of any documents. We need presidents to agree on a few remaining concepts of our Basic Principals, which will constitute the breakthrough. I don’t think that there is any need to anticipate any document to be signed at this point. The breakthrough, when negotiating the peace agreement, can come in all kind of forms. You can’t get anything on paper unless you worked it out intellectually. The Madrid documents are the last version of the Basic Principals is proposed by the Co-Chairs and they reflect several years of negotiations. From our perspective, our suggestions, in the form of Madrid Documents, remain on the table. We have been working with the presidents and foreign ministers to improve that document and its recommendations, and bring sides closer together. The foundation of our work is the Madrid Document.

– Ho do you charcaterize the US-Azerbaijan relations?

– The relationship between Azerbaijan and the USA is a friendship and strategic partnership, and we want to deepen it. We’ve got a whole range of areas where we need to work. Our strategic partnership has been based on security, energy, (where Azerbaijan is one of the important countries anywhere in helping Europe to diversify it supplies of natural gas and oil. Of course, the expansion of the political and economic freedom within Azerbaijan is also important. All those issues are of great importance and are interrelated, and we need to see progress in all three areas at the same time. Right now we are making a major push at the highest level to help to Azerbaijan to address the most important problem, which is the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We have a fair and balanced proposal on the table, which, when implemented will led to return of territories, to return of IDP’s and refugees, and which will bring a sense of security to Armenian and other residents of NK and surrounding territories, and will have a positive impact on stimulating economic growth and prosperity, and lay a foundation for long-term peace.

May 3, 2009
BORDER TURKS WANT DOOR TO ARMENIA KEPT SHUT

IWPR’S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 491, May 1, 2009

Plan to reopen frontier between Armenia and Turkey wins few friends in towns and villages on Turkish side.

By Sabuhi Mammadli in Igdir, Turkey

Talk of the possible reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border has left residents in nearby Turkish towns divided on whether such a development is what they need.

Many say that even if it means certain economic benefits for them, they are not ready to make friends with their Armenian neighbours.

Igdir is a small town in Turkey. For all its provinciality, it lies in an area of great strategic importance for Turkey, located at an intersection of the country’s borders with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran.

Most of the local people in Igdir are Azeris who moved here from territories in or adjacent to Nagorny Karabakh.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in sympathy with Azerbaijan, following a series of defeats that the latter had suffered in its war over Nagorny Karabakh.

There are still no diplomatic relations between the two countries due to the still unresolved Karabakh conflict and Armenia’s demands that Turkey recognise the following: the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as a genocide; and the territorial claims of some Armenian political parties to six provinces in Turkey’s north-east.

But the fact that the opening of the frontier is one of the 35 requirements Turkey needs to meet to be admitted to the European Union has put pressure on Ankara to find a solution.

Armenia and Turkey, with Switzerland as mediator, have been negotiating behind closed doors on the issue since 2002.

The unblocking of the border was the top item on the agenda in talks between Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United States president Barack Obama during the latter’s recent visit to Ankara.

The issue was also discussed during the Turkish president Abdullah Gul’s short visit to Armenia last September.

It also featured in the Turkish-Armenian talks being conducted in Switzerland, which resulted in the recent joint declaration of a so-called road map, leading towards hoped-for normalisation of relations.

Signs that Turkey and Armenia might be moving toward a rapprochement have displeased the Azerbaijan president, Ilham Aliev, however.

He showed his annoyance by refusing to attend a recent international conference in Ankara, thus sacrificing an opportunity to meet Obama, who attended the event among other high-ranking guests.

Despite Azerbaijan’s demarches, the Turkish-Armenian road map already envisions reopening two checkpoints on the frontier between the two countries.

One is located near the village of Alijan in Igdir; the other is in the Kars village of Akyaka.

Cahid Erol, head of the Igdir department of the National Movement Party, known in Turkey as the MHP, is worried by the momentum leading towards reopening of the border.

He fears the recent election of a Kurdish mayor in Igdir may have advanced an undesirable, process.

Erol recently lost the local elections to the candidate of the Kurdish Democratic Society Party, Mehmet Gunesh, whom Erol insists is a sympathiser with the Kurdish Workers’ Party, PKK, deemed a terrorist organisation in Turkey.

“Now, unfortunately, they’ve appointed a member of the PKK to lead the municipality,” Erol complained.

He worries that the new Kurdish municipal chief will act on his pledges to open the frontier with Armenia.

Soon after being elected, Gunesh told a local newspaper he would “open the gates of Alijan”, the village near one of the proposed checkpoints.

“This will boost the region’s economic development,” he told the same newspaper.

The idea of trading away Turkey’s alliance with Azerbaijan in exchange for “development” does not appeal to Erol.

“Our respected [party] chairman, Devlet Bahceli, says, ‘We won’t back off on Karabakh, even if Azerbaijan does,’” he retorted.

“We would be glad if Azerbaijan took a tough stance on the Turkey-Armenia border reopening issue, and if [President] Aliev upset the plans of Obama and Erdogan.

“Our party has made its position clear. The border will never be opened, or they will have to step over our dead bodies first.”

Opinions vary among ordinary residents of Igdir, though many seem as hostile to the reopening of the frontier as Erol.

Nuri, an employee in the Hotel Barbarossa, in the heart of Igdir, said such a development would stain Turkey’s reputation.

“I just can’t imagine Armenians traveling freely to Turkey,” he said. “How can it be possible?”

A local businessman, Ekrem Yesil, struck a similar line. He said the sociology department of the University of Arzrum had recently conducted a survey of 10,000 people, showing the overwhelming majority against reconciliation.

“Ninety-seven per cent of the respondents said they did not want the border reopened,” Yesil said.

“Most of the remaining three per cent were members of the pro-government Justice and Development Party.”

Murat Karademir, of the opposition Popular Republican Party, also adamantly opposes a rapprochement, describing Igdir as “the door to the Caucasus” – a door, he says, that needed to remain firmly shut in Armenia’s face.

“For Armenians, the town represents a path to Europe via Turkey; in a word, it’s a strategic territory,” he said.

“Opening this door to Armenians now would mean a catastrophe for Turkey, a threat to its security.

“Besides, the PKK is very active in this region; it’s not a secret for anyone that many PKK members are trained in Armenia and the occupied Karabakh.

“It is there that terrorists get their wounds treated. Already it’s very difficult to [prevent them going] crossing into Armenia. Unsealing the border would make it still easier for them to move.”

Mehmet Aydin, who comes from Alijan and now lives in Igdir, said Ankara had recently made a point of sending envoys to the village to argue for reopening the frontier.

“They have been saying, ‘You see how Igdir has evolved from a small village into a town after the border with Azerbaijan was opened. That’s what will happen to Alijan, [if the border with Armenia is unsealed]’.

“Some believe in this propaganda and want [it] to be reopened, but most don’t.”

But not everyone in Igdir wants the frontier with Armenia to remain shut forever.

Ahmet Sahin, a local activist of the Democratic Society Party, believes many businesses in Igdir now idling because of economic difficulties could get back on track if the border was opened.

“I’m an entrepreneur myself,“ he said. “The chemical goods produced at my factory have been collecting dust in storage facilities.

“What would be wrong if I took my produce to the Armenian market?”

“The border should be opened, because there are no jobs in Turkey,” agreed Mehmet Broi, a local teacher. “Trade has shrunk too. Armenia is a profitable territory for us.”

The governor of the area, Mehmet Karahisarli, also sounded a note of optimism about the possible reopening of the border. “[This] would stimulate business activity in both Igdir and the entire district,” he told IWPR.

But Turkish nationalists continue to reiterate that they will only tolerate seeing the frontier unsealed if Armenia meets a series of conditions.

These start with Nagorny Karabakh.

“First of all, Armenia has to un-occupy the territories of Karabakh,” Erol said.

“Secondly, they should get the genocide demand out of their heads. Thirdly, they should stop asking Turkey for compensation. Fourthly, they should give up their territorial claims regarding Turkey. Fifthly, they should admit to the [February 1992] massacre [of Azeris] in Khojali.

“Once the Armenians have met all these conditions, Erdogan and Gul can even become related to [Armenian president Serzh] Sargsian for all we care.

“Until they do, we have nothing to talk about.”

Sabuhi Mammadli is a freelance journalist.

May 2, 2009