Tweet
DOES ARMENIA NEED NORMAL RELATIONS WITH TURKEY AT THE EXPENSE OF HISTORICAL MEMORY LOSS?
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.11.2008 GMT+04:00
If Ankara should declare tomorrow that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
is the problem of exclusively Armenia and Azerbaijan, it would be no
surprise, even for Baku.
The latest visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to
Istanbul aroused even more questions than the September meeting of
Armenian, Turkish and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in New-York. During
the visit foreign ministers of both countries made a number of
sensational statements, the most shocking of which was the intention
of Ankara to send her ambassador to Armenia without establishing
diplomatic relations. If it were to happen anyway, it would be too
difficult to even imagine what it is going to look like in practice.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Diplomatic regulations suppose mandatory presentation
of an ambassador's credentials to the head of state. In case it
lacks, the ambassador, in the particular case that of Turkey,
will simply be an envoy on special missions, which can in no way
indicate establishment of normal diplomatic relations between the
two countries. As a matter of principle, some seeming euphoria
puts the Armenian side on its guard. The Turkish official press
reports that the Ministers did not refer to the Armenian Genocide
issue... If that's the case, why does Turkey propose to send an envoy
to Yerevan in exchange for Armenia's consent to form a commission
of historians to study the fact of the Armenian Genocide? Moreover,
a number of Turkish papers informed as if Edward Nalbandian had
agreed on forming such a commission. The Armenian Foreign Ministry,
however, vigorously rejected the news. Â"Foreign Ministry of the
Republic of Armenia refutes Turkish media reports that RA FM Edward
Nalbandian allegedly announced Armenia's consent to form a commission
of historians to study the fact of the Armenian Genocide. In fact,
Minister Nalbandian emphasized that Armenia's position on the Genocide
issue is unchangeable," declared Head of the RA MFA media relations
division Tigran Balayan.
But what is really essential is whether Armenia needs normal relations
with Turkey at the expense of historical memory loss. Probably
not. According to historian and diplomat Ara Papian, Armenia needs
diplomatic relations with Turkey, but Turkey needs them even more. That
is why Turkey is presently carrying out a political PR-campaign to
convince the whole world that Ankara is always disposed friendly
towards all the nations, and especially towards Armenians. In our
opinion, it is particularly important not to be under Ankara's
thumb and not to rejoice ahead of time. After all, no one has a
guarantee that with the border open, Armenia will have to "import"
only Turkish goods.
However, in all this tar-barrel there is also a spoonful of honey:
the issue of Nagorno Karabakh is becoming more and more secondary
for Turkey and it can't but delight us. Actually, if Ankara should
declare tomorrow that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the problem
of exclusively Armenia and Azerbaijan it would be no surprise, even
for Baku. Though, on the other hand, it should be admitted that it
would be like pouring cold water on Azerbaijan, and we dare hope that
it would finally open the eyes of Baku, which have long been veiled
under oil shroud.
As a matter of fact, Turkey has launched the project of the Caucasus
Stability and Cooperation Platform, and Minister Nalbandian's
visit to Istanbul would rather be regarded in this respect than
be viewed as an official participation in the summit of the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation. According to Russian Ambassador to Turkey
Vladimir Ivanovsky, representatives of five countries of the Platform
(Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan) are likely to begin
collective discussions at the end of this year. He believes that the
proposals submitted by Turkey are to Russia's interests.
We wonder what fate the new regional union will have. GUAM, an
organization formed with active participation of the USA, hardly
functions now despite the declarations of Georgian and Azeri
politicians. This organization, in case it is authorized, will be
controlled by Ankara, and one should think that it awaits the same
fate as GUAM, since its members aim at too different targets.
--Boundary_(ID_95gcsvbkMXFDNuFaQ4L/ug)--
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.11.2008 GMT+04:00
If Ankara should declare tomorrow that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
is the problem of exclusively Armenia and Azerbaijan, it would be no
surprise, even for Baku.
The latest visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to
Istanbul aroused even more questions than the September meeting of
Armenian, Turkish and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in New-York. During
the visit foreign ministers of both countries made a number of
sensational statements, the most shocking of which was the intention
of Ankara to send her ambassador to Armenia without establishing
diplomatic relations. If it were to happen anyway, it would be too
difficult to even imagine what it is going to look like in practice.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Diplomatic regulations suppose mandatory presentation
of an ambassador's credentials to the head of state. In case it
lacks, the ambassador, in the particular case that of Turkey,
will simply be an envoy on special missions, which can in no way
indicate establishment of normal diplomatic relations between the
two countries. As a matter of principle, some seeming euphoria
puts the Armenian side on its guard. The Turkish official press
reports that the Ministers did not refer to the Armenian Genocide
issue... If that's the case, why does Turkey propose to send an envoy
to Yerevan in exchange for Armenia's consent to form a commission
of historians to study the fact of the Armenian Genocide? Moreover,
a number of Turkish papers informed as if Edward Nalbandian had
agreed on forming such a commission. The Armenian Foreign Ministry,
however, vigorously rejected the news. Â"Foreign Ministry of the
Republic of Armenia refutes Turkish media reports that RA FM Edward
Nalbandian allegedly announced Armenia's consent to form a commission
of historians to study the fact of the Armenian Genocide. In fact,
Minister Nalbandian emphasized that Armenia's position on the Genocide
issue is unchangeable," declared Head of the RA MFA media relations
division Tigran Balayan.
But what is really essential is whether Armenia needs normal relations
with Turkey at the expense of historical memory loss. Probably
not. According to historian and diplomat Ara Papian, Armenia needs
diplomatic relations with Turkey, but Turkey needs them even more. That
is why Turkey is presently carrying out a political PR-campaign to
convince the whole world that Ankara is always disposed friendly
towards all the nations, and especially towards Armenians. In our
opinion, it is particularly important not to be under Ankara's
thumb and not to rejoice ahead of time. After all, no one has a
guarantee that with the border open, Armenia will have to "import"
only Turkish goods.
However, in all this tar-barrel there is also a spoonful of honey:
the issue of Nagorno Karabakh is becoming more and more secondary
for Turkey and it can't but delight us. Actually, if Ankara should
declare tomorrow that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the problem
of exclusively Armenia and Azerbaijan it would be no surprise, even
for Baku. Though, on the other hand, it should be admitted that it
would be like pouring cold water on Azerbaijan, and we dare hope that
it would finally open the eyes of Baku, which have long been veiled
under oil shroud.
As a matter of fact, Turkey has launched the project of the Caucasus
Stability and Cooperation Platform, and Minister Nalbandian's
visit to Istanbul would rather be regarded in this respect than
be viewed as an official participation in the summit of the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation. According to Russian Ambassador to Turkey
Vladimir Ivanovsky, representatives of five countries of the Platform
(Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan) are likely to begin
collective discussions at the end of this year. He believes that the
proposals submitted by Turkey are to Russia's interests.
We wonder what fate the new regional union will have. GUAM, an
organization formed with active participation of the USA, hardly
functions now despite the declarations of Georgian and Azeri
politicians. This organization, in case it is authorized, will be
controlled by Ankara, and one should think that it awaits the same
fate as GUAM, since its members aim at too different targets.
--Boundary_(ID_95gcsvbkMXFDNuFaQ4L/ug)--