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Turkish-Armenian Talks May Go Nowhere, Says Sarkisian

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  • Turkish-Armenian Talks May Go Nowhere, Says Sarkisian

    TURKISH-ARMENIAN TALKS MAY GO NOWHERE, SAYS SARKISIAN

    www.asbarez.com/index.html?showarticle= 41358_4/10/2009_1
    Friday, April 10, 2009

    YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--The almost year-long negotiations between Armenia
    and Turkey, which have brought the two neighbors close to normalizing
    their strained relations, could end in failure because of renewed
    Turkish preconditions, President Serzh Sarkisian said on Friday.

    "Is it possible that we were mistaken in our calculations and
    that the Turks will now adopt a different position and try to set
    preconditions?" he said. "Of course it is possible. One cannot exclude
    such a thing by 100 percent.

    "But I think even in that case we would emerge from this process
    stronger. With this process, we have once again emphasized -- and the
    international community has seen that -- that we are really ready to
    establish relations [with Turkey] without preconditions."

    The remarks came amid growing indications that Ankara is again linking
    the normalization of its relations with Yerevan with a resolution of
    the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. The Turkish
    government appeared ready to drop that linkage when it embarked on
    an unprecedented dialogue with the Sarkisian administration last year.

    However, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said twice
    over the past week that his country cannot establish diplomatic
    relations and reopen its border with Armenia as long as the Karabakh
    conflict remains unresolved. President Abdullah Gul likewise
    underscored the importance of Karabakh peace when he commented on
    Turkish-Armenian ties in an interview with "The Financial Times"
    newspaper published on Wednesday.

    "The major problem in the Caucasus is the Karabakh question between
    Armenia and Azerbaijan," said Gul. "We wish that this problem is
    resolved so that a new climate emerges in the Caucasus."

    The statements by the Turkish leaders followed an uproar in Azerbaijan
    over reports that Ankara and Yerevan are poised to sign this month
    an agreement envisaging an end to the 16-year Turkish blockade of
    Armenia. Azerbaijani leaders publicly warned their Turkish counterparts
    against lifting the embargo before a Karabakh settlement.

    Like his foreign minister, Eduard Nalbandian, Sarkisian insisted that
    the Karabakh dispute has not been on the agenda of the Turkish-Armenian
    talks and that Armenia continues to stand for only an unconditional
    deal with its neighbor. Speaking at a news conference on the first
    anniversary of his inauguration, he said he still hopes that the
    Turkish-Armenian border will be reopened by the time he attends a
    football match in Turkey between the two countries in October. "But
    my optimism may not prove right," the Armenian leader cautioned,
    adding that the Turks could "walk away from our agreements."

    The Armenian and Turkish soccer teams already played against each
    other in Yerevan last September. Gul paid a historic visit to Armenia
    to watch the game with Sarkisian. The so-called "football diplomacy"
    raised high hopes for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.

    "In my opinion, the ball is now in Turkey's court," said
    Sarkisian. "And speaking of football diplomacy, we have to say that
    the ball cannot remain in one court indefinitely. Every football game
    has a time limit."

    Turkish leaders said until recently that possible U.S. recognition
    of the 1915-1923 genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
    is the main obstacle to the success of the Turkish-Armenian
    negotiations. U.S. President Barack Obama avoided publicly using the
    word genocide during his visit to Turkey earlier this week, arguing
    that those talks "could bear fruit very soon." Obama is under strong
    pressure from Armenian advocacy groups in the United States to honor
    his campaign pledge to officially recognize the genocide.

    Sarkisian said that Armenian-American lobbying efforts are not directed
    from Yerevan. "It's not we who are prodding the United States to
    recognize the genocide," he said.

    "Naturally, we constantly consult and discuss issues with leaders of
    [Armenian-American] structures, but such a phenomenon cannot exist,"
    added Sarkisian. "Those people are very good citizens of the United
    States ; and it would not be right to issue instructions to them."
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