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ISTANBUL: Revamp of Turkish-Armenian process still possible

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  • ISTANBUL: Revamp of Turkish-Armenian process still possible

    Today's Zaman

    30.05.2010
    News
    MAHİR ZEYNALOV



    Experts: Revamp of Turkish-Armenian process still possible


    Turkey could play a bigger role in the South Caucasus, Sabine Freizer,
    the International Crisis Group Europe program director, said on Friday
    while speaking at a panel discussion in İstanbul.



    The remarks were voiced during a conference where Freizer said there
    are possible ways to move forward in the process. She stated that the
    two countries could establish consular relations and mutually
    recognize political borders, while noting that these have nothing to
    do with the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

    Armenian-Turkish reconciliation was stalled this past year after
    Turkey linked the process to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute following
    Azerbaijan's growing opposition.

    The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and the
    Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute (CI) joined forces to organize an
    international panel featuring academics, journalists, civil society
    representatives and diplomats to discuss ways to improve
    Turkish-Armenian relations and revive the stalled Turkish-Armenian
    reconciliation. The primary reason for the event was to announce the
    launch of a new report called `Assessing the Rapprochement Process'
    authored by Aybars Görgülü from TESEV, CI Director Alexander
    Iskandarian and CI Deputy Director Sergey Minasyan.

    The report is an attempt to analyze progress in the Turkish-Armenian
    reconciliation process thus far, identify reasons why the process is
    at a standstill and prescribe policy recommendations to break the
    complex impasse. The report said the ratification process must
    continue, adding that both Turkish and Armenian media have a
    responsibility to create an atmosphere conducive to rapprochement.
    `Unbiased, positive and accurate reporting is far more favorable than
    the existing sensationalism common on both sides of the border,' the
    report noted.

    TESEV Chairperson Can Paker said progress has been at a standstill,
    adding that they still have the Nagorno-Karabakh and genocide issues
    to resolve. He stated that despite these political problems, the
    maximum effort should be made to open the closed border and that the
    process of rapprochement between both states and societies should
    continue. Paker said, while introducing the first panel, that there is
    a serious public opinion regarding the process and that reconciliation
    with Armenia will solve the most important foreign policy problem of
    Turkey. `Now two countries have stepped onto an irreversible stage,'
    Paker stated.

    Görgülü said this report could not be more timely. `It's
    really important that we don't forget the massive progress we've made
    in recent years and that despite recent setbacks we continue to work
    towards full rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia,'
    Görgülü added. Speaking regarding the rapprochement process,
    Görgülü said while the process is in no hurry regarding
    Turkish society, it is an emergency for the Armenian side to open its
    border with Turkey. Saying that the so-called genocide issue and the
    Nagorno-Karabakh problem are complex and difficult issues to come to
    an agreement on, Görgülü stated that the leadership of both
    countries chose a policy of `constructive ambiguity' to only slightly
    imply these processes in the twin protocols signed between Turkey and
    Armenia in October last year in Zurich.

    Drawing a gloomy picture, Iskandarian said real changes are not
    expected in the near future, adding that a year ago prospects were
    better than ever to move forward with the protocols. He said the two
    nations launched the reconciliation project while being unaware of the
    complexities and that the process is locked but not necessarily
    deadlocked. He noted that linking the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to the
    process would derail both processes. The CI director stated that the
    main problem of a deadlock lies in Turkish domestic policy. He also
    recommended that cooperation on various levels from politics to arts
    needs to be sustained while trying to keep the process alive through
    symbolic gestures.

    Speaking on the first panel, Erdal Güven, a columnist with the
    Radikal daily, said Turkey should know how Armenia sees the alleged
    genocide issue. He stated that in Armenia the so-called genocide is
    not open to discussion, and thus Turkish society needs to consider
    this fact.

    The second panel featured Thomas de Waal from the Carnegie Endowment
    for International Peace, where he talked about the Nagorno-Karabakh
    conflict. Saying the EU did not pay as much attention to the conflict
    as they did in the Balkans, de Waal said the international community's
    efforts were aimed at managing the conflict rather than solving it. He
    also complained that there is no post-conflict program set on the
    conflict.

    Freizer said, while speaking at the second panel discussion, the South
    Caucasus was a forgotten area and that Turkey and the EU could play a
    bigger role in the region. Noting that the linkage of Nagorno-Karabakh
    and the protocols is unfortunate, she stated that the Nagorno-Karabakh
    dispute is extremely difficult to settle, adding that Turkey has a
    unique role in the Balkans and that that could happen in the South
    Caucasus as well. Freizer mentioned that instead of proposing
    alternative ways to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey should
    continue to support the Minsk Group process.


    http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-211510-experts-revamp-of-turkish-armenian-process-still-possible.html




    From: A. Papazian
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