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"U.S. EFFORTS TO NORMALIZE ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS IN ISOLATION FROM THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT HAVE NOT YIELDED POSITIVE RESULTS"
Today
http://www.today.az/news/politics/76321.html
Nov 8 2010
Azerbaijan
Heritage Foundation's leading expert on Eurasia Ariel Cohen said
that Baku, Tbilisi and even Yerevan believe that the United States'
political course in the South Caucasus is failing.
"U.S. efforts to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations in isolation
from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have not yielded positive results,"
Cohen said in an interview with the Caucasus Times.
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward
Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich on Oct. 10,
2009.
During the Swiss-mediated talks, Turkey and Armenia reached an
agreement to launch "internal political consultations" on Aug. 31
to sign the "Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations
and Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations," the Turkish
Foreign Ministry reported.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey have been severed
since 1993 due to Armenia's claims of an alleged genocide and its
occupation of Azerbaijani lands.
Turkish-Armenian and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations have been at the
same level, at which they were, at least, three years ago, Cohen said.
"The United States has failed to persuade the parties to abandon
the pre-conditions preventing the normalization of the relations,"
he said. "Turkish officials constantly drew parallels between the
Armenian-Turkish rapprochement process and the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, clearly stating that these processes are linked and their
solution is impossible in separate."
Washington, Cohen said, showed detachment toward Azerbaijan quite a
long time by not appointing a U.S. ambassador to that country since
July last year.
"This fact seriously worries the Azerbaijani establishment, and this
has repeatedly been voiced by representatives of the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry, including in Washington," he said. "The internal
reasons undermine the appointment of experienced diplomat Matthew
Bryza to this post. In addition, Baku is angered at the U.S. support
for hte normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations without reference
to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue."
Cohen added that the occupation of Azerbaijani territory was one of
the main reasons for the break in Turkey-Armenia relations in 1993.
However, striving for peacemaking, the White House has just closed eyes
to many aspects of the complex relationships in the Baku-Ankara-Yerevan
axis, he said.
"The Obama administration overlooks the fact that Azerbaijan is a
secular Muslim state, whose elite is committed to Western values and
the existence of such a partner on the border with Iran, Turkey and
Russia is important," he said. "Given the fact that the rating of
the United States in the Islamic world is rather low, the presence
of allies-Islamic countries bordering the Caspian Sea and in the
Central Asia is an important trump card for Washington. The country
has considerable energy resources and is ready to deliver them to the
West, including in the framework of the economically uneasy Nabucco
project, which Moscow has long sought to torpedo."
The main thing that should worry the United States is Azerbaijan's
discontent with the Obama administration's policy, which may persuade
Baku to move toward closely allied relations with Russia, Cohen said.
He also noted that there are objective prerequisites for such a move.
Already, both Turkey and Azerbaijan are more oriented toward
partnership with Russia due to their geographic location, growing trade
and economic ties, and Moscow's peaceful approach to the peculiarities
of political life in both countries, he said.
"Of course, it is impossible to please everyone at once in a region
with diametrically opposed interests," Cohen said. "Unfortunately,
U.S. policy in the region, which both parties have pursued over the
last 20 years during the Clinton and Bush administrations, is in
deep crisis."
Today, Moscow is doing everything to strengthen its regional leadership
by all available means, he said.
Cohen believes it is not difficult amid the Obama administration's
apparent weakening of interest in the South Caucasus. The Kremlin
took over the main role of the mediator in the territorial dispute
between Baku and Yerevan, and is now trying to keep a delicate balance
between its traditional ally, which is Armenia, and its prospective
partner Azerbaijan, he said.
From: A. Papazian
Today
http://www.today.az/news/politics/76321.html
Nov 8 2010
Azerbaijan
Heritage Foundation's leading expert on Eurasia Ariel Cohen said
that Baku, Tbilisi and even Yerevan believe that the United States'
political course in the South Caucasus is failing.
"U.S. efforts to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations in isolation
from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have not yielded positive results,"
Cohen said in an interview with the Caucasus Times.
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward
Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich on Oct. 10,
2009.
During the Swiss-mediated talks, Turkey and Armenia reached an
agreement to launch "internal political consultations" on Aug. 31
to sign the "Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations
and Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations," the Turkish
Foreign Ministry reported.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey have been severed
since 1993 due to Armenia's claims of an alleged genocide and its
occupation of Azerbaijani lands.
Turkish-Armenian and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations have been at the
same level, at which they were, at least, three years ago, Cohen said.
"The United States has failed to persuade the parties to abandon
the pre-conditions preventing the normalization of the relations,"
he said. "Turkish officials constantly drew parallels between the
Armenian-Turkish rapprochement process and the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, clearly stating that these processes are linked and their
solution is impossible in separate."
Washington, Cohen said, showed detachment toward Azerbaijan quite a
long time by not appointing a U.S. ambassador to that country since
July last year.
"This fact seriously worries the Azerbaijani establishment, and this
has repeatedly been voiced by representatives of the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry, including in Washington," he said. "The internal
reasons undermine the appointment of experienced diplomat Matthew
Bryza to this post. In addition, Baku is angered at the U.S. support
for hte normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations without reference
to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue."
Cohen added that the occupation of Azerbaijani territory was one of
the main reasons for the break in Turkey-Armenia relations in 1993.
However, striving for peacemaking, the White House has just closed eyes
to many aspects of the complex relationships in the Baku-Ankara-Yerevan
axis, he said.
"The Obama administration overlooks the fact that Azerbaijan is a
secular Muslim state, whose elite is committed to Western values and
the existence of such a partner on the border with Iran, Turkey and
Russia is important," he said. "Given the fact that the rating of
the United States in the Islamic world is rather low, the presence
of allies-Islamic countries bordering the Caspian Sea and in the
Central Asia is an important trump card for Washington. The country
has considerable energy resources and is ready to deliver them to the
West, including in the framework of the economically uneasy Nabucco
project, which Moscow has long sought to torpedo."
The main thing that should worry the United States is Azerbaijan's
discontent with the Obama administration's policy, which may persuade
Baku to move toward closely allied relations with Russia, Cohen said.
He also noted that there are objective prerequisites for such a move.
Already, both Turkey and Azerbaijan are more oriented toward
partnership with Russia due to their geographic location, growing trade
and economic ties, and Moscow's peaceful approach to the peculiarities
of political life in both countries, he said.
"Of course, it is impossible to please everyone at once in a region
with diametrically opposed interests," Cohen said. "Unfortunately,
U.S. policy in the region, which both parties have pursued over the
last 20 years during the Clinton and Bush administrations, is in
deep crisis."
Today, Moscow is doing everything to strengthen its regional leadership
by all available means, he said.
Cohen believes it is not difficult amid the Obama administration's
apparent weakening of interest in the South Caucasus. The Kremlin
took over the main role of the mediator in the territorial dispute
between Baku and Yerevan, and is now trying to keep a delicate balance
between its traditional ally, which is Armenia, and its prospective
partner Azerbaijan, he said.
From: A. Papazian