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TURKISH OPPOSITION PARTY SLAMS GOVERNMENT'S POLICY TOWARDS ARMENIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
May 20, 2011
Turkey's main opposition's foreign policy specialist and former
ambassador Osman Koruturk has criticized the government's policies
toward Armenia while reiterating his party's election promises
following his visits to the religious leaders of Turkey's Armenian,
Greek, Syriac and Jewish minorities this week, Hurriyet Daily News
reported.
"The painful [events of 1915] were reciprocal; we need to talk
tête-a-tête [with the Armenians.] The diaspora claims they were the
only ones to suffer; the pain of the Muslim Turks needs to also be
recognized. We can move forward if we dress our wounds and leave the
past to historians. Even the Germans and Jews have managed to overcome
all this. Why shouldn't we?" said Koruturk from the Republican People's
Party, or CHP.
He added that "they wanted good relations with Turkey's neighbors
and signaled the possibility of reinvigorating the issue of Turkey's
closed border with Armenia."
Koruturk also said significant mistakes were committed in regards
to the Interior Ministry's decision to appoint Aram AteÅ~_yan as the
acting deputy patriarch of the Armenian church. The CHP representative
said "the spirit of the Lausanne Treaty should have been followed in
this regard."
"The AKP began its Armenia initiative with an inappropriate partner
under inappropriate circumstances. Consider the fact that anyone who
says there was no genocide gets punished in Switzerland, which is
the mediating country," said Koruturk, who also accused the AKP of
failing in its Kurdish Initiative as well. "The AKP failed to act in
coordination. Azerbaijan was not kept sufficiently informed ... The
Karabakh problem requires many years to be resolved, just like the
Cyprus problem. When they received negative reactions from Azerbaijan,
the AKP took a wrong turn and pushed forth the issue of Karabakh,
[as a result of which] the process lost its momentum. If things were
coordinated with Azerbaijan and [Azerbaijan] was kept sufficiently
informed, all this would not have happened," said Koruturk, referring
to the protocols initialized in 2009 between Turkey and Armenia to
normalize relations.
Koruturk said if Turkey wants to be a powerful player in the region,
then it must develop consistent dialogue with its neighbors. The CHP
representative noted that Armenia conducts a significant portion of
its trade through neighboring Iran and Georgia, and added that Turkey
is still Armenia's second largest export market despite the closed
borders. "All the benefit from this trade, however, go to Iran and
Georgia," said Koruturk.
PanARMENIAN.Net
May 20, 2011
Turkey's main opposition's foreign policy specialist and former
ambassador Osman Koruturk has criticized the government's policies
toward Armenia while reiterating his party's election promises
following his visits to the religious leaders of Turkey's Armenian,
Greek, Syriac and Jewish minorities this week, Hurriyet Daily News
reported.
"The painful [events of 1915] were reciprocal; we need to talk
tête-a-tête [with the Armenians.] The diaspora claims they were the
only ones to suffer; the pain of the Muslim Turks needs to also be
recognized. We can move forward if we dress our wounds and leave the
past to historians. Even the Germans and Jews have managed to overcome
all this. Why shouldn't we?" said Koruturk from the Republican People's
Party, or CHP.
He added that "they wanted good relations with Turkey's neighbors
and signaled the possibility of reinvigorating the issue of Turkey's
closed border with Armenia."
Koruturk also said significant mistakes were committed in regards
to the Interior Ministry's decision to appoint Aram AteÅ~_yan as the
acting deputy patriarch of the Armenian church. The CHP representative
said "the spirit of the Lausanne Treaty should have been followed in
this regard."
"The AKP began its Armenia initiative with an inappropriate partner
under inappropriate circumstances. Consider the fact that anyone who
says there was no genocide gets punished in Switzerland, which is
the mediating country," said Koruturk, who also accused the AKP of
failing in its Kurdish Initiative as well. "The AKP failed to act in
coordination. Azerbaijan was not kept sufficiently informed ... The
Karabakh problem requires many years to be resolved, just like the
Cyprus problem. When they received negative reactions from Azerbaijan,
the AKP took a wrong turn and pushed forth the issue of Karabakh,
[as a result of which] the process lost its momentum. If things were
coordinated with Azerbaijan and [Azerbaijan] was kept sufficiently
informed, all this would not have happened," said Koruturk, referring
to the protocols initialized in 2009 between Turkey and Armenia to
normalize relations.
Koruturk said if Turkey wants to be a powerful player in the region,
then it must develop consistent dialogue with its neighbors. The CHP
representative noted that Armenia conducts a significant portion of
its trade through neighboring Iran and Georgia, and added that Turkey
is still Armenia's second largest export market despite the closed
borders. "All the benefit from this trade, however, go to Iran and
Georgia," said Koruturk.