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BAKU: "The French Senate's Legislation Of The Past In The Present Ha

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  • BAKU: "The French Senate's Legislation Of The Past In The Present Ha

    "THE FRENCH SENATE'S LEGISLATION OF THE PAST IN THE PRESENT HAS DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE FUTURE"

    APA
    Feb 6 2012
    Azerbaijan

    "Azerbaijan's approach to the French Senate's passing of the 'Armenian
    genocide' bill has been constructive though it is difficult when
    Azerbaijan is still at war with Armenia for it to play much more of a
    positive role", Dr. Joshua W. Walker, a Transatlantic Fellow at the
    German Marshall Fund of the United States, where he runs the Turkey
    Program, told in an interview with APA.

    "Obviously Turkey and Azerbaijan must coordinate and work together,
    but there are different interests in Ankara and Baku when it comes to
    Yerevan, yet ironically the Armenian lobby brings them closer together
    which is in direct contradiction to Yerevan's interest", he said.

    The analyst believes that the French Senate's legislation of the
    past in the present "has dire consequences for the future". "Every
    democracy has its pitfalls and in particular the narrow interests
    of lobbies everywhere have negative consequences as we are seeing
    in the case of French-Turkish relations. Rather than focusing on
    the similarities and convergence of interest between France and
    Turkey fellow Minsk Group, NATO, and G-20 allies the French Senate
    passing the bill penalizing denial of the "Armenian genocide" has
    hurt everyone's interests rather than gaining anything".

    Speaking about the possible affect of the French "genocide bill" to
    the Nagorno-Karabakh adjustment process, Mr. Walker mentioned that
    Nagorno-Karabakh unfortunately is a deeply frozen conflict that will
    be unaffected by the French bill precisely because this conflict is
    not just a problem from the past, but of present realities. Ankara's
    own internal calculations vice-a-vie Baku and Yerevan and competing
    international and regional interests will ultimately have far more
    impact than anything Paris can legislate.

    The analyst also considers that Armenian-Turkish rapprochement has
    been stillborn almost from the beginning of the 2009 protocol signing
    because of the domestic and regional political realities in Ankara,
    Baku, and Yerevan.

    "Rather than focusing on a positive agenda in an environment of trust,
    we have seen nothing but negatively and insincerity unfortunately. I
    think Armenian-Turkish rapprochement is in everyone's long-term
    interest, but the short term ramifications and the ongoing history
    issues with Turkey and present day frozen conflict with Azerbaijan
    make me pessimistic about the possibilities of genuine reconciliation",
    he added.

    According to him, the US has done all it can do and quite frankly
    needs to focus on being a more fair and balanced broker given its
    own domestic components.

    "Armenia's President got more severely criticized when he came to
    Los Angeles and Boston than in his own country for the reconciliation
    process which shows how skewed this entire process has been.

    Ultimately it is in America's long-term interest to help Armenia
    and Turkey reconcile so they can work out their differences directly
    rather than indirectly".

    He also underscored that Turkey as a candidate country for the EU
    has never been treated the same as any other country, yet Albania as
    another Muslim country that has integrated into European structure
    offers some hope particularly for a country like Azerbaijan that has
    a more relaxed understanding of religion.

    "Turkey is a deeply conservative and religious country that has a role
    to play as a leader and spokesman for Muslims around the world, where
    as Azerbaijan has less of a role, yet as seen from Europe they will
    very much be put in the same category. So how ever far Turkey can go
    with Europe is a win for Azerbaijan and vice-versa, so whether it is
    in Eurovision or the European Union their destinies will be forever
    linked", he said.

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