Tweet
INVITATION TO TURKISH PRESIDENT TO VISIT ARMENIA - REVIVAL OF "FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY"
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 3 2014
3 June 2014 - 1:09pm
By David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
On May 27th Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan invited his Turkish
counterpart to visit Yerevan on April 24th 2015 to take part in marking
the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. It was an attempt
to revive "football diplomacy." Such conclusions are inevitable,
considering that the "invitation" was made in the context of absolutely
no negotiating process and what seems to be the eternally-frozen
Zurich Protocols signed by Turkey and Armenia in 2010. Today Turkey
and Armenia have no diplomatic relations, their 330-kilometer border
has been closed since 1993.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the eve of April
24 that the slaughter and mass deportations of Armenians in 1915 were
"our common pain." Responding to an independent member of parliament
from Istanbul, Ihsan Barutcun, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
said that "Turkey will work against international recognition of the
Armenian Genocide in the diplomatic, legal and scientific fields." The
foreign minister characterized the PM's message as part of a common
strategy. Thus, Ankara continues insisting that there was no genocide
in 1915 and refuses to use the term officially.
Nonetheless, the invitation caused a burst of emotions and numerous
comments from Armenian experts and politicians. Sergey Minasyan, deputy
head of the Caucasus Institute, is steadfast that the invitation sets
conditions that could make Ankara recognize the tragedy, especially
considering that the presidential polls in turkey will be held in
autumn 2014. in his opinion, the position of Yerevan demonstrates to
the international community, and most importantly to Turkish society,
that Armenia is ready to make concessions to Turkey, keeping in
mind and commemorating the victims of the 1915 events. The political
analyst assumes that external and internal conditions may encourage
Ankara to give a positive response to the Armenian president.
Kiro Manoyan, a member of the Dashnaktsutyun Bureau, characterized
the invitation as a challenge that Ankara would most likely ignore.
Vladimir Karapetyan, the head of the commission for foreign relations
of the Armenian National Congress, recommended Sargsyan to evaluate
his own failed policy for recognition of the genocide instead of making
invitations. He reminded that not a single country had recognized the
genocide in the past four years. In his view, the six years of Serzh
Sargsyan's initiative have only proved detrimental to Armenian-Turkish
relations.
Ara Papyan, a Turkologist and the director of the Modus Vivendi
Analytical Center, characterized the invitation as a strange action,
serving, in the terms of "football diplomacy", to move the ball to
the Turkish side of the pitch. Papyan emphasized that Ankara accepting
the invitation would be the only justification for it.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/55975.html
From: Baghdasarian
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 3 2014
3 June 2014 - 1:09pm
By David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
On May 27th Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan invited his Turkish
counterpart to visit Yerevan on April 24th 2015 to take part in marking
the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. It was an attempt
to revive "football diplomacy." Such conclusions are inevitable,
considering that the "invitation" was made in the context of absolutely
no negotiating process and what seems to be the eternally-frozen
Zurich Protocols signed by Turkey and Armenia in 2010. Today Turkey
and Armenia have no diplomatic relations, their 330-kilometer border
has been closed since 1993.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the eve of April
24 that the slaughter and mass deportations of Armenians in 1915 were
"our common pain." Responding to an independent member of parliament
from Istanbul, Ihsan Barutcun, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
said that "Turkey will work against international recognition of the
Armenian Genocide in the diplomatic, legal and scientific fields." The
foreign minister characterized the PM's message as part of a common
strategy. Thus, Ankara continues insisting that there was no genocide
in 1915 and refuses to use the term officially.
Nonetheless, the invitation caused a burst of emotions and numerous
comments from Armenian experts and politicians. Sergey Minasyan, deputy
head of the Caucasus Institute, is steadfast that the invitation sets
conditions that could make Ankara recognize the tragedy, especially
considering that the presidential polls in turkey will be held in
autumn 2014. in his opinion, the position of Yerevan demonstrates to
the international community, and most importantly to Turkish society,
that Armenia is ready to make concessions to Turkey, keeping in
mind and commemorating the victims of the 1915 events. The political
analyst assumes that external and internal conditions may encourage
Ankara to give a positive response to the Armenian president.
Kiro Manoyan, a member of the Dashnaktsutyun Bureau, characterized
the invitation as a challenge that Ankara would most likely ignore.
Vladimir Karapetyan, the head of the commission for foreign relations
of the Armenian National Congress, recommended Sargsyan to evaluate
his own failed policy for recognition of the genocide instead of making
invitations. He reminded that not a single country had recognized the
genocide in the past four years. In his view, the six years of Serzh
Sargsyan's initiative have only proved detrimental to Armenian-Turkish
relations.
Ara Papyan, a Turkologist and the director of the Modus Vivendi
Analytical Center, characterized the invitation as a strange action,
serving, in the terms of "football diplomacy", to move the ball to
the Turkish side of the pitch. Papyan emphasized that Ankara accepting
the invitation would be the only justification for it.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/55975.html
From: Baghdasarian