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Turkey Keeps Insisting On Non-Constructive Preconditions - Experts

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  • Turkey Keeps Insisting On Non-Constructive Preconditions - Experts

    TURKEY KEEPS INSISTING ON NON-CONSTRUCTIVE PRECONDITIONS - EXPERTS

    10:33 * 26.02.15

    Turkologists in Armenia express their criticism of Turkish foreign
    minister's recent statement linking the bilateral reconciliation
    process with the unsettled Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

    According to Artak Shakaryan, Mevlut Cavushoglu's call for leaving
    Nagorno-Karabakh without Armenians fully fits within the logic adopted
    in the 1990's (when Turkey closed its state border with Armenia as
    a sign of solidarity with Azerbaijan).

    "Back in the 1990s, Turkey would insist on the Nagorno-Karabakh
    issue, with Armenia always saying that the relations should never be
    contingent upon third countries. Armenia never imposed any condition
    on Turkey to urge for the withdrawal of its troops from Cyprus, and
    it never made it a precondition for [normalizing] the Armenia-Turkey
    ties," he told Tert.am.

    "We have always been ready for the unconditional normalization
    of ties, but we also saw that Turkey wouldn't back away from its
    preconditions. So Turkey alone is to blame for the failure."

    In a speech in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, on Wednesday, the
    Turkish official slammed Armenia for a "failure to pass the openness
    test" which he said led to the decision to withdraw the 2009 bilateral
    protocols from parliament. He also reiterated the Turkish authorities'
    earlier calls for "liberating the Azerbaijani territories".

    Noting that the Turkish authorities have so far taken no essential step
    to enforce the bilateral protocols signed in Zurich (Switzerland), the
    Turkologist said he finds that the ball is now in that country's court.

    "For them, the protocols' signing was not principally essential;
    what mattered was their availability. The Turkish side was doing all
    its best to keep the protocols on the agenda, so the withdrawal from
    the Armenian parliament makes them nervous," Shakaryan said, adding
    that he expects the country to do everything possible to keep the
    documents alive.

    Speaking to Tert.am, Turkologist Levon Hovespyan described the
    Turkish official's remark as an attempt to justify the country's
    earlier efforts towards derailing the process.

    "The entire process' failure is due to Turkey, as their activities
    in the past six years were targeted at killing the process. So Turkey
    translated that into action. All they can do now is to pretend, with
    statements of the kind, that they are ready to keep the process going,"
    he added.

    The expert said he hasn't seen any constructive step by Turkey over
    the past period, with the only strategy remaining the rhetoric of
    preconditions.

    "It is important to note at the same time that the Armenian side's
    decision did not come as a surprise to Turkey, but they will long
    speculate that fact, demonstrating that the ball is in Armenia's
    court. That's for certain. Turkey has clearly shown what policies it
    pursues and what intentions it has, i.e. - the language of blackmails
    and use of pressure mechanisms," he added.

    http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/02/26/artak-levon/1601089

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