One of the strongest opposition comes from Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora
Jan Soykok, JTW, 10 December 2004
Turkish accession to the EU will change Turkey a lot. Liberal intellectuals in Turkey have great hopes: Mehmet Altan for instance argues that the EU will stabilize the democratization and liberalization in Turkey and will boost human rights improvements. Many foreign policy experts defend that an EU member Turkey will make a great contribution to its region (the Middle East, Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caucasia and Central Asia). Turkey’s EU integration will definitely impact Turkish-Armenian relations as well and will help in solving the historical problems. However Armenia does not want to wait anymore and asks everything before Turkey’s accession to the EU.
EU leaders decide next week (December, 17) whether to start accession negotiations with Turkey. So, this week is considered as ‘vital’ by Turkish leaders. Any problem or opposition to Turkish EU bid before the Summit is ‘noted’ by Turkish media and politicians. Under these circumstances one of the strongest opposition comes from Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora.
Vardan Oskanyan, Armenian Foreign Minister, told Reuters new agency in an interview that the European Union should press Turkey “aggressively” to reopen the border:
“Certainly if Turkey becomes an EU member and implements all the requirements, meets the criteria, that would mean Turkey would be a much more open society… Armenia would like to see the open border issue… be raised by the European Union more assertively, more loudly, even more aggressively, because this is an important issue also for the European Union.” (Reuters)
Oskanyan said recognition of the genocide was still on Yerevan’s foreign policy agenda, and he hoped Turkish accession to the EU would help achieve it. Similarly the Armenian diaspora in France and in other EU members oppose Turkey’s entry to the EU. For the Diaspora organizations Turkey cannot be an EU member if it does not recognize the Armenian ‘genocide’ allegations. Armenians claim that 1.5 million of Armenian people died between in 1915 affairs in the Ottoman Empire in a so-called ‘genocide’ and say the decision to carry it out was taken by the political party then in power in the Ottoman Empire, popularly known as the Young Turks. However Turkey has denied all these allegations and defended that it was the years and many Armenians died due to the bad weather conditions, tribal conflicts between the Kurdish and Armenian groups, scarcity and riots.
Turkish historian Yusuf Halacoglu says the Armenians bands organized armed groups and attacked the Turkish and other Muslim villages: “They killed more than 500.000 Muslims. They rioted in many towns. Many Armenians joined the enemy Russian Army in and before 1915. Today the Armenian Diaspore abuses the past’s tragedies. They claim the number of the killed and lost Armenians is more than 1,5 million. It is not true. As a matter of fact that the Armenian population of the Armenians was less than 1,5 million and hundred thousands of Armenians immigrated to European, American and Middle Eastern states and Armenia.”
“Armenia must End the Occupation”
For Dr. Nilgun Gulcan from USAK, the ‘genocide’ claims are not the real reason for the current Turkish-Armenian problems. Dr. Gulcan says “Turkey closed its border because Armenians occupied a neighboring country’s territories. Now about 25 % of Azerbaijani territories are under the Armenian occupation. There are about 1 million Azerbaijani refuges in Azerbaijan. And nobody question Armenia but Turkey and Azerbaijan. Armenian Republic legally does not recognize Turkey’s borders. Their constitution and Declaration of Independence do not recognize the Kars Agreement, and the Armenian politicians frequently call Turkey’s Eastern Anatolia as ‘Western Armenia’. If you do not recognize a country’s borders, you cannot expect diplomatic relations or open borders with that state.”
Dr. Nilgun Gulcan told the JTW that Armenia and Armenians abuse Turkey’s EU bid:
“They are not patient. If they can wait Turkey’s entry to the EU, the dialogue between the two sides would be easier. Furthermore, the Armenian side must question their arguments. The Armenian Diaspora in particular must end abusing the past. They should not make politics over the deaths.”
Turkish Armenians: “The Main Obstacle is Diaspora”
The Turkish Armenian Hrant Dink similarly critics the Armenian Diaspora and says “An EU-member-Turkey would be better for all sides, including Armenians in Turkey, Armenia and elsewhere. Dink, in an international conference held in France last week, said the Diaspora Armenians could not change and this deeply worsened the Turkish-Armenian relations:
“ The Diaspora generally say Turkey cannot change. But this is not true. The unchanged side is the Diaspora. The world and Turkey change, and the Diaspora must join the change. The Diaspora should change and should support Turkey’s democratization and change process. Now the Diaspora, especially the Armenians in France should question their campaign against Turkey’s EU bid. Because Turkey’s entry process first changes Turkey. If we will find a solution to ‘Armenian genocide issue’, that solution will be found in the process of Turkey’s integration into the EU. So, blocking this process means that you do not really want Turkey and its people’ questioning their past. The foremost priority for the Diaspora should be the future of Armenia, future of the Armenian world. The security and future of Armenians depend on the security of the Republic of Armenia. The Diaspora must reorganize its strategies according to Armenia’s national interests and security.” (Agos)
Ethem Mahcupyan, Armenian columnist in Istanbul, who joined the same conference in France accused the Armenians in France of abusing the past and the problems:
“I told them ‘You resist Turkey’s entry to the EU. So you are afraid of recognizing the ‘genocide’. They got angry. Then I said ‘If there were no Armenian in Turkey you would be more happy. Because if there were no Armenian in Turkey you would have monopoly over Turkish-Armenian relations. The only voice could be heard would be yours. You still make politics by abusing the past deaths… Turkey’s integration with the EU is good for the Armenians and Armenia.” (Hurriyet)
Oskanyan hopes EU could force Turkey to open the border: “Turkey’s foreign policy should be in line with Brussels”. However Oskanyan has never touched the occupied territories problem and the legally recognition of Turkey’s borders issue. Oskanyan says “That means Turkey cannot have closed borders with its neighbors”.
Dr. Nilgun Gulcan says Oskanyan is biased and just focus on their problems: “Oskanyan says Turkey cannot have closed borders with its neighbors. Now, I ask to Oskanyan ‘can Armenia occupy its neighbors territories. Brussels first has to tell the Armenians that they have to recognize their neighbors borders and they should not ocuupy neigbouring countries”.
Jan Soykok, JTW
Yorumlar kapatıldı.