Published: 12/26/2006
By Ferai Tinc
In an article in The Wall Street Journal, Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sargsian called on for normalizing relations with Turkey without any precondition, which is very pleasing. However, unfortunately, it’s not sufficient for opening a real door of dialogue, because Sargsian didn’t discuss the issue with all its dimensions in his article. He wrote that neither Turks, nor Armenians will leave the region and the logical solution to establish relations with each other and that neighbors do it in today’s world. He added that we can’t stay enemies forever and that we must take steps forward for our future. It’s impossible not to agree with him. Who can object to these words? There are very warm relations between the Turkish and Armenian nations, aren’t there? Why wouldn’t we crown this closeness with diplomatic relations? He wrote that this opening wouldn’t mean that they have given up the claims on Armenian genocide and the European Union must relate this issue with Turkey’s full membership. Even if we leave this suggestion aside, his presentation is lacking, because Armenia’s preconditions aren’t the only thing that matters. As long as Azerbaijan’s invasion and the Karabagh issue continue, is this possible to correct Armenian-Turkish relations? What’s more, he claimed that Turkey doesn’t act constructively. This isn’t true. Turkey is one of the founding countries of the Minsk group which tries hard for a solution and it has been making efforts for the solution of the problem since the very beginning. Even if a concern on overcoming the pressure from Europe and the US is felt in his article, this wish for peace must be taken seriously by taking the future developments in the region into account.
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are three valuable neighbors for us and important developments are expected to occur in this region. The stability will be very important in southern Caucasia, which will feel the effects of Turkmenistan’s president death and the harsh competition of oil between Russia and the West. It’s vitally important not only for Turkey, but also for the West’s interests to solve the problems between these three countries. The region’s importance for the US’ interests appeared once more when US President George W. Bush received Azerbaijani Ambassador to Washington Yashar Aliyev. Bush said to Aliyev two weeks ago that the US supported Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and that the US would try to solve the problems as soon as possible. Meanwhile, another important development caused Yerevan to review its policies. The EU stated that it didn’t recognize the referendum of independence in Karabagh and told Yerevan that neither the referendum, nor its solution would be accepted legally, before the problem is solved. Next year, it’s possible to see the results of approaches of the EU and the US towards the region as southern Caucasia’s rapprochement to the West. Problems and conflicts which would hinder this process must be certainly solved. Although Yerevan’s call is insufficient, it’s worth discussing it with certain creative suggestions.
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