434) Armenian President Rejects Any Contact With Turkish PM

* An opportunity for a Erdogan-Kocharian meeting in Denmark next month is missed due to Armenian President Robert Kocharian’s refusal to attend NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting. Erdogan will attend as guest of honor and give a speech in the meeting. . . .
* Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said yesterday he doesn't want to have symbolic talks with Turkey as there's been no progress in bilateral relations since he met with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.

* Armenian side had not accepted Turkish PM’s invitation for Istanbul NATO Summit in 2003. Armenian President rejected Erdogan’s joint commission to discuss historical disputes in this year too

Emel TURANGOL - Armenian President Robert Kocharian has turned down an invitation by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to attend its 51st annual meeting in Denmark next month due to the ‘Turkey factor’.
"An important opportunity for a meeting between Turkish and Armenian leaders is to be missed," one European diplomat told The New Anatolian, a Turkish daily. Many diplomats in Ankara had expected the assembly's meeting to bring together Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, providing them with a step towards normalizing relations between the neighboring countries. There is no diplomatic relations between two countries. Turkey closed down its territorial border gates when Armenian forces occupied 20 percent of neighboring Azerbaijani territories. Yerevan does not recognize Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s national borders. It is claimed that the Yerevan also supports Armenian separatism in Georgia.

Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan will still attend the meeting as a "guest of honor" and will address the parliamentarians, Turkish sources said. Erdogan is expected to make a pointed reference to "good neighbor ties" in his speech. Turkey has solved its long-lasting problems with the neighboring countries except Armenia. The thorny relations with Bulgaria, Syria and Iran for instance are now smother than ever. Turkey-Syria trade has been increased and Bulgaria has become a gateway to the Balkans. Even Turkey-Iraq relations is better than Turkey-Armenia relations.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia, which do not have diplomatic ties, witnessed a major step when Erdogan sent a letter to Kocharian in April. In this letter, Erdogan suggested the establishment of a joint commission of historians to shed light on the issue of "Armenian genocide" claims. In his reply, however, Kocharian rejected the offer. Unofficial diplomatic contacts, whose contents remain mostly secret, have followed since then. Armenia uses its lobbies in the EU and North America to make pressure on Turkey. Yerevan called Turkey to open the territorial borders with no pre-condition though the air gates are open to business and other civilian relations. Turkey on the other hand argues that Armenia must recognize the international borders in the region and to withdraw its occupying forces from Azerbaijani provinces. Ankara says that Armenia should not put the historical disputes at the heart of relations.

Diplomatic sources indicate that Turkey has two expectations for the normalization of relations and the opening of its border with Armenia. The first is that Yerevan stops its drumbeat of genocide claims and the second is a partial Armenian withdrawal, or its commitment towards one, from its occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Dr. Nilgun Gulcan told the JTW that Turkey respects the Armenian approach about the 1915 events: “Armenians think that the 1915 events was a genocide. They make propagandas to convince the international community for the decades. They spent ten millions of dollars every year. All nations are free to think in a way and no nations has to agree on every issues. What Turkey want is not to force Armenians to shift their ideas about the genocide allegations. However, if you seek to develop your relations with Turkey, you cannot put the most thorny subjects at the heart of the relations”.

Dr. Sedat Laciner, head of the Ankara-based ISRO agrees with Dr. Gulcan. Dr. Laciner cannot understand the “Armenian snobbish” attitude towards Turkey. “Yerevan behave as if Armenia does not need relations with Turkey. If Armenia does not need any trade with Turkey, so Yerevan should not insist on opening of the borders. They even reject to speak anything with Turkey. If you cannot bear even to any dialogue, how can you make trade?” Dr. Laciner asks. “Armenia has to face the realities. Turkish PM has taken great steps to normalize the relations risking his popular support. Turkish people do not enthusiastically support Mr. Erdogan’s Armenia initiatives. Turkish PM risks his credibility in political life. He has a dream. He wants to solve all the problems with the neighbors during his term. However Armenia resists. Armenian approach is named ‘shut-up-and-accept-it’ approach. They do not listen, they do not try to understand the other side. It is unfortunate that Yerevan Government seems a past-obsessive government. They focus on the past problems instead of today’s issues. The politics is made for the living people, not for the deads” Dr. Laciner added.

ARMENIAN FM: NO SHOW TALKS WITH TURKEY

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said Thursday that he doesn't want to have ‘symbolic talks’ with Turkey as there’s been no progress in bilateral relations since he met with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.

Speaking to German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung, Oskanian said, "There's been no progress in relations between Turkey and Armenia for one-and-a-half years. I don't want to have symbolic talks with Turkey aimed at persuading the international community that there's been progress in relations even though there hasn't been. Ankara is not ready to take concrete and serious steps; this is sad, but Turkey obeys the interests of a third country."

“TURKISH PROPGANDA GAME”

Asked about the Armenian rejection of the Turkish suggestion to establish a joint commission composed of Armenian and Turkish historians to investigate the Armenian claims of genocide, Oskanian replied, "This is a Turkish propaganda game. First of all the evidence is obvious. Secondly, such a commission could not work free from realities. Turkey should first open its borders and set up diplomatic relations with us. This initiative would be meaningful after a start to diplomatic relations."

Armenians argue that the 1915 Relocation Campaign was a genocide against the Armenians. However the Turkish Government has never accepted the allegations since 1923. According to the Turkish historians, there was an Armenian riot during the First World War and most of the Armenians were killed in the communal clashes and bad war circumstances. The Ottoman Government too had rejected the allegations. Turkey also says more than 500,000 Turkish and Kurdish people were massacred by the separatist armed Armenians during the same period. Armenian aimed to establish a separate country on the Eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire though they had no majority in any of these provinces. Russia backed Armenian militants attacked the Muslim villages and killed many. With the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Armenians failed to establish an Anatolian Armenian state. The First Armenian Republic started a ‘revenge terror campaign’ and many Ottoman high-ranked officers and politicians were killed by the Armenian terrorist organizations. The Armenian terrorism was started during the 1970s and more than 40 Turkish diplomats were murdered since then.

JTW with, TNA and news agencies
Source:Emel TURANGOL, JTW
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