Kocharian’s Letter And The So-called Genocide

BY MUSTAFA KARAALIOGLU
YENI SAFAK- No problem can be resolved by ignoring it. All foreign policy problems have a shelf life. Just as a resolution is now inevitable on Cyprus after 30 years of deadlock, Turkey will also have to face up to the Armenians sooner or later.
Facing up doesn’t necessarily mean accepting, approving or submitting to the other side’s demands. In this case, facing up refers to finding a solution to a problem which could block Turkey’s way to the European Union.
Let’s take a glance at the thorny issues between the two countries: Yerevan’s so-called genocide allegations, and Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Official contacts between Ankara and Yerevan are so few that the recent correspondence between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian President Robert Kocharian might be seen as diplomatic sparring. Kocharian responded to Erdogan’s letter, which offered to establish a joint commission to debate Armenia’s so-called genocide allegations.
In brief, Kocharian proposed establishing relations between the two countries without any preconditions. However, his letter said nothing about the genocide allegations.
To Yerevan, establishing diplomatic relations with Ankara and opening its border gate are very important. Turkey is a profitable getaway for this isolated country. So, Armenia’s demand for trade with Turkey can be used as a trump card during possible negotiations on the so-called genocide claims. However, this can’t be as useful as we hope. As a matter of fact, the Armenian public relations campaign has superiority in the international community. In other words, they have managed to convince nearly all countries that there was a ‘genocide.’ Therefore, they can’t and won’t retreat from this position. Accordingly, for Yerevan, it wouldn’t be reasonable to discuss the issue with historians.
To Ankara, establishing relations with Armenia wouldn’t be as easy as it hopes because this issue is directly related to the cost of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project. We’ll be in trouble if we establish contact with Yerevan despite the fact that Azerbaijan’s territories are occupied by Armenia.
Nonetheless, if Turkey manages to improve its relations with Armenia, this would of course blunt the impact of the Armenian anti-Turkish propaganda, paving the way for a more advantageous EU platform. However, the first step that Yerevan must take is to withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh. In other words, Armenian should make the first move if it really wants to boost its relations with Turkey. And the only country that could force Yerevan to make this move is the United States, not the European Union or any other bloc.