Yesterday the former foreign affairs minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan denied the rumors that he was going to be the one to head the so-called third power, which the government had been trying to create for months now. However, he didn’t exclude that in near future he might participate in the political process of Armenia because as he mentioned being an Armenian citizen cannot abstain the processes, which occur in Armenia.
It is not yet known how and in what status Oskanyan will return to politics. At any rate he ensured that he doesn’t have a plan like yet. Yesterday he refused to assess the foreign policy implemented by the current government by saying that it’s too soon to judge it. “We need time for that,” he said. Oskanyan, who served as foreign minister throughout former President Robert Kocharyan’s decade-long rule, also commented on the unprecedented thaw in Turkish-Armenian relations that was underscored by Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s September 6 trip to Armenia. He pointedly reserved judgment on Sargsyan’s decision to invite Gul to watch a football match in Yerevan, saying that Ankara has yet to reciprocate this and other Armenian overtures. “For me, that decision’s being right or wrong will be obvious later on,” said Oskanyan. “There is one criterion for the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. That is the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border or at least [cross-border] rail communication. There is no other criterion. “Unless one of these two things happens in the coming months, I will say that Turkey has heavily exploited the political opportunity given to it.” Touching upon the trilateral meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, which took place in New York, and Turkey’s mediation affectations the ex Foreign Minister said: “Of course Turkey wants to appear as a mediator. It will definitely make Turkey’s reputation in the region higher. But as far as I understood the agenda included regional issues and Turkey’s initiative towards Caucasus. Actually in my view at the moment Turkey doesn’t have any role in those negotiations because the border is still closed and the railway doesn’t operate and Turkey appears as a party in that conflict. In such circumstances Turkey doesn’t have anything to do and Armenia’s diplomacy must do its best to firstly prevent Turkey from similar involvement and creating an opinion in the whole world that it is in the role of a mediator, because Turkey doesn’t have the right for similar role.” As regards the expediency to set up a joint committee of Armenian and Turkish historians Vardan Oskanyan said: “Any step that can somehow cast doubt on the fact of the Genocide is unacceptable. In this issue we must really be very vigilant.” The ex Foreign Minister didn’t exclude that the direct participants of the “football diplomacy” the President and the Foreign Minister know more than the public does: “Maybe Turkey gave certain guarantees regarding the opening of the border. Otherwise for me it is a bit strange to hear the announcement made by the President saying that we don’t have any land demands from Turkey and we are ready to discuss any issue. So the thing that the Turks wanted from us we have already given to them and the thing that we want from Turkey we haven’t yet taken from them.” Gul’s announcement saying that until Armenia returns the “occupied territories” to Azerbaijan, Armenian-Turkish border won’t open, indirectly displays that Turkey can’t change its harsh attitude towards Armenia and will continue to speak with us in the language of ultimatums. The reporters asked to comment on Robert Kocharyan’s statement that Gul would not come to Armenia if he were the president. Oskanyan said Gul’s visit was unprecedented but did not specify whether it is positive or negative. Noting that he expresses his personal opinion, independently from Robert Kocharyan, Oskanyan said time will show if the decision to invite Gul was right or wrong. For Oskanyan, there is one benchmark of improvement of the Armenian and Turkish relations, the opening of the border. The ex-foreign minister says if the border is not opened in the upcoming few months or at least the railway is not operated, it means Turkey manipulated the invitation of Armenia with its typical diplomatic skill. Therefore, Oskanyan advises to wait for several more months to evaluate the invitation. As to Sargsyan’s agreement to setting up a commission of historians, Oskanyan hopes that it was a slip-up. According to the ex-foreign minister, if we accept the possibility of setting up the commission to study the issue, it means we question the issue of the Genocide. Although Serge Sargsyan later edited his statement made in Moscow several months ago, Oskanyan thinks the international community and Turkey have a vague understanding of this since the following actions and statements of the Armenian side allow for ambiguous perceptions. Oskanyan said he does not understand Sargsyan’s idea that after opening the border Armenia is ready to discuss any issue in a commission or sub-commission. Oskanyan thinks there maybe something that we do not know but Serge Sargsyan knows. The ex-foreign minister thinks that Turkey may have given him guarantees for opening the border, that is why Serge Sargsyan is making those statements. Otherwise, Oskanyan says the statements of the Armenian government about the Genocide, the issue of Karabakh and the absence of territorial claims to Turkey are unacceptable and obscure. According to Oskanyan, it turns out that we have given Turkey everything it wants but we have not received what we need from Turkey even in the form of statements. With regard to the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh, Oskanyan said Armenia must always speak about it and remind Azerbaijan and the international community but the recognition should be at a convenient time. According to Oskanyan, now the time is not convenient. He also emphasized that as a result of the visit of the Turkish president to Armenia Turkey won 10 times more points than Armenia. “However, it raised Armenia’s image as well,” he said.