Exclusive interview of the Member of the Turkish Parliament (AK Party), Deputy Chairman of External Affairs and Spokesman of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Suat Kiniklioglu, to Mediamax news agency
– On April 22, Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Turkey made a statement that they had agreed to normalize relations. The statement of U.S. Department of State, made the same day, contained an urge to the parties to establish diplomatic relations within “reasonable terms”. What terms do you consider reasonable? Are dates for realizing these or those actions outlined in the road map, or can the dates be changed depending on the situation?
– Reasonable terms would probably be until the end of the year but I am only guessing. I believe that these developments should rather take place quickly and not be left to other factors to influence the process too much. Also, one should not be too rigid and see how the roadmap is working and make adjustments as necessary. Let us hope that this historic process will work well and that the South Caucasus will finally become a region of peace and stability.
– Signing of the statement led to the fact that “Dashnaktsutiun” party came out of the ruling Armenian coalition, pressure on the government intensified also from the part of other political forces. Does the Turkish leadership have understanding of the fact that Armenian authorities take up difficult decisions, and that more weighted public statements by their Turkish colleagues are necessary for successful implementation of those decisions?
– Yes, of course we are aware of how delicate the situation is. We noticed that the Dashnaksutiun left the coalition government but that is something beyond our control. These are very difficult steps for all parties involved so it would be in the interest of a successful process that we are all very careful about the statements we make on this.
– Armenian leadership stated that the process of normalizing relations with Turkey proceeds without preconditions. According to you, what was the reason that Ankara decided to finally agree to the model for normalizing relations, suggested by Yerevan since 1990?
– As you know we started an important regional foreign policy outreach since 2002. We initiated a neighborhood policy that envisaged Turkey re-integrating into its immediate neighborhood.
We succeeded in many respects, particularly with Russia, Syria and other neighbors. Hence, our outreach for normalization with Armenia is conditioned by this same motivation. This neighborhood outreach is often dubbed as “zero problems with the neighborhood” but essentially sеeks to increase political dialogue, increase trade and social/cultural contacts with our neighbors.
Armenia is also one of our neighbors so it is critical that we achieve with Armenia what we achieved with others as well. I have been to Armenia three times in the past and feel that we owe future generations normalization between our countries.
– “Dashnaktsutiun” and other Armenian political forces openly state that they do not believe that Turkey has renounced preconditions. As a representative of the Turkish ruling party, what can you say in response?
– As the roadmap indicated there are no preconditions in this process. That said, we always said that Turkish-Armenian normalization would inevitably have a positive impact on the talks between Baku and Yerevan. I sincerely hope that the talks between President Aliyev and Sarkissian in Prague were constructive and will eventually lead to a process of resolution to the conflict. After what happened in Georgia last summer we all are even more pressed to seek a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh issue. However, that is an issue between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the Minsk Group.
– U.S. President Barack Obama used “Medz Yeghern” word combination in his address on April 24. This means “Great catastrophe” and is used by Armenians concerning the Genocide of 1915. Do you believe that any representative of Turkish leadership can ever pronounce “Medz Yeghern”? There are opinions voiced, according to which Holocaust is the generally accepted term for the genocide of Jews, and Medz Yeghern may receive the same meaning concerning the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
– I believe that “Medz Yeghern” is an invaluable term for a positive language about the events of 1915. “Medz Yeghern” is a term whose scope should be widened. World War I and the events leading to the war, namely the physical removal of Turks and Muslims from the Caucasus, the Balkans and the Middle East was a Great Catastrophe for us as well. Turks, Kurds and Armenians in the eastern front of the empire truly experienced a Great Catastrophe. We saw our empire crumble in front of our own eyes and were invaded by Russia, Greece, France and Britain. The Armenians lost their homes and property and had to leave Anatolia. There were many deaths and it was an immensely sad chapter of this region’s history. I always believed in the value of looking forward and see whether we can project a positive language to our children.
Hopefully, when we establish diplomatic relations, open our borders and our peoples have the opportunity to have direct contacts with each other we will be able to devise a positive language. From whatever perspective one looks the events of the fateful years of World War I they were a catastrophe for all involved, including for me personally as my grandfather’s father died in Eleşkirt (Alashkirt) in 1916.
– Could Turkey and Armenia have reach the progress, existing today, without support from the USA and Russia, which stated that they support the sides in their striving to normalize relations?
– I believe the primary responsibility for progress rests with Turks and Armenians. President Gul and President Sarkissian have shown great leadership in making this happen. However, there is no doubt that the constructive influence of Russia, the U.S and the EU has been very important. We appreciate the positive influences these countries have exerted. Sometimes such difficult processes require such external support but I reiterate that the primary responsibility rests with us and it is the determination and vision of our leaders which is making this historic process happen.