Turkey doesn’t connect the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border with the regulation of the NKR conflict. During yesterday’s press conference such a statement was made by the director of the Caucasus Media Institute Alexander Iskandaryan.
Reminder: The prime minister of Turkey Erdogan stated several days ago that he was planning to discuss with the US President Barack Obama the methods of regulation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. “The resolution of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia will contribute to the regulation of relations between Armenia and Turkey,” said Erdogan. And yesterday president Gul stated that no document will be signed on opening the border on April 16. Based on this statement many experts insist that Turkey hasn’t refused its pre-conditions on regulating relations. However, Iskandaryan thinks that it’s wrong to assume that if the NKR conflict is not resolved Turkey will not open the border. “At present regulation of the NKR conflict is not possible,” stated expert. But the high-rank officials of Turkey, according to Iskandaryan, have to make such statements because it’s their job. “What do you want them to say? They can’t possibly admit their mistakes of the past and say you know Obama is coming over and the European community is pressuring us to open the border,” said Iskandaryan. As of the two main pre-conditions of Turkey – refusing the genocide issue and recognition of Turkey’s territorial integrity on part of Armenia, still remains on the main agenda of Turkey. Reminder: ARF member Kiro Manoyan has numerously mentioned that Armenia shouldn’t take steps, which would jeopardize the consistency of the issue of the genocide. He claims that Armenia shouldn’t sign a document that would say that Armenia doesn’t have any demands from Turkey. Iskandaryan thinks that there is no problem with the fact that Armenia demands territories from Turkey. According to Iskandaryan Armenia gained its independence from the Soviet Union via referendum and it doesn’t include Van, Erzrum and Kilikia. And Iskandaryan finds it OK that certain parties constantly speak about that. “They act that way because they have to speak that way. There is certain mass of people and they behave the way they have to,” said Iskandaryan. As of the creation of the committee, then in the opinion of the analyst, there will be no word about genocide in the document and instead it will be formulated like a committee on disputable issues. According to the political scientist there will be no resistance on part of the Armenian society if the two points are included in the document on opening the border. Nevertheless Iskandaryan also thinks that there is no need to expect opening of the border in the near future, however he believes that the issue of opening the border has become pretty popular, which will cause the opening of the border. According to the political scientist the European, American, Armenian and Azerbaijani newspapers write about the Armenian-Turkish relations due to internal motives. For example Europe speaks about this issue because the European community wishes the Armenian-Turkish border to be open. “When they say that a memorandum will be signed in April it doesn’t mean actually that it will be opened by then,” says Iskandaryan. But in Armenia people are used to fast processes. “The border was closed for a 100 years and now they want the border to opened overnight. It doesn’t happen that way,” he said. According to the expert the main purpose why this process got activated is because of the initiative policy of Serzh Sargsyan. According to Iskandaryan, serious steps are being taken toward establishment of the Armenian-Turkish relations and there might be some agreement or statement, which would outline the procedure of opening of the border. Director of the Caucasus Institute considers some level of diplomatic relations could be established. “It’s clear that we are in a very important stage. There will be some changes before April 24,” he said. Important events are taking place, but the border will hardly be opened before April 16, according to Iskandaryan. In any event, the opening of the border will be generally positive, since having closed borders in the 21st century is not understandable. According to him the main reason is why Turkey is so willing to cooperate in this regard is the country’s intention to enter the EU. As a positive consequence Iskandaryan mentioned that once the borders are open the trade between Turkey and Armenia and the prices will go down. “I have personally been to the Eastern part of Turkey and am well-aware of the poorly developed situation there,” he said.