InternationalGül’s visit to Armenia “more advantageous to Turkey”
Vartan Oskanian believes the Genocide is “not negotiable”
Published: Saturday October 04, 2008
Abdullah Gül, center, is received by Serge Sargsian at the presidential palace in Yerevan as protestors invoke Armenian grievances against Turkey. Photolure
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On October 1, Vartan Oskanian, who was Armenia's foreign minister from 1998 to 2008, gave a press conference for the first time since leaving office. During the briefing Mr. Oskanian said that Turkish president Abdullah Gül's visit to Yerevan "elevated Turkey's prestige ten times more than Armenia's, even though Armenia's prestige also benefited." The veteran diplomat, who during his ten-year tenure on many occasions negotiated with his Turkish counterparts, including Mr. Gül, said that it is perhaps too soon to evaluate the steps being taken with Turkey.
"For me there is one criterion of success, and that is the opening of the border or at a minimum, as a start, the start of the railroad. If one of these two things do not materialize in the coming months, I would say that Turkey was able to manipulate in the best possible way the possibilities given to it. And if in the coming months the border is opened, or the railroad begins operating, it will be possible to say that Armenia's president's invitation to Gül was the right decision," said Mr. Oskanian.
According to the former foreign minister, Turkey has already gotten what it wanted from Armenia: a statement that Armenia has no territorial claims from Turkey; that after the opening of the border, Armenia is ready to discuss any issue with Turkey. However Armenia has not yet received that which is fundamental for Armenia and that is the opening of the border.
With regard to Turkey's possible role in the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, Mr. Oskanian insisted that Turkey has no place at the negotiating table because the border has not yet been opened; the railroad has not begun operating; and in the Karabakh issue, Turkey protects Azerbaijan's interests. In Mr. Oskanian's opinion, Armenian diplomacy must do everything possible so that it not only blocks Turkey's participation in the resolution process, but also does not allow for Turkey to leave that impression on the international community.
"It is unacceptable to announce that if the border is opened, and diplomatic relations established, it is then possible to create commissions and discuss any issue," Mr. Oskanian said in response to a question posed by the Armenian Reporter. It has to be made clear, he added, what exactly they mean when they say "any issue" and the Turks must realize that the Armenian side will never agree to put the facts of 1915 into question. Mr. Oskanian emphasized that "we have nothing to concede to them; this is not only an issue for Armenia's authorities; this is not only an issue for Armenians in Armenia. It is an issue for all Armenians."
In 2005 Prime Minister Receb Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to President Robert Kocharian recommending the creation of a joint historian's commission to study the events of 1915. However Armenia's then-president and Mr. Oskanian declined, stressing that historians had long ago done their job and there was no question that at the beginning of the 20th century, genocide was perpetrated against the Armenians. That refusal was justified with the fact that if you agree to the creation of a commission, then you are unwittingly putting the reality of the Armenian Genocide into question; and as long as that commission exists, other countries will avoid recognizing or condemning Turkey, citing the ongoing nature of the work of that very commission. Indeed, countries that have already recognized the Genocide will be confused and have a hard time understanding Armenia's position.
A slip of the tongue
On June 23 of this year, during a meeting with the Armenian community in Moscow, President Sargsian announced: "The Turkish side is recommending the formation of a commission, which will study historical facts.
"We are not opposed to establishing such a commission but only when the border between our countries is opened. Otherwise, it could be a means to protract the question for years and exploit it."
In Mr. Oskanian's opinion, President Sargsian's announcement in Moscow was "a slip of the tongue," and he wants to believe that is what it is. "No one has the moral right to shed doubt on the fact of the 1915 Genocide," Mr. Oskanian said. "Turkey's desire is to start the process, and not the actual result itself. That will be an eternal process. Everything must be done to halt the process from beginning."
It is difficult to agree that Mr. Sargsian's statement in Moscow was a slip of the tongue. First of all, the president was not responding to an unexpected question; he was reading from a prepared, written speech. Aside from that, when meeting with the Armenian-American community in New York on September 24, Mr. Sargsian said: "Days following the meeting in Yerevan, Turkey's foreign minister announced that Turkey is ready to come to terms with its past, to face the conclusions of the presumed commission's findings. These are the words of a courageous representative of the authorities. We have to think, how we can help Turkish society be more unbiased toward the pages of their own history."
