Turkey’s chief EU negotiator: Turkish parliament unlikely to ratify protocols without “major developments” in Karabakh

by Tatul Hakobyan

Published: Friday October 23, 2009

Egemen Bagis. Tatul Hakobyan / Armenian Reporter

Ankara, Turkey - Nine journalists from Armenia were invited to Turkey on October 12–19 by the Hrant Dink Foundation. We had the opportunity to meet with the murdered journalist's family and lawyers and the editorial staff of the Turkish-Armenian daily Agos, and also to watch the World Cup qualifying match between the national soccer teams of Armenia and Turkey in Bursa. We also met with members of Turkish political, official, and media circles.

At the Turkish Grand National Assembly, we had a meeting with Egemen Bagis, Turkey's minister for European affairs and chief negotiator for European Union membership. Mr. Bagis lived in the United States from 1985, when he was 15, until 2002, when he was elected to the Turkish parliament. In the United States, he led the New York-based Federation of Turkish American Associations of America (FTAA), and gained a reputation for being rabidly anti-Armenian.

Before meeting with the Armenian journalists, Mr. Bagis gave a short opening statement. Representatives of Turkey's progressive TV stations and newspapers were present during his opening remarks. He described the Turkey-Armenia soccer match as a "game of friendship and a game of hope for the two nations."

Looking to the future

Referring to the AK (Justice and Development) Party, he said "When we came to power in 2002 as a new governing party, we had one idea of increasing Turkey's relations with all of our neighbors, including Armenia. Armenia was not an exception because we, Turkey, recognized the sovereignty and state of Armenia in 1991. For us, Armenia's sovereignty was as important as the other countries of the former Soviet Union and we thought the establishment of this new republic could be an opportunity to put some of our differences away and look at the future with more hope for both nations.

"In 2005, Turkey's Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] sent a letter to President Robert Kocharian proposing to study the events of 1915 and establish a committee of historians not only from Turkey and Armenia but also from third countries and open the archives in both countries and ask the third countries to open their archives. Some of the greatest archives are today in Boston and Turkish scholars have no access to most of these archives.

Together, as governments of Armenia and Turkey, we could ask those countries open their archives to see what really did happen. It took Armenia two years to respond that letter," Mr. Bagis said.

In fact, Mr. Kocharian replied to Mr. Erdogan's letter of April 10, 2005, two weeks later, on April 25, 2005, saying that historians had done their job and it was time for politicians to step up to the plate and focus on the future.

Continuing, Mr. Bagis said: "In 2007 dialogue started among high-level diplomats of the two countries and the elections of February 2008 in Armenia gave us another opportunity to revisit the idea of enhancing relations. After the elections, President [Abdullah] Gül sent a congratulatory letter to President [Serge] Sargsyan, and in his letter he proposed his wish and the wish of his nation to increase the relations between the two countries; and the response President Gül received from President Sargsyan was equally optimistic. President Sargsyan responded in a very constructive manner and later he extended an invitation to President Gül to come to Yerevan to watch the football [soccer] game together."

Focus on archives

After his opening remarks, Mr. Bagis requested that the Turkish media leave so that he could be alone with the Armenian journalists.

Armenian Reporter: Mr. Bagis, thank you for this opportunity. Before posing my question, I would like to remind you that the archives in Boston are open. [On May 24, 2008, the Armenian Reporter reported that the ARF Archives, to which Mr. Bagis was referring, had been open for the scrutiny of scholars and had been used by historians writing their dissertations.]

Egemen Bagis: So you are telling me if we go [to Boston], we will have access.

AR: Right.

EB: It is good to know. I was in Boston two weeks ago to deliver a speech in Harvard. If I had known I would visit them. Next time I will go.

EU membership obstacles

Armenian Reporter: Now let me address my question. We know how difficult Turkey's EU accession process is. There are a set of obstacles on the road to Turkey's EU membership and among them, as we know, is Turkey's blockade of Armenia. Sometimes the Armenian Genocide has been recalled. After a year of Armenian-Turkish soccer diplomacy, do you see that this process is much easier today for Turkey?

EB: I will be very frank with you. I think we should be frank with each other. Those issues – Turkey's relations with Armenia – were never at the center of Turkey's communication with the EU. In none of the admission criteria there is a clause saying Turkey should have diplomatic relations with Armenia. There is no such rule. We are not increasing our relations or we are not attempting to enhance the dialogue with Armenia because of the EU.

We are increasing our relations with Armenia because we are increasing relations with everyone, and Armenia should not be an exception. And in the South Caucasus there are problems – people are dying, people are suffering from poverty, people are homeless.

If your question deals with the history of the events of 1915, which we do not think would be classified as genocide, those cannot be prerequisite for my country's admission to the EU because the member countries of the EU have a lot worse historical wars and bloodshed. In one of the EU countries 6 million people died only 60 years ago. So those are not criteria for membership, but these are issues that we should have a dialogue about, and we should have discussed and we should be able to evaluate and try to understand to each other. So Turkey's approach to Armenia is not based on EU initiatives or EU demands.