Raffi Hovannisian: Armenia’s policy of “no preconditions” has failed

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Thursday March 11, 2010

Raffi Hovannisian speaking at Georgetown on March 1. PF-Armenia photo

Washington - The policy of not setting preconditions for establishment of relations with Turkey embraced by three presidents of Armenia has proved to be a failure, a leading Armenian opposition figure and former foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian told The Armenian Reporter.

Mr. Hovannisian said that what he thought was "a measured and considered approach" when the policy was first introduced in his time as foreign minister in 1991-2, 18 years later has failed to deliver results for Armenia.

Mr. Hovannisian spoke to The Reporter after delivering a keynote speech at a conference on Armenia-Diaspora relations organized by Policy Forum Armenia at Georgetown University on March 1-2.

"It is possible that we were wrong that that [policy] might be the way to resolve the issues," Mr. Hovannisian conceded, adding that there is now a need to develop a new policy towards Turkey.

"No" to protocols

Mr. Hovannisian reiterated his strong criticism of the protocols that the Armenian government signed with Turkey last October.

The government "is in a state of effective resignation from the [Armenians'] right to homeland, to Armenia's territorial integrity as defined de-jure," Mr. Hovannisian said in a reference to a clause in Armenia's Declaration of Independence that commits the republic to pursue international recognition of the Genocide in Western Armenia.

Should protocols ever come to ratification in the Armenian parliament, Mr. Hovannisian believes that there will be widespread opposition in Armenia, including from elements inside the ruling establishment.

Armenia's president Serge Sargsyan has argued that the protocols were in line with the "policy of no-preconditions." At the same time, suspicious of Turkey's intentions, the Armenian president made Armenia's ratification of protocols conditional on Turkey ratifying them first.

Moreover, Mr. Sargsyan has warned that he would rescind Armenia's signature from the agreement should Turkey continues to stall. Although he gave no concrete timeframe, commentators have speculated the next April 24 - the day on which the start of the Armenian Genocide is commemorated - will become an effective deadline.

Turkish leaders have refused to ratify the protocols unless Armenia commits to a study that would question the facts of the Armenian Genocide while also agreeing with Azerbaijan on basic principles of settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

A long-standing policy

Speaking at Georgetown, Mr. Hovannisian noted that even before the Armenian military success in Karabakh, Turkey refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia.

Moreover, in early 1992 Turkey threatened to veto Armenia's membership in the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now OSCE) unless Armenia endorsed the 1921 Treaty of Kars, which established the current Turkish-Armenian frontier and absolved parties from war crimes committed during and after World War I.

Mr. Hovannisian recalled that under U.S. pressure, Turkey at the time dropped the veto threat, opening the way for Armenia's CSCE membership. But Ankara refused to establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan unless its pre-conditions were fulfilled.

In April 1993, in response to Armenian advances in the Karabakh war, Turkey suspended ground and air communications with Armenia and threatened to intervene militarily on Azerbaijani side.

While a direct Turkish intervention did not come - as Russia also threatened to get involved - and restrictions on air travel were lifted in the mid-1990s, Turkey continues to advance pre-conditions for a full normalization of its relations with Armenia.