Armenian Political News

OPINION
We Are Ready to Talk to Turkey
By SERZH SARGSYAN
FROM TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE
July 9, 2008
YEREVAN, Armenia

The problems of newly independent nations attempting to build a novel, democratic way of life did not end with the break-up of the Soviet Union. Armenia, a small country strategically located between Turkey, Russia, Iran and the energy-rich Caspian region, is a case in point. Post- independence Armenia's potential for peaceful development has not been realized as best it could.

During the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey closed its border with Armenia as an expression of ethnic solidarity with Turkic Azerbaijan. The regrettable result is that for almost 15 years, the geopolitically vital border between Armenia and Turkey has become a barrier to diplomatic and economic cooperation. It is closed not only to Armenians and Turks who might want to visit their neighboring countries, but to trade, transport and energy flows from East to West.

Strategic projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the projected Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad bypass Armenia, while the existing railway between Turkey and Armenia remains shut. And the Armenian people are not the only ones who have suffered from these restrictions and detours. All countries in the region, and the broader community of European nations, pay a high cost for these unnatural barriers to commerce, progress and
international cooperation.

The time has come for a fresh effort to break this deadlock, a situation that helps no one and hurts many. As president of Armenia, I take this opportunity to propose a fresh start - a new phase of dialogue with the government and people of Turkey, with the goal of normalizing relations and opening our common border.

After my election in February, my Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gül, was one of the first heads of state to congratulate me. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that the doors are open to new dialogue in this new period.

There is no real alternative to the establishment of normal relations between our countries. It is my hope that both of our governments can pass through the threshold of this new open door. Establishing normal political relations would enable us to create a commission to comprehensively discuss all of the complex issues affecting Armenia and Turkey. We cannot expect tangible progress without such structured relations. Only through them can we create an effective dialogue touching upon even the most contentious historical issues.

Already, on a more personal scale, many Armenians and Turks have found ways to get around the closed border. They take advantage of regular charter flights from Yerevan to Istanbul and Antalya. There are numerous bus and taxi routes through Georgia, and container trucks even make the long detour, enabling some trade between our two countries.

And just as the people of China and the United States shared enthusiasm for ping pong before their governments fully normalized relations, the people of Armenia and Turkey are united in their love for football - which prompts me to extend the following invitation.

On Sept. 6 a World Cup qualifier match between the Armenian and Turkish national football teams will take place in Yerevan. I hereby invite President Gül to visit Armenia to enjoy the match together with me in the stadium. Thus we will announce a new symbolic start in our relations. Whatever our differences, there are certain cultural, humanitarian and sports links that our peoples share, even with a closed border. This is why I sincerely believe that the ordinary people of Armenia and Turkey will welcome such a gesture and will cheer the day that our borders open.

There may be possible political obstacles on both sides along the way. However, we must have the courage and the foresight to act now. Armenia and Turkey need not and should not be permanent rivals. A more prosperous, mutually beneficial future for Armenia and Turkey, and the opening up of a historic East-West corridor for Europe, the Caspian region and the rest of the world, are goals that we can and must achieve.

Mr. Sargsyan is president of Armenia.

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RUSSIA PARTNERS WITH AZERBAIJAN

Asbarez - Thursday, July 3, 2008 (Combined Sources)--In a bid to bring Azerbaijan back into its energy orbit and cement Russia's hold over Caspian Sea energy, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed on Thursday a declaration of friendship and strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, which contained an unusually explicit statement of support for Azerbaijan's stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict.

"The two sides underlined the importance of a speedy resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of respect for.. sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of a state's borders," said the declaration, which was penned during talks where Aliyev described the
reoccupation of Karabakh as "national goal No. 1."

"We are grateful to Russia for this position," Aliyev said after talks with Medvedev.

Azerbaijan agreed later Thursday to discuss selling gas to Russia, a prospect that could undermine a Western-backed project to bypass Russia and ship fuel from the Caspian Sea region directly to Europe.

The announcement was made by the head of Russia's gas giant Gazprom on the first day of President Dmitry Medvedev's regional tour aimed at securing Russia's role as the main link between Caspian and Central Asian gas and Europe. "In the course of talks, Gazprom and Azeri colleagues decided to start talks on the conditions for buying Azeri gas," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told reporters in Baku after Medvedev's talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.

Russia is one of the world's largest gas producers but it needs to import the fuel from its ex-Soviet neighbours to cover its own needs and export gas to lucrative European markets.

Most of the gas from ex-Soviet states around the Caspian Sea flows into Russia's pipeline network. A push by the European Union and United States to court those states and build alternative export routes has alarmed Moscow.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said Russia was seeking a long-term contract with Azerbaijan and was ready to buy as much gas as Baku was willing to sell. Medvedev and Aliyev said more bilateral contracts were possible in the future.

Medvedev spared no effort to win the heart of Azerbaijan, a gas producer and a potential host of a trans-Caspian pipeline linking Central Asian fields and Europe.

"Azerbaijan is our strategic partner with whom we are linked by history and special kind of relations," Medvedev said in a statement after talks with Aliyev.

Russia, which brokered a ceasefire of the conflict in 1994, has a history of manipulating the Caucasus for its geostrategic gains. In the early stages of the conflict Moscow backed Azeri efforts to ethnically cleanse Karabakh's Armenian population. In the early 1920s, Stalin placed the Armenian enclave within Soviet Azerbaijan, in a move to tighten Moscow's grip over the Soviet Armenian Republic.

Although the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic gained its independence from Azeri rule at the collapse of the Soviet Union, Baku is vowing to restore its control over the historically Armenian territory by any means necessary, including an all out war.

Thursday's developments come as an increasingly belligerent Azerbaijan continues to undermine the legitimacy of the current Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.

In recent months, Azerbaijan has used diplomatic alliances to gain support for its territorial integrity doctrine by a number of international bodies, including the United Nations General Assembly. It has also been raising allegations in the Minsk Group and the Council of Europe against Armenia's position regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process, claiming that an "Armenian occupation of Azeri lands" hampers the peace process. Official Baku has also hinted at its willingness to seek the dissolution of the OSCE's Minsk Group.

In the past few years Baku has been using its energy supplies to leverage its position in the Karabakh settlement process by embracing Western-backed energy projects including an oil pipeline to the Mediterranean built by a BP-led consortium, and a second link that pumps gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey.

Azerbaijan's BP-operated Shakh Deniz gas field will, at least initially, supply all the gas for Nabucco pipeline--an EU backed project to reduce dependence on Russian supplies.

Nabucco's backers also want Central Asian Turkmenistan, which has one of the world's biggest gas reserves, to feed its gas to Nabucco through a projected trans-Caspian pipeline.

Russia, which has struck a deal with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to upgrade the Soviet-era network of export pipelines to Europe last year, seeks to persuade Turkmen leaders against seeking alternative routes.

Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are another two stops of Medvedev's trip which will last until Sunday.

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