Friday 4 September 2009

Armenia:Turkey Protocols - Turkish reactions‏

(the Journal of Turkish Weekly site has publshed nothing so far on the protocal news)
ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS SEVERELY CRITICIZED AT HOME
Hurriyet Daily News
Sept 1 2009
Turkey

Members of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and
Republican People's Party, or CHP, voice their unhappiness with the
government's move to restore diplomatic relations with Armenia

Turkey's opposition parties have reacted harshly to a joint statement
saying that two protocols will be inked in six weeks to restore
diplomatic relations and improve bilateral relations with Armenia.

Even if the government signs the protocols, it is impossible to
implement them without parliamentary ratification.

Republican People's Party, or CHP, vice president and retired
ambassador Onur Oymen said Armenia has not sufficiently changed its
policy nor implemented the necessary pre-conditions to allow such a
reconciliation. "Does Armenia officially confirm that it will withdraw
from Nagorno-Karabakh?" he asked Tuesday.

"Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan assured in a speech at
the Azerbaijani parliament that the Turkey-Armenia border would
not be opened until the Karabakh conflict is solved," Oymen said,
referring to the longstanding territorial dispute between Turkey's
neighbors. "However, now you even declare a timetable for opening
the border. How can you convince the Azerbaijanis?"

Saying that Turkey does whatever the United States asks, even at the
cost of losing its credibility and reliability, Oymen added: "It is
incoherent politics and harms the reliability of the country. Armenia
has promised nothing in response to this protocol and so what Turkey
does will be a one-sided concession."

Deniz BölukbaÅ~_ı, a retired ambassador and deputy from the
Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, also severely criticized the
government policy. "These protocols are like a red carpet to welcome
[Armenian President Serge] Sarkisian, who reiterated his intention
not to come to Turkey until a move was made to open the border,"
BölukbaÅ~_ı said in an interview with Hurriyet's Web site.

Noting that the contents of the protocols do not meet Turkey's
expectations, the MHP representative added: "Armenian constitutional
law considers eastern Turkey as part of Armenian land. There is
no item in the protocols to confirm that Armenia has given up this
approach. Armenia neither promises to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh
nor to resolve the problems with Turkey. So it is a one-sided step
."
TURKEY DOESN'T HEAR BAKU VOICE
Aysor
Sept 2 2009
Armenia

The Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's Chief Advisor Hussein Celik
announced that Turkey will continue establishing diplomatic and
bilateral ties with Armenia regardless of any settlement on Karabakh
conflict, reports the Turkish electronic edition "Sabah".

"Even thought the Karabakh conflict is not resolved Turkey will
continue setting diplomatic ties with Armenia" - H.Celik said.

The Oppositional National-Republican Party of Turkey's Head's assistant
Onur Oymen said the historical process both in Armenian and Turkish
foreign policy started.

The opposition deputy recalled the reason of Armenian-Turkish border
closing. That was the Armenian Armed Forces liberated territory.

"It is clear that the necessity for the border opening is the
Armenian Army withdrawing. However, whether there is an evidence
of that? No. There is just something that Turkey has changed its
foreign policy".

"The policy made in the current situation is dictated by the world
leaders" - Onur Oymen said.

TURKISH, ARMENIAN PRESS PLAY DOWN TIES
BBC NEWS
2009/09/01 11:57:36 GMT


The decision by Turkey and Armenia to establish diplomatic relations
after centuries of hostilities has been given a lukewarm reception
by press commentators in both countries.

Only two Turkish newspapers were noted to have commented on the issue
and both largely welcome the move, but remain sceptical over whether
it will result in anything without consensus from neighbouring nations.

Similarly, only two Armenian opposition dailies commented on the
statement, both highlighting further conditions that they feel need
to be met before the agreement can be fully welcomed. One of the
Armenian dailies expressed stronger objection to the agreement,
citing Turkey's ongoing denial of genocide against Armenians.

SEMIH IDIZ IN TURKEY'S MILLIYET

Turkey and Armenia have taken a bold step and decided to establish
diplomatic relations. This is the message given by yesterday's
statement simultaneously made in Ankara, Yerevan and Bern... It is
assumed that this consensus which has been reached through Swiss
mediation will be met by reactions in the nationalist circles in
both Armenia and Turkey. And it is not known in the current phase
what kind of a preparation Ankara has made in order to convince
Baku [Azerbaijan].

ERDAL SAFAK IN TURKEY'S SABAH

An important detail: the six-week period will expire two days
before the national football match to be played between Turkey and
Armenia
. Our impression is that in case the Armenian President, Serge
Sarkisian, who has made his visit to Turkey for the match conditional
upon the "opening of the [Turkish-Armenian] border", continues to
resist, it is strongly possible that the process may be frozen.

EDITORIAL IN ARMENIA'S HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK

Serge Sarkisian cannot but fulfil his promises: To go to Turkey...,
to sign a big agreement on the Nagorno Karabakh issue, and to wait
for Turkey finally to fulfil its promise to open its border.

EDITORIAL IN ARMENIA'S ZHAMANAK

Serge Sarkisian may go to Turkey on 14 October to watch the scheduled
Armenia-Turkey football match, in order to ensure the continuation
of the Armenian-Turkish talks and to prevent them from being aborted,
at any cost.

Taking into consideration Turkey's policy of denying the Armenian
genocide, Armenia is to some extent justifying Turkey's behaviour
in the genocide issue
. The point is that the issue of the genocide
is a national demand, which should not be made an axis of state
policy. State policy should never be carried out at the price of
national feelings, and moreover, it should not contribute to defying
those feelings.

BBC News selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news
agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70
languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux
abroad.
TURKEY WILL TAKE AZERBAIJAN'S INTEREST INTO ACCOUNT
a1plus.am
12:16 pm, Sep 1, 2009
Turkey will take Azerbaijan's interest into account

"The opening of the Turkish-Armenian border is not foreseen in this
stage," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davudoghlu said
during an
interview with the NTV television commenting on the progress registered
in the establishment of relations between both countries.

Let us remind that the two protocols to be signed after the 6-week
political consultations (see www.a1plus.am) will be presented for the
confirmation of both parliaments and the Turkish-Armenian border will
be opened within 2 months after the protocols are signed.

"Turkey is aimed at having friendly ties with its neighboring
countries, as well as establish peace and stability in the region,"
said Davudoghlu.

However, the Turkish Foreign Minister announced: "Ankara will take
Azerbaijan's interests into account in each stage of the normalization
of relations with Armenia."

France has already qualified the improvement of Turkish-Armenian
relations as a "historical event".

The U.S. State Department "warmly welcomed" the steps taken by Armenia
and Turkey toward normalization of relations and called on speeding up
the process. In case of need, the U.S. has expressed the willingness
to support the governments of both countries "in the solution to
the conflict."
KARABAKH ISSUE TOUCHED UPON IN TURKEY-AZERBAIJAN TALKS
armradio.am
31.08.2009 17:43


Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and visiting top Turkish diplomats
had talks in Baku over the weekend on recent developments in the
Caucasus, the Anatolia news agency reported. The meeting among Aliyev,
Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu and
Ambassador Unal Ceviköz, the deputy undersecretary for the Caucasus
and Central Asia, was held on Saturday following a Friday telephone
conversation between Aliyev and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan.

During Friday's conversation Erdogan briefed Aliyev on normalization
efforts between Turkey and Armenia, while Aliyev informed Erdogan
about developments regarding the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Erdogan's
office said in a written statement.

Ahead of their departure from Baku later on Saturday, Sinirlioglu told
reporters that they explained Turkey's views to Aliyev concerning
both the normalization efforts between Turkey and Armenia and the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, without elaborating further, Today's Zaman reported.
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