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YEREVAN (Yerkir)--Referring to statements made Wednesday by
Turkey's Army Chief of Staff calling for the simultaneous
resolution of the Karabakh conflict and the Armenia-Turkey
border opening, the head of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation Parliamentary bloc Vahan Hovanessian said that Turkey
was not going to back away from setting pre-conditions in the
negotiations process.
In his remarks to reporters on Wednesday, Army Chief of Staff
Gen. Ilker Basbub said, “Armenia's borders should be opened
simultaneously with the withdrawal of Armenian forces from
occupied Azeri territories” Basbub's comments are the first
instance in which the powerful Turkish Military has revealed its
views on the issue of normalizing relations with Armenia.
Hovanessian pointed out to his fellow legislatures that Basbug
was speaking on behalf of Army adding that, for the first time,
the opinion of that structure was being heard.
“We all know what significance the army has in Turkey and we
also know who leads the political landscape there,” said
Hovanessian, adding that the top army head also sided with Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who for weeks has been
pre-conditioning the normalization of relations with Armenia on
a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Responding to questions from the press on the possibility of
opening the borders with Armenia, Basbug recalled Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statements that the opening of the
borders with Armenia will be done simultaneously with the
withdrawal of Armenian force from “occupied Azerbaijani
territory.”
“The prime minister has clearly said the border opening will
take place at the time when Armenian troops are withdrawn,”
Basbug told a news conference, according to Turkish media. “We
completely agree with this.”
“I believe that the Turks, have once again, shown that our rosy
optimism that there are no preconditions are baseless,” said
Hovanessian, adding that the armed-forces and the prime minister
in Turkey have more weight that the president or the foreign
minister, who have also repeatedly echoed the same position in
recent weeks.
The ARF leader went on to cite other aspects of Basbug's
statements, in which the General says Armenia does not recognize
the Kars Treaty and objects to the inclusion of Genocide
recognition within Armenia's Constitution.
A secret treaty signed between Turkey and the Soviet Union in
1921, the Kars Treaty drew the current boundaries of Turkey and
Armenia. The treaty also recognized the historic Armenian
territories of Karabakh and Nakhichevan as being part of then
Soviet Azerbaijan.
Hovanessian emphasized that Basbug's comments were indicative of
the pre-conditions being pushed by Turkey, adding that the
Armenian government's continued silence on the matter is “a
dangerous policy shift that must be corrected.”
It remains unclear, when the Armenian and Turkish governments
plan to establish diplomatic relations and reopen the border.
Neither government has officially disclosed the framework yet.
Meanwhile, reports in the Turkish press have said that the
United States was closely involved in the drawing up of the
Turkish-Armenian statement. According to “Hurriyet Daily News,”
Erdogan agreed to sign it only after Washington threatened to
recognize the Genocide.
Meanwhile, diplomatic sources in Yerevan said on Thursday that
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will fly to Washington this
weekend for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Turkish-Armenian relations will be high on their agenda.
Clinton and Nalbandian already discussed the issue over the
phone on Monday. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry,
Clinton described the “roadmap” agreement as “historic.”
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