Armenia visit and Turkey’s honor

As I was writing this piece President Abdullah Gül’s visit to Armenia had not been confirmed. By leaving his soft and balanced attitude we have witnessed lately, the Nationalist Movement Party’s, or MHP, Devlet Bahçeli was opposing Gül’s visit. Let’s be fair to him. The Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal is the first leader who reacted against a visit to Armenia and he continues to do so.

I paid a visit to Armenia in 1995, together with Esenyurt Mayor Gündüz Çapan, and my colleagues Cengiz Çandar, Zeynep Atikkan and Taner Akçam. The Armenian president of the time was Levon Ter Petrosian. We met all leading political figures of the country, including him.

Petrosian and his adviser, professor Gerar Libaridian, were so willing to improve relations with Turkey. At that time, the Petrosian administration had scraped off the word “genocide” from the Constitution to contribute to bilateral relations.

Petrosian’s decline

Çapan was from Kars. He was aware of the significance of the border, so was the Armenian government. But unfortunately due to the Karabakh issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan there was hostility going on and that kept Turkey from acting freely, so steps to open the borders and to take bilateral relations to a better level were not taken. Fifteen years has passed since then. In the meantime, Petrosian’s moderate line lost influence, because of Turkey’s attitude as well, and Petrosian lost the government. Two politicians from Karabakh replaced him, Robert Kocharian and Sherj Sarkisian.

Although it seems that Turkey-Armenia relations are at a stalemate due to the genocide discussions, it could be correct to say that the real problem is the tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia because the fight over Karabakh between the two countries led to a war and Armenia annexed Karabakh completely.

Since then, we can say Turkey-Armenia relations are determined by the Karabakh issue.

When Gül visits Armenia, he will unavoidably be verbally attacked by nationalist circles. The attitudes of MHP and CHP are facing in this direction. We all know that the Turkish Armed Forces, or TSK, was playing an effective role in these relations. A visit by Gül can be interpreted as that a consensus over this visit has been achieved with TSK.

The United States and the European Union want the opening of the Turkey-Armenia border, more than others. And Turkey, in order to improve influence over the Caucasus, plans to follow a more dynamic foreign policy. One of the political legs of this move by Turkey is to have better relations with Armenia, for Turkey has friendly ties with Azerbaijan and Georgia in the same region.

A step for peace

It seems that the Armenian border will not be opened after this visit. But the formation of a joint committee of historians is likely to be agreed by the Armenians. But of course President Gül on the subject of Karabakh will voice Turkey’s criticism.

The Turkish president will visit Armenia for the occasion of a national soccer game between the two countries. Irrespective of its solid consequences, the visit is a key step in terms of foreign policy. This step will have many effects in time. Formation of the historians’ committee, all in all, is an important move.

We spent some time together with Petroisian’s adviser, Libaridian, during our visit to Armenia in 1995. Libaridian is from the southern Turkish town of Tarsus. He is an American Armenian. His being from Tarsus strengthened our joint cultural and historic bond.

Improved Turkish-Armenian relations can in fact be regarded as a step for peace after the pain and sufferings the two nations were exposed to.

- Oral Çalışlar is a columnist for daily Radikal, in which this piece appeared yesterday. It was translated into English by the TDN’s staff.