Does Armenia need normal relations with Turkey at the expense of historical memory loss?

PanARMENIAN.Net - Diplomatic regulations suppose mandatory presentation of an ambassador's credentials to the head of state. In case it lacks, the ambassador, in the particular case that of Turkey, will simply be an envoy on special missions, which can in no way indicate establishment of normal diplomatic relations between the two countries. As a matter of principle, some seeming euphoria puts the Armenian side on its guard. The Turkish official press reports that the Ministers did not refer to the Armenian Genocide issue… If that's the case, why does Turkey propose to send an envoy to Yerevan in exchange for Armenia's consent to form a commission of historians to study the fact of the Armenian Genocide? Moreover, a number of Turkish papers informed as if Edward Nalbandian had agreed on forming such a commission. The Armenian Foreign Ministry, however, vigorously rejected the news. «Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Armenia refutes Turkish media reports that RA FM Edward Nalbandian allegedly announced Armenia's consent to form a commission of historians to study the fact of the Armenian Genocide. In fact, Minister Nalbandian emphasized that Armenia's position on the Genocide issue is unchangeable," declared Head of the RA MFA media relations division Tigran Balayan.

But what is really essential is whether Armenia needs normal relations with Turkey at the expense of historical memory loss. Probably not. According to historian and diplomat Ara Papian, Armenia needs diplomatic relations with Turkey, but Turkey needs them even more. That is why Turkey is presently carrying out a political PR-campaign to convince the whole world that Ankara is always disposed friendly towards all the nations, and especially towards Armenians. In our opinion, it is particularly important not to be under Ankara's thumb and not to rejoice ahead of time. After all, no one has a guarantee that with the border open, Armenia will have to "import" only Turkish goods.

However, in all this tar-barrel there is also a spoonful of honey: the issue of Nagorno Karabakh is becoming more and more secondary for Turkey and it can't but delight us. Actually, if Ankara should declare tomorrow that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the problem of exclusively Armenia and Azerbaijan it would be no surprise, even for Baku. Though, on the other hand, it should be admitted that it would be like pouring cold water on Azerbaijan, and we dare hope that it would finally open the eyes of Baku, which have long been veiled under oil shroud.

As a matter of fact, Turkey has launched the project of the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform, and Minister Nalbandian's visit to Istanbul would rather be regarded in this respect than be viewed as an official participation in the summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. According to Russian Ambassador to Turkey Vladimir Ivanovsky, representatives of five countries of the Platform (Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan) are likely to begin collective discussions at the end of this year. He believes that the proposals submitted by Turkey are to Russia's interests.

We wonder what fate the new regional union will have. GUAM, an organization formed with active participation of the USA, hardly functions now despite the declarations of Georgian and Azeri politicians. This organization, in case it is authorized, will be controlled by Ankara, and one should think that it awaits the same fate as GUAM, since its members aim at too different targets.