Intermediate resumes of the Armenian foreign policy

PanARMENIAN.Net - However it should be noted that but for the August war between Georgia and South Ossetia and the subsequent aggravation of Russian-Georgian relations, there would possibly be neither the Meindorf Declaration, nor all the more, the historical visit of the Turkish President to Yerevan.

The first step towards the resume of Armenian-Turkish dialogue was taken during the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, where Serzh Sargsyan and Abdullah Gul in rather an unrestrained situation exchanged a pair of words, which in its turn caused a storm of "indignation" in the Azeri press… It was quite expected that concrete steps might follow the meeting, and they really did. The President of Armenia invited his Turkish associate to the football match between the teams of Armenia and Turkey in Yerevan. Let us directly say that Abdullah Gul simply could not refuse, otherwise the image of Turkey would suffer in the world arena. As for Armenia, the President's initiative gave her a considerably great number of dividends. After Gul's arrival, Armenian-Turkish talks, which before then used to be held in the atmosphere of secrecy, became more open. In the end, the negotiations may not even lead to the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border, but the fact of conducting negotiations is already good. And what is probably most important - Armenia for some obscure economic benefits is not going to yield to Turkey or to any other country in the issue of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide or to compromise with regulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. With the help of President Sargsyan the term "football diplomacy" took roots in the world policy, just like the term "ping-pong diplomacy" which marked the beginning of restoration of American-Chinese relations in the 70's of last century.

The second significant event was the signing of the Meindorf Declaration on peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, although both these events are interconnected. Let us not forget that it was Turkey that proposed the "Platform of Stability and Cooperation in the Caucasus", while signing of the declaration was simply Russia's answer. It is also appropriate to recall that signing of the declaration took place directly before the Presidential Elections in the United States. A month later a similar declaration was issued at the summit of OSCE Foreign Affairs leaders. However, none of the declarations drew nearer the solution of the Karabakh conflict the way it is seen to the "arbiters" of the fate of Karabakh Armenians, who actually do not understand why to solve what was already solved in 1994. Thus, all the words on "golden opportunity", "window" and "advance" are simply diplomatic figures called to conceal inaction and, in majority of cases, to simply hide the reluctance to examine the labyrinths of the Caucasian policy.

As far as the Karabakh problem is concerned, according to the President of Armenia, the happiest day in his life will be the one, when Azerbaijan will recognize the right of Nagorno- Karabakh people to self-determination, and Karabakh will either become an independent country or it will join Armenia. "On that day I will resign and will give up politics. But the process of resolution of Karabakh conflict is not at a deadlock. I believe there is a possibility of peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Otherwise I would not have run for the post of the RA President," said Serzh Sargsyan.

We shall only add to the aforesaid that in the past year the relations Armenia-EU, Armenia-NATO grew stronger, to say nothing of bilateral relations with the USA, Russia, Iran, France and Germany. And lastly, Armenia became a participant in the program of the European Commission "Eastern Partnership".