NEWS ANALYSIS: Will Turkish-Armenian dialogue remain as a memory of

Turkish Daily News
Jan 9 2002

NEWS ANALYSIS: Will Turkish-Armenian dialogue remain as a memory of
the year 2001?

BY SAADET ORUC, ANKARA - TURKISH DAILY NEWS



Despite the foreign policy projections of 2001 that Turkey would put
weight on the forming of diplomatic contacts with Armenia (but not
diplomatic relations), the efforts for launching a dialogue between
Yerevan and Ankara have failed.

The dialogue mechanism between the journalists of Turkey, Azerbaijan
and Armenia remain as the sole path for the continuation of the
person-to-person dialogue between the two countries.

The Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Committee (TARC) had to cease its
mission due to a statement from the Armenian side.

TARC's Armenian members had declared that they would not attend the
commission works on Dec. 12.

Armenian members of the TARC, Alexander Arzumanyan, Van Krikoryan,
David Hovenasyon and Andranik Mihranyan, signed a declaration stating
that they would not attend the commission meetings.

The declaration said that their belief in the normalization of ties
between Turkey and Armenia was continuing.

Following the statement made by the Armenian side, the commission,
which was a historical step for the improvement of the ties between
Turkey and Armenia, halted its work.

The TARC process in the year 2001, which was being evaluated as a
product of the resolution processes in western parliaments by a
foreign diplomat involved in Turkish-Armenian relations, has had to
be stopped as the nationalists of the two sides were not involved in
the reconciliation process.

Taking lessons from the past processes, it was stated that all sides
of the societies should be expressing concerns, and everything should
be put on the table, without avoiding discussing the existing
problems between the two states.

Within the framework of Washington's efforts to encourage ties
between Turkey and Armenia, U.S. Ambassador in Yerevan John Ordway
was quoted as saying recently by the Anatolia news agency that the
border between Turkey and Armenia, as well as the one between
Azerbaijan and Armenia, should be opened for the improvement of the
economy of the region.

Michael Lemmon, the former U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, has been
acting as Turkish Ambassador in Yerevan and Armenian Ambassador in
Turkey, with his efforts to help the development of the relationships
between the two states are being considered.

TABDC urges the opening of the border gate

In a press release signed jointly by the Turkish and Armenian
co-chairmen of the Turkish Armenian Business Development Council
(TABDC), hope was expressed for the fifth year of the
Turkish-Armenian dialogue process, and urged the necessity of the
opening of the border gate between Turkey and Armenia.

"For many years, Armenians and Turks of good will have been
advocating the wisdom of cooperation. What has been achieved so far
gives us hope and strength for the future. We believe that there is
still a pressing need to cultivate direct ties and that there is much
room for collaboration," said the statement.

"We are convinced that the two separate processes of diplomatic
rapprochement and civil initiatives must go hand in hand. At the
beginning of the new year we want to stress the need for interstate
relations and intergovernmental communication," it said.

Dialogue and interaction between public organizations and business
associations are a prerequisite for establishing mutual
understanding, handling sensitive issues, and achieving prosperity in
our region, it continued.

"From our five years of experience, we have learned that there is no
obstacle for Turks and Armenians to start talking and collaborating.
The closed border is the only barrier preventing us from intensifying
our business and human relations. A closed border that separates us
makes no sense. We can foresee the great potential benefits to be
realized by Armenia and Turkey," it said.

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