Let us negotiate without preconditions

Head of the main opposition force of the Turkish parliament, the Republican People’s Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu is for that option of the Armenian-Turkish issues resolution.

 At the meeting with Armenian, Turkish and American journalists participating in “New media, new challenges” project of ICFJ in Ankara leader of the second largest party in the Turkish parliament, the opposition Republican People’s Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu complained about the freedom of press in the country claiming that the Turkish mass media were not independent, the press could not criticize the Justice and Development Party, “Turkey is the only country where a non-published book is confiscated and a journalist appears in jail for a non-published book.” He also argued, “The legal system is not independent either, the courts can put into jail anybody whom the Prime Minister likes to appear in the jail.” Though the opposition party leader also criticized the foreign policy of the ruling party by saying, “The cabinet says zero problems with neighbors, but there is no neighbor that we do not have problems with”, however he also stated that they had not sharply criticized the foreign policy of the ruling party during the pre-election campaign, since they thought that was not the main problem of an ordinary citizen. However, how much do the viewpoints of the Turkish opposition and ruling parties differ you can judge from the answers Kemal Kilicdaroglu gave to “Aravot’s” questions.

–       One of the Armenian opposition parties, the ARF, that is against the Armenian-Turkish protocols states that a protocol or an agreement must be laid on the table that only says; 1. Armenia and Turkey decided to establish diplomatic relations, 2. Armenia and Turkey decided to open the roads, 3. Two sides decided to solve all the problems between them through peace, according to the international law. Are protocols with such content acceptable for you or not?

–       First, I must say that those who try to solve these problems have to sit around the table with free will. We think that on the events that took place in the past must decide not the politicians, but the historians. The archives must be opened; everyone must be able to examine those and judge whether we are to blame or others are and clarify on all this based on the archive documents. The politicians can make bad decisions based only on the historic events. It is not right to make the events of the past the main obstacle for the 21^st century Turkey and Armenia.

If we sit around the negotiation table determined to solve the problems, it will be so, but it must not be done only by the politicians. The intellectuals, journalists, entrepreneurs must also visit each other. We can advance based on these communications on different levels.

–       Excuse me, but I did not hear the answer. I mentioned certain points and would like to hear your point of view on those.

–       If you sit around the table with some preconditions, it will not contribute to solving the problems. The main condition of the resolution is sitting around the table with free will to resolve the problem. We must sit around the table without preconditions. We have to invite other people to that table too. Let us say the artists who are internationally recognized, they can participate too. However, when someone puts forward preconditions to sit around the table, the other side can put forward conditions too and it will lead nowhere.

–       So you actually criticize the ruling party, but you have quite common views with Erdogan concerning the relations with Armenia. You say the same things, as the ruling party does.

–       Oh my God, no one can interpret the way that Erdogan and I agree on this issue. (At this point party deputy chairman, diplomat Osman Koruturk interfered in the conversation and clarified, “The President of Turkey stated that there were no preconditions to solve the problems between Armenia and Turkey, but Prime Minister Erdogan stated that until the Karabakh issue was solved there would be no progress. And we say we have to sit around the table without preconditions and start to speak to each other to find out what must be done to progress. This is the main difference” – A. I.).

P.S. Answering the questions of other Armenian journalists head of the Turkish opposition force said that he did not attach the NK conflict settlement issue to the issue of opening the borders, “It is not a precondition to sit around the table”, although he also stated that it would contribute to the quicker reestablishment of communications between Armenia and Turkey, if “Armenia removed its troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.”