According to Mustafa Edip Yılmaz, the editor of international political news at Zaman, a Turkish daily newspaper, personal initiatives in Turkey are at the civil society level, and it is not the sentiment shared by the government.
* Mr. Yılmaz, the parties may mention different reasons for the failure of the process of normalizing the Armenia-Turkey relations, but I would like you to assess it in the context of the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s “Zero Problems With Neighbors Policy.” What is the reason for Turkey’s starting the process of normalizing the Armenia-Turkey relations and then blocking them, in your opinion?
* I think that the government realized that in reality, everything was harder to implement than they had thought before that. They realized that it was hard to normalize the relations with Armenia and open the border at the same time. Basically, it later turned out that it was an initiative that needed greater effort and courage. Now the issue is whether there is a possibility of starting the process anew. I think that such a thing will hardly happen in the near future, because four years ago when the protocols were signed and ought to be signed, there was very strong international support. Whereas today we don’t see such support from the international community.
* The attitude of the Azeri government toward the possible normalization of the Armenia-Turkey relations has been rather obvious starting from the process of the Armenia-Turkey protocols to Turkish President Abdullah Gül’s congratulations to Serzh Sargsyan after the presidential election. How will you explain this phenomenon?
* Azerbaijan is an irreplaceable ally for Turkey in the region. Therefore, I don’t think that Turkey’s attitude toward this whole conflict will change, unless, of course, there is mutual understanding between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We should remember that the closing of borders is not the reason for the conflict; it is a result of the conflict.
* Besides political processes, one can notice a change in the sentiment among intellectuals in Turkey toward Armenia and the Armenian people, in general. Do you, as a representative of an information agency, sense those changes?
* Let me say that we can notice a really big improvement in this area. Today there are many individuals in Turkey who do some things on their own initiative; for example, they initiate that process of “apologizing” to Armenia. Certainly, one must not forget that these initiatives are individual and are completely at the civil society level; it is not the sentiment shared by the Turkish government. However, we surely have to objectively see and notice a difference between the government and if not the whole society, at least, some parts of it. If I may say so, the Armenian identity has been demonized in Turkey for a long time, to such an extent that when one was called “son of an Armenian,” it was considered as an insult. I am absolutely against such approaches. We don’t choose our nationality, and it is not the factor that one can or cannot be proud of. I for one don’t see any difference between Kurds and Turks, as far as human values are concerned.
EMMA GABRIELYAN
