What was the Russian president’s spokesman hinting at on April 24?
Ambassador of Turkey to Russia, Ümit Yardım, gave an interview to “Interfax” in which he said that Turkey welcomes Russia’s participation in the settlement of disputes between Turkey and Armenia but calls on the Armenian side not to prevent in Russian-Turkish relationships. The “Interfax” reports said that Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting Armenia attended the events commemorating the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, which was followed by critical remarks by official Ankara in response to Putin’s move.
Still on April 24, hours after Putin’s speech at the Genocide Memorial, RF President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov hurried to clarify, “It is very important to closely read President Putin’s speech. Also, it is very important not to forget that Turkey is also our strategic partner.”
What did Peskov want to say that day recommending to “closely read” Putin’s speech in Yerevan? On April 22, the Russian President addressed a message to the Armenian people, saying, “April 24, 1915 is a sad date connected to the Armenian genocide, one of the most appalling and dramatic events in the history of humankind.” This message caused a stir in the Turkish government circles. Two days later, however, on April 24, at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial, Putin did not mention the “Armenian Genocide” phrase. He said, “We have sincere sympathy for the Armenian people, who went through one of the greatest tragedies in human history.” He added that it was Russia’s diplomatic efforts that secured international condemnation of the violence inflicted on the Armenian people. “At the initiative of Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Sazonov, Russia, France and Britain, as the French President recalled just now, made a joint statement in which they directly called these events a crime against humanity and civilization. Today too, we share the Armenian people’s sorrow. I want to emphasize that hundreds of cities around Russia are holding more than 2,000 memorial events today. Not only members of the large Armenian community in Russia, which counts around three million people, are taking part, but so are tens of thousands of people of other ethnic backgrounds,” said the Russian president.
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Peskov’s remark, perhaps, referred to Putin’s April 24 speech, where he speaking about Russia’s role in condemnation of the genocide, however, evaded the phrase “Armenian Genocide”, which, however, did not mitigate official Ankara’s position, while Armenia was still under the impressions of April 22 message, therefore, Putin’s slightly sly move on April 24 was left unnoticed. He was at the Memorial that day as a president of a country recognizing the Armenian Genocide, and this “mistake” in the turmoil of the Day was really left unnoticed.
As to what extent Peskov’s words comforted the Turkish authorities, it’s another issue and is not so important. On April 24, Putin did such a “gesture”, perhaps, not to make Turkey more exasperated after the April 22 message. But it seems that it did not work out its purpose, as Ankara showed its disappointment, which, however, is clear to everyone that it would not last long.
The Karabakh conflict resolution is the priority of Baku, Ankara, and Moscow. At this stage, both Turkey and Azerbaijan are obviously pushing Russia to actions in the Karabakh conflict settlement process, naturally, expecting pro-Azerbaijani resolution.
In Moscow, Russian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Elmar Mammadyarov, respectively, discussed the Karabakh conflict settlement. Mammadyarov noted that the Karabakh conflict has already become overripe. But Lavrov said that Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy. “Russia like before will consider assisting in finding mutually acceptable agreements between the parties in conflict as one of its foreign policy priorities. The settlement of the conflict delayed too long, no one denies it. There is a real basis for reaching an agreement, we all agree with this too. Now we need to change the mutual understanding to a real content,” mentioned Lavrov, at the same time emphasizing that “it is not the easiest task to do.” Lavrov confessed that he and his Azerbaijani counterpart have spent hours on discussing the approaches to the Karabakh conflict settlement, and that he “looks at the current situation cautiously but with firm optimism.”
It is noteworthy that in recent days, the Azerbaijani authorities have begun explicitly associating the prospects of the EaEU membership with the Karabakh conflict settlement, as if consistently creating an impression that the key to resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is exclusively in the hands of the Kremlin. Azerbaijani foreign minister recently gave an interview to “Rossiya 24” TV channel and in response to the question on possible partnership of Azerbaijan with the Eurasian Economic Union, has said, “We can’t “co-exist” with Armenia at the Customs Union as long as Armenia continues its occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh. But if Armenia withdraws its troops, if the borders are opened, if there is a normalization of the situation, if there is an economic component between Armenia and Azerbaijan, who knows what will happen tomorrow. As they say, never say never.” In this interview, he also stressed that the key subject of the talks with Lavrov referred to the Karabakh problem, “Russia clearly wants to move the negotiation process from the dead point.”
A few days prior to the above-mentioned interview, the Ambassador of Azerbaijani to Russia, Polad Bülbüloğlu, in his interview to Rossia-24 TV channel, referring to the resolution of Karabakh on the EaEU, has noted that the EaEU may consider the issue of Azerbaijan’s joining only after the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “Azerbaijan has a fundamentally positive attitude to this structure as it is our common area and a very large market. But today we cannot enter the EaEU until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved because our country has more than a million refugees, 20 percent of our territories have been occupied. Having such a territorial conflict, we cannot be in the same league with the aggressor country and address any issues with this side,” Bülbüloğlu said.
Soon, Russian President Vladimir Putin will leave for Baku to attend the opening ceremony of the European Games to be held on June 12-18. The Russian-Azerbaijani relations are at a high level, moreover, the two countries’ governments are calling them a “strategic partnership”.
Surprisingly, when in recent months, the civilized world slammed the Azerbaijani authorities on the issue of protection of human rights, on the way to establish dictatorship, and offers are coming from the United States in the course of several months to impose sanctions against the regime of Ilham Aliyev, the Russian President today speaks about the growing reputation of Azerbaijan. On May 28, the day of the Republic, Putin congratulated Azerbaijani President, emphasizing that Azerbaijan is moving forward on socio-economic, scientific-technical and cultural development matter, and “Azerbaijan’s reputation is growing in the world arena.” As they say, “no comment”.
Emma GABRIELYAN,
“Aravot” daily 29.05.2015
