According to Turkologist Andranik Ispiryan, Armenia can make inappropriate concessions, such as opening a border, but as a result of Azerbaijan’s provocation, Turkey can cancel everything.
– Mr. Ispiryan, in political debates, one pole constantly claims that “now we will all be slaughtered,” and the other political pole says, “for thirty years you say we will be slaughtered, but we have not been slaughtered”… as a specialist how reasonable is this debate for you?
The approaches of both sides are extreme. It is clear that these are political statements and have some goals. Naturally, the assertion that we will be massacred after opening the border is exaggerated. No, you just have to prepare to open the border. In general, it is not normal when two neighbors have closed borders. There are many cases when the warring states do not even have a border today. In the case of some European countries, the border is “drawn in chalk.” In other words, it is normal that there are relations with the neighboring country, but the task is to meet the neighbor in an appropriate way, that is, to be ready to open the borders, economically, politically, taking into account sensitive points of national security. And at the moment I do not see enough explanations about all this.
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– It is known that Turkey will appoint former Turkish Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilic as an envoy for the normalization of relations with Armenia. Do you consider this coincidental? What key information is known about this person?
This process is a very serious topic, especially if we take into account who Turkey has appointed as envoy. He knows the US authorities very well. It is important to emphasize that Turkey has chosen a man who has been in contact with the American government for seven years. It is not coincidental. It is also not coincidental that he is the number one figure who fought against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Turkologist Andranik Ispiryan
He was appointed Turkish Ambassador to the United States on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in order to prevent US presidents from using the term “Armenian Genocide” and to oppose the Armenian community’s efforts to recognize the genocide. In other words, Turkey has appointed a specific person who specializes in denying the fact of genocide, who also has very respectable diplomatic experience and skills. We must take this into account. Who will we appoint adequately? Who will be in that group? It is not possible with one person. Yes, this is a political issue, but specialists are the most important in order to lead the process correctly.
–Recently, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also said, “If Armenia learns from what happened and prefers peace, we can also open an embassy, but we will make that decision again together with Azerbaijan” … what is your conclusion from this statement?
Turkey continues to have serious preconditions, even worse than before. If before the topic was directly between Armenia and Turkey, now Armenia is actually negotiating with two countries. In other words, Turkey conditions the relations with Armenia with joint steps of the second country, Azerbaijan. This complicates our work. Suppose the Armenian-Turkish border is opened. There may be a situation when a problem arises between Armenia and Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of shooting at it (it is a habit to provoke and accuse us), and Turkey declares that Armenia is a provocateur, Armenia fired at Azerbaijan, and until Armenia is held accountable, Turkey will freeze relations… the border will be closed, the ambassador will be recalled… that is, Turkey in general has long shown that it is not a reliable partner in relations with its neighbors and allies. Armenia can make inappropriate concessions, such as opening a border, but as a result of Azerbaijan’s provocation, Turkey can cancel everything. In that case, the concessions will be an irreversible loss for Armenia. There are such nuances that the Armenian authorities should understand, but, for some reason, they look at the relations with Turkey and its “positive signals” with pink glasses, which in reality are not positive at all.
Luiza Sukiasyan
