Armenia was obliged to send rescuers and humanitarian aid to Syria first and then to Turkey
Pashinyan’s phone conversation with Erdogan, as well as Armenia’s decision to send rescue teams to Turkey (which will carry out search and rescue operations), as they say, “Shocked the Armenian Internet.” In such disasters, condolence and telephone conversations by the countries’ leaders are not only an accepted order but also mandatory. Does the attitude of the societies of those countries towards each other change with such steps? No, it t doesn’t. On February 7, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and expressed his condolences and support to him and the Turkish people in connection with the many victims of the strong earthquake that occurred in the southeastern regions of the country.
Erdogan thanked the Prime Minister of Armenia for the support and noted. “The Turkish government highly appreciates Armenia’s support, emphasizing this step also from the point of view of deepening the further dialogue between the two countries.” The official condolences of Yerevan and the decision to send rescue teams were sufficient steps from which no one expects anything more from Armenia, and the RA authorities should not strive for more. And let us remind our compatriots participating in heated discussions on the Internet that all the leaders of Armenia have made such diplomatic gestures towards Turkey and Azerbaijan.
In this regard, the richest episodes were during the reign of Serzh Sargsyan, during whose rule Armenia performed “football diplomacy.”
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President Serzh Sargsyan sent many condolence telegrams to the Turkish authorities. 2010 in March, he sent a condolence telegram to the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, in connection with the earthquake that occurred in that country. 2014 in May, Serzh Sargsyan sent a condolence telegram to Gul in connection with the accident in Manisa Province, resulting in hundreds of Turkish citizens being killed. 2015 In July, Serzh Sargsyan sent a telegram of condolence to the President of Turkey, Erdogan, in connection with the many victims of the explosion in Şanlıurfa Province. 2016, Serzh Sargsyan sent a condolence telegram to Erdogan concerning the June 28 terrorist attack in Istanbul, which caused dozens of innocent victims and more than a hundred wounded.
As for Robert Kocharyan, in December 2003, he sent a condolence telegram to Ilham Aliyev concerning the death of 80-year-old Heydar Aliyev.
And here is Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the First President of RA; in April 1993, he went to Turkey with a delegation to participate in the funeral ceremony of President Özal.
Will the attitude of the current Turkish authorities towards Armenia change after the move of the Armenian government today? Certainly not. Today, Turkey is the leading country supporting Azerbaijan’s policy; various Turkish officials regularly remind their active support to Azerbaijan in the 44-day war and are proud of that step. And the president of Azerbaijan, no matter how much he declares that “the Karabakh conflict is over,” does not hide his aggressive policy towards Armenia and continues his anti-Armenian policy.
The problem is the realization that today the Turkish authorities will not appreciate the diplomatic gestures of the Armenian authorities to the extent that could change or even make a breakthrough, for example, the process of establishing diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey. Specific layers in Armenia and Turkey will discuss the Armenian authorities’ positive steps for some time. Still, it will be forgotten, and Ankara will continue to support Aliyev in practice, from the diplomatic-political spheres to the military against Armenia. In addition, it was astonishing that the Armenian government did not immediately announce that it would first send a plane with rescuers and humanitarian aid to Syria.
A day after the devastating earthquake, Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. “Armenia is going to support Syria to ease the difficult living conditions of the population affected by the earthquake and eliminate the consequences of the disaster. Bashar Al-Assad thanked him for the support and noted that the primary problem for Syria is related to food. An agreement was reached, according to which Armenia will send food to Syria as a priority, as well as other types of aid,” the government press release said.
Along with making diplomatic gestures, today’s authorities of Armenia should not forget that the Turkish authorities are the “wings and backs” of Aliyev, who dreams of the destruction of Armenia and shows a hostile attitude towards Artsakh and Armenia.
Let us also record that Turkey, even with the blockade of Armenia, has been continuing its hostile policy for several decades, regardless of the handshakes with Armenian officials and the contacts and negotiations between Armenia and Turkey at different levels.
EMMA GABRIELYAN
