Foreign

Home page

Foreign

International Crisis Group prepares report on Turkey-Armenia relations

14 April 2009 12:15 (UTC +04:00)

â€œTurkey and Armenia: Opening Minds, Opening Bordersâ€, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines how a decade of academic and civil society outreach laid the foundations for what is now intense official engagement between the governments, ICG South Caucasus Project told APA.

â€œTurkey and Armenia should seize their best opportunity yet to normalize relations, work on a new approach to shared history and open a European border that for nearly a century has been hostage to conflict. The two sides are now close to agreement on a package deal that will establish diplomatic relations, open the border and set up bilateral commissions to address a range of issues. These commissions will include one on joint historical dimension of the Armenian-Turkish relationship, which will work to broaden understanding of the Ottoman-era forced relocations and massacres of Armenians, widely recognized as the Armenian genocide. Turkey contests the term genocide, disputing its legal applicability and pointing to mitigating circumstances as the Ottoman Empire fought on three fronts in the First World War. But many Turks, including officials, now publicly express regret over the tragic and high loss of Armenian lifeâ€, ICG said in the report.
â€œTurksâ€™ and Armeniansâ€™ once uncompromising views of history are significantly converging, showing that the deep traumas can be healedâ€, says Hugh Pope, director of Crisis Groupâ€™s Turkey/Cyprus Project. â€œAt this sensitive time, third parties should avoid statements or resolutions in the politicized debate over genocide recognition or denial that could inflame opinion on either side".
A separate but related issue, the stalemated Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, still risks undermining final agreement on the Turkey and Armenia normalization package. Azerbaijan opposes any border opening until Armenia withdraws from its occupied territory. But Turkey should not sacrifice this chance to move forward, and should persuade its ally that dÃ©tente which makes Armenia feel secure will do more for a settlement than continuing a fifteen-year impasse. For long-term normalization with Turkey to be sustainable, Armenia, together with Azerbaijan, should ultimately adopt the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group basic principles for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict of the OSCE, and Armenia should withdraw from Azerbaijani territories that it occupies.
â€œTurkey and Armenia should finalize their agreement and thus create new momentum for peace and cooperation in the South Caucasusâ€, says Sabine Freizer, Crisis Groupâ€™s Europe Program Director. â€œThey should not wait until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is settled. But outside powers such as the U.S., EU, Russia and others should build on their rare common interest to move both Turkish-Armenian normalization and the Nagorno-Karabakh process forwardâ€.