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American analyst: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict adjustment is still one of the main points in the Turkey-Armenia rapprochement

07 January 2010 11:39 (UTC +04:00)

Washington. Isabel Levine â€“ APA. â€œNagorno-Karabakh conflict adjustment is still one of the main points in the Turkey-Armenia rapprochementâ€ â€“ said Steven A. Cook, analyst of the Council on Foreign Relations speaking at a panel on Turkey’s Changing Internal and International Dynamics: From "Where" to "What" issue at Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in Washington, DC, January 6th.

According to APAâ€™s Washington DC correspondent, South Caucasus was one of the main matters at the panel.
â€œThere are, remaining obstacles to the normalization of ties between Ankara and Yerevan, including Turkey’s insistence that Armenia takes significant steps toward resolving its dispute with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh and strong nationalist sentiment in both Turkey and Armeniaâ€- Mr.Cook added.
According to the analyst, Turkey’s new multi-dimensional foreign policy has injected much needed vitality and creativity into Ankara’s approach to its immediate neighborhood.
â€œFor example, Turkey’s recent agreement to normalize relations with Armenia is a revolutionary development in Turkish foreign policy (though details of the agreement remain unfinished).
All at once, the policy adds much needed stability to the southern Caucasus and reduces the likelihood that Congress will pass a non-binding resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide if it is reintroduced in April--a step that would only serve to delay Turkey’s own recognition of one of the twentieth century’s darkest momentsâ€.
Mr. Cook added that, still, Turkey’s proactive approach to Armenia should be encouraged.
Analyst also pointed out that another issue - Ankara’s relationship with Tehran is also troubling to Washington. It is important to recognize that Turkey receives 30 percent of its natural gas supply (most of the rest comes from Russia) from Iran and as a result, there is an economic imperative for good Turkish-Iranian relations.
â€œIn addition, Turkey has maintained that because Iran is its neighbor, it supports a diplomatic resolution to Iran’s nuclear development.â€

Another analyst, Joshua Walker from Transatlantic Academy said that Turkeyâ€™s role especially rose during the years of so called Cold War:

â€œThe fact of Turkey joining the North Alliance then was crucially important. Turkey was overseen like some factor that could stop different forces, no matter, if we are talking about communism threat or Islamism threat. And in all these cases Turkish military was considered to be a high level, influential institutionâ€.

He mentioned that Turkeyâ€™s role was special in a period after 9/11 and after US intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, also taking into consideration the crisis in Iran.