President Abdullah Gul broke a taboo when he visited Armenia in September to watch a soccer game between the national teams of the two countries, but a Turkish professor and a former Turkish ambassador were recently unable to go to Yerevan to attend a conference as part of a Turkey-Armenia dialogue series because they carry special passports.
Mensur Akgun, director of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), and former Ambassador Yalim Eralp were at Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Wednesday evening to take a flight to Yerevan.
Akgun and Eralp, together with a group of about 10 people, were to attend a conference on Friday in Yerevan called "Breaking the Vicious Cycle," organized by TESEV and the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute. Atlas Jet personnel told them they cannot travel to Armenia with the "green passports" issued to high-ranking public servants because there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries. Airline officials said the two passengers were free to take the flight on their own initiative, but warned them that the risk could cost them days at the Yerevan airport. However, Akgun traveled to Armenia two years ago and Eralp in 2002 with the same passports. They said this must be a new rule -- "interestingly" in a period of rapprochement.
After a period of shock and panic at check-in and following thoughts about canceling the whole trip, TESEV officials evaluated the situation and decided that the rest of the delegation, who carry ordinary passports, should go to Yerevan for the conference, organized months ago as a contribution to civil society dialogue between the two countries. Akgun said bureaucracy usually does not follow developments occurring in people-to-people contacts even though talks between officials of the two countries, which have had no formal ties since 1993, are under way to normalize relations. "This is bureaucracy. However, it is a scandal that the issue has not been solved for the academics who usually carry green passports, especially when there is no political aim to their visit," he told Today's Zaman at the airport.
Eralp, visibly angry, was harsher: "Armenia wants rapprochement but at the same time adopts measures to block it. There were no obstacles to green passport holders before, but there are now. All Armenia wants is to open the border -- which it does not recognize -- to relieve its economic problems." Turkey closed its border and severed its ties with Armenia in 1993 in protest of Armenia's occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.
Foreign Ministry official: No discrimination against Turkey
In Yerevan yesterday, Levon Minasyan, undersecretary of the visa section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Armenia passed a new law last year concerning the rules governing foreigners visiting Armenia. Under the new law "If people carry ordinary passports, their visa can be issued at the airport. But any citizen from any country carrying a special passport should obtain a visa from the Foreign Ministry," he told Today's Zaman.
He added that following the change in law, they informed Turkish officials through the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi and airlines operating between the countries. Minasyan explained that special passport holders should contact the Armenian Foreign Ministry to inform it about the purpose of their visit, or institutions inviting them should do so three to four days before the visit. "We usually issue visas for special passport holders without a problem, but in this case we never received a request," he said.
Asked about what would have happened if Professor Akgun and Ambassador Eralp took the flight to Yerevan, Minasyan said: "In this case we would issue a visa." Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute, said the incident was "shameful" and this it had occurred because of a lack of normal relations between the two countries. "The incident demonstrates why the people of both countries need normal relations. In the 21st century borders should be open, period." Speaking with Foreign Ministry officials over the phone yesterday, Iskandaryan found out that Turkey also has a similar requirement for Armenian special passport holders.
'Breaking the vicious cycle'
Iskandaryan will deliver the opening remarks at the conference today without his counterpart, Akgun. Attendees will cover a range of issues, from Armenian foreign policy to problems and prospects in relations. Participants include Mete Hatay, working in Cyprus for the Oslo-based PRIO Peace Institute; Ricardo Serri from the European Commission's Turkey team; Sabiha Seny
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