In early March, Armenia rescheduled the foreign ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), apparently as a goodwill gesture to ensure that Babacan would be among the participants.
Armenian authorities moved the date of the meeting from the previously announced April 29 to April 16. The shift is significant because April 29 is only a few days after April 24, which Armenians claim marks the beginning of a genocide campaign against Anatolian Armenians in the early 20th century. April 24 is also the day when US presidents traditionally release a statement to commemorate the Armenian killings.
However, a donors conference aimed at bringing stability to Pakistan will be held in Tokyo on April 17. Babacan is eager to participate in the conference on Pakistan, a frontline US ally in the campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists that has been wracked by growing violence and economic instability, due to the importance attached to the maintenance of stability in this country.
Currently, the scheduling of the two meetings in Yerevan and Tokyo seems to hinder Babacan's participation in both of the meetings. Nonetheless, diplomatic sources didn't exclude his participation in either, saying the minister would make his final decision "according to the situation" in the last week before the meetings.
Although Ankara has a high opinion of BSEC and wants to revitalize it as an influential regional consultation mechanism, Babacan's participation in the group's next meeting in Yerevan apparently will still depend on Armenia's commitment to the ongoing rapprochement process and on the progress of closed-door talks with Armenia.
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