Turkish and Armenian parliaments have yet to ratify the normalization protocols signed last October. 'The normalization process between Turkey and Armenia has turned into a game of chess. Each side waits for next move to develop new tactics,' a high-ranking AKP official says. Nonetheless, there is hope in the air for social projects between the two neighbors.
Despite deadlock on the political aspects of the normalization process between Armenia and Turkey, there are glimmers of hope for a breakthrough in social relations between the two, a Turkish government spokesman said Friday.
The political path to normalization seems to have suffered a reverse as both parliaments have yet to ratify the protocols signed last October. At the same time, Armenian diaspora networks have mounted lobbying efforts to achieve international recognition for Armenian “genocide” claims, thereby encouraging Turkish nationalists at home to ask for a withdrawal of the protocols.
Despite their contradicting political views, however, all have praised a governmental initiative to open for worship an Armenian church in Van that had become a museum and to provide education for the children of undocumented Armenian workers in Turkey. “Both worship and education are basic human rights,” Turkish Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Murat Mercan said in a Friday interview with the Daily News.
“[However,] the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia has turned into a game of chess. Each side is waiting for the next move so as to develop new tactics,” a source close to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on condition of anonymity to the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review on Friday.
No progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Armenian Constitutional Court’s qualified approval of the protocols and the March 4 Armenian “genocide” resolution from the U.S. Foreign Affairs Committee have made it difficult for Turkey to ratify the protocols, Mercan said.
“Of course, the protocols should be voted on in more positive atmosphere [to avoid any negative result]. Whenever those problems are resolved, we will able to ratify the protocols,” Mercan said.
U.S. President Barack Obama is looking to increase pressure on Turkey to ratify the protocols before April 24, when he extends his condolences to Armenians on their day of mourning after avoiding the word “genocide” last year, according to Şükrü Elekdağ, a veteran diplomat and deputy for the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP.
“Washington failed to realize that Armenia’s Constitutional Court had perverted the sense of the protocols. The government cannot take the risk of a parliamentary vote as even the [ruling Justice and Development Party] AKP is mixed,” Elekdağ told the Daily News on Friday. “Regretfully, there is no way out and the process is at a deadlock.”
The Armenian court’s reservations virtually ruled out three vital articles since the country’s constitution demands land from eastern Anatolia and Turkish recognition of its genocide claims.
The protocols, however, envisage the recognition of the existing borders and the establishment of a joint historical committee to investigate the 1915 events.
“The Turkish Parliament shouldn’t ratify the protocols that were made ineffective by the Armenian court or ratify them with reservations,” said Sedat Laçiner, director of the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization, or USAK.
Noting that April 24 is not a deadline for Ankara, Mercan said: “We are not looking for any specific date, but required conditions. Regardless of speculations or anti-peace efforts by the other, we’re working to keep alive the process in line with our principles.”
Nursuna Memecan, a deputy for the AKP and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, or PACE, criticized news reports that have served to provoke hawks on both sides of the divide.
“Both sides have been too sensitive in this process. I think silence is better than reports [that have provoked nationalists],” Memecan told the Daily News in a phone interview Friday.
“Both presidents took serious risks for their political career by shaking hands in spite of harsh criticisms. They could have opted for the status quo but dared to fix long-suffering ties for the sake of regional peace and stability.”
Memecan said the genocide claims are being promoted by the diaspora, not those in Armenia. “[Serge] Sarkisian is aware of how important this normalization is for his country’s development,” Memecan said.
The problem is multi-dimensional and complicated, Memecan said. “It is too difficult to sort out at once in the face of aggregation of long years. It is not only our bilateral problem; there are dimensions related to Azerbaijan and Russia.”
Underlining the same view, Mercan said: “We are seeking a total and comprehensive solution in the region. That’s the only way to secure the stability.”
Turkey will develop new strategies in the event of changing scenarios, Memecan said. “In line with new conditions, there will be plans B and C.”
Seeking normalization via social projects
“Turkey is not who has to take all steps. They [Armenians] have to do so, too. We are also introducing social projects to restore ties between people while the political play is ongoing,” Memecan said.
Establishing social and cultural ties between two communities will ease worries and help for mutual trust, Memecan said. “New projects will be initiated. We are even considering joint cheese-production in Kars to show that there is no reason to be afraid of each other.”
Elekdağ, meanwhile, said, “I see humanitarian concerns and back the projects restoring social and cultural ties. [However,] diplomatic realities and romantic aspirations shouldn’t be mixed up.”
Laçiner said, “These steps should have been taken earlier but opening social channels are different than protocols.”
Hurriyet Daily News
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