Today.Az » Politics » Russian expert: Armenian Diaspora won over Armenian citizens again
11 March 2010 [14:00] - Today.Az
Interview with Editor-in-Chief of the Moscow-based Konservator newspaper Rustam Arifjanov.
Many in Turkey and Azerbaijan describe the U.S. Congress committee’s recent decision on the “Armenian genocide” as provocative…
The U.S. administration and opposition use this card both in favor and against both Armenia & Turkey. Under the previous government Democrats, especially Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, sought adoption of this resolution. But Republican George Bush put his veto on it.
The authorities have changed and now Republicans advocate adoption of this resolution while the Democrats oppose. This is element of some sort of a political game in a bid to please the Armenian lobby, and also not to spoil relations with Turkey. But earlier it did not go beyond such as recalling ambassador. This is serious.
Moreover, such a decision is associated with the present situation in Turkey. This country is less and less dependent on the United States forcing the latter to resort to a rough blackmail as if saying: if you do not ratify the Armenian-Turkish accords, you will get the recognition of "genocide" by the full Congress. Naturally, all this angered Turkey which has already announced that it intends to continue the process of rapprochement with Russia.
In your opinion, what actions will Turkey take next?
I think that, basically, nothing has changed. Americans still need a military base in Turkey. They also need an ally in NATO. At the same time, NATO is not always a single organization at the political level. The European countries do not always agree with position of their Atlantic partner United States in this organization. I'll repeat myself, it will be very painful for the U.S to lose Turkey as an ally.
Some of Turkey's NATO allies, for example, Russia, have already recognized the "genocide", and Turkey did not respond to that decision so harshly...
These states did not politicize this issue. On the contrary, the United States move things to an acute political level.
You noted that Turkey has announced rapprochement with Russia. Do you think Moscow will take advantage of the situation?
Any rapprochement is beneficial for Russia. It does not matter whether it is connected with Kazakhstan, Belarus, or Ukraine. Turkey and Russia have common economic interests.
There are, of course, also geopolitical interests in the Black Sea, Caucasus, etc. We should not forget that Russia and Turkey are two of the three Eurasian countries. There are three states part of territory of which lies in Europe and part in Asia. Besides the two mentioned above, there is also Kazakhstan. By the way, the mentality of these peoples is the same - half European and half Asian.
So, based on pragmatic interests, rapprochement between Russia and Turkey is reasonable. And this not so competent policy of the States can accelerate this process. By the way, Russia does not hide its interests in this case.
Russia may benefit more than the rest from this situation, but who is definately losing here its Armenia…
I have always said that opening of the Armenian-Turkish border is a long-term process. Why? Because there is no people will. Most of the population both in Turkey and Armenia is not yet ready for all this.
The U.S. position on Turkey is something like “you will ratify the protocols and open borders, or we will recognize the "genocide"", is, of course, rough blackmail. Turkey will resist, and in fact is resisting already. The U.S. will have to step back leaving everything as it is, that is, no longer insisting on opening the border with Armenia.
As a result, Armenia will continue to live in blockade. We can say that the Armenian Diaspora won over Armenian citizens again. The Diaspora has too much influence on Armenia’s policy impeding resolution of the Karabakh conflict at the same time. The Diaspora is too nationalistic.
And we all know that terrorist organizations like "ASALA", "Dashnaksutyun" and others make up basis for political organization of the Armenian Diaspora. Therefore, today, the Armenian Diaspora operates to the detriment of Armenia itself. Possibly, without its intervention, it would be easier to solve all the pressing problems.
H. Hamidov
Day.Az
|
|
