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NO GENOCIDE |
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QUESTION 11 : HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THE
CURRENT STATE OF
AFFAIRS BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA?
Turkey is among the first countries to
recognize Armenia's independence in 1991
and to extend full support to this country
in her efforts to become a full-fledged
member of the international community.
However, after almost a decade and a half,
it has still not been possible to establish
diplomatic relations with this country.
Three factors affect the current state of
affairs between Turkey and Armenia:
1) Armenia's refusal to officially recognize
the common border between
Turkey and herself and related territorial
claims : The border between Turkey and Armenia is
drawn up by the Kars Treaty of 1921.
Signed between the Soviet Republics of
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey,
this international Treaty also delineates
Turkey's present borders with Georgia and
Azerbaijan. However, since her independence, Armenia
refuses to officially recognize the
validity of this Treaty. As such, Yerevan
displays a conflicting attitude by calling
for the opening of the border on the one hand and
not officially recognizing it on the other.
Article 11 of the Armenian Declaration of
Independence and Article 13 of the
Armenian Constitution are also to be noted.
Armenian Declaration of Independence, refers
to the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey as
"Western Armenia". Furthermore, article
13, paragraph 2 of the Constitution of
Armenia states that Mount Agrı, which is in
Turkey, is the state symbol of Armenia.
Non-recognition of the border with a
neighboring state and references as such to
a neighbor's country in constitutional
documents, are to be interpreted as
territorial claims.
2) Historical allegations :
Armenia, disregarding historical facts,
accuses Turkey of having committed a
"genocide" and seeks for its international
recognition. This allegation had also been
included in the Armenian Declaration of
Independence. Achieving worldwide
recognition of this fabrication as a fact constitutes
one of the main objectives of Armenian
foreign policy.
3) Armenia's refusal to abide by
international law and principles
Armenia continues to occupy almost 20
percent of Azerbaijani territory for years.
Though several UN Security Council
Resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) call for
an end to Armenia's occupation and invite her
to respect the territorial integrity of
other countries in the region, Armenia
refuses to adopt an attitude in line with
internationally accepted norms and
principles, and undermines regional peace
and security.
Turkey expects Armenia to become a
responsible member of the international
community, halt unfriendly policies towards
her neighbors and help efforts to create an
environment conducive to building peace and
stability in the South Caucasus.
Turkey is willing to normalize her relations
with Armenia. It is however necessary to
underline that this could only be done if
some progress is achieved in solving the
abovementioned issues. With this understanding, dialogue
channels have been kept open with the
officials of this country.
In line with her vision of gradual
normalization of relations with Armenia,
Turkey has put into effect various confidence
building measures included in the road map
agreed by the two sides, within the context of the
dialogue process between the Ministers and
Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two
countries. However, the normalization of the bilateral
relations depends also upon Armenia's
political will and constructive approach to
build her relations with Turkey and her
other neighbors on the basic principles of
international law and good-neighborliness,
as well as Armenia's readiness to contribute to the
peaceful settlement of the longstanding
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
When Armenia displays her will to
reciprocate Turkey's moves, Turkey will not
fail to respond accordingly.
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