PreferredNEWS.am posts the article “Turkey and Armenia: Focusing on the possible, not hoping for the best” by Crisis Group’s Europe Program Director in Global Post Sabine Freizer, published in Turkish Zaman daily.
“Last week's announcement that the Armenian parliament is suspending its consideration of the twin protocols signed by the Turkish and Armenian presidents in October 2009 is another blow to the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process. But it also may be an opportunity to focus on the possible, rather than hope for the best, in improving Turkish-Armenian relations,” the source says.
“The protocols aimed to establish diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, recognize and open their mutual border and set up a joint historical commission. The last two steps cannot happen in the near future. So it is time for the leadership in Ankara and Yerevan to focus clearly on the first two. In the past 18 months high-level officials from both countries have met an extraordinary number of times. At a minimum, that relationship should now be formalized to benefit average citizens in need of basic consular services,” the daily reads.
“The decade of confidence building that preceded the Turkey-Armenian protocol signing could now to be lost. Instead, the best step right now would be for Ankara and Yerevan to put aside the most difficult aspects of the protocols but move ahead with their less controversial parts. Despite current troubles, they could proceed with the establishment of diplomatic ties and recognition of their mutual border. These need no parliamentary approval, are purely about bilateral relations and are not linked to Nagorno-Karabakh,” the daily reports.
“Even in the current difficult diplomatic climate, the leaders of Turkey and Armenia can and should take these initial steps to ensure that their people can build up a prosperous future side-by-side and eventually come to terms with their shared traumatic history,” the daily concludes.
