Politics
Turkey will not take radical steps until a peace agreement is signed. Turkologist
Recep Erdoğan noted, within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, that Turkey is pleased with the progress of the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan and will support peace and stability in the region.
“Unfortunately, this statement by Erdoğan is not the first; he has made similar statements before, and not only himself, but also former and current foreign ministers. In other words, this only means that until a peace agreement is signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey has no intention of taking radical steps in its relations with Armenia,” said Turkologist Andranik Ispiryan in an interview with Radar Armenia, adding that he is simply presenting this entire process as a formality of the settlement process, since in reality, in addition to telephone conversations between the leaders of Armenia and Turkey, there are also telephone conversations between the foreign ministers. Still, the process does not go beyond that.
According to the Turkologist, Turkey has shown in the past that it is not a reliable partner. “There have been many cases where some documents have been signed, but they have remained on the shelves and have not been implemented.” According to him, the statements that as soon as the peace treaty is signed, Turkey will normalize relations with Armenia are not unambiguous, since Turkey, in turn, will have demands from Armenia. “And over the years, we have seen that these demands are voiced in different ways, and we do not know what Turkey will propose to Armenia after the settlement with Azerbaijan. My point of view is the following: if the peace treaty is signed, the borders should be opened, and, naturally, there should be a normalization of relations with Turkey.”
To the question of whether Armenia accepts Turkey’s demands, he emphasized that everything has its price. “It depends on how much you are willing to give for what. The same Turkey was once ready to open the border with Armenia and normalize relations on the condition that only two territories be returned to Azerbaijan. Now, not only have those two been returned, but also the remaining territories, but Turkey has not taken any steps.”
Lilit Abrahamyan
