The Minister Council of Turkey decided to re-introduce the yet-to-be ratified Zurich protocols to the Parliament, along with other 165 bills. This fact brings up the issue of unsettled Turkish-Armenian relations. Were the protocols returned to the Parliament intentionally or it was just an formal act predefined by legal procedure? According to Russian political expert Stanislav Tarasov, who commented this piece of news to the ‘Regnum’ media agency, this act was meant as a message for Azerbaijan signaling that Ankara is planning to play the ‘Armenian card’ in its relations with Azerbaijan to prevent it from supporting Israel instead of Turkey in the ongoing conflict.
It is in fact highly probable that the return of the protocols to the Parliament’s agenda is no accident. Turkey understands that the media and the politicians pay a great deal of attention to this issue. However, it is easy to explain this decision differently: if Turkey would intentionally remove the protocols from the agenda thus breaking formal procedure, it would clearly indicate that Turkey doesn’t want to put any more effort into normalizing its relations with Armenia, which would make the country look intractable and unreasonable in the eyes of the international community. On the contrary, Ankara tries to take every opportunity to show that it is dedicated to its ‘stability on all fronts’ political strategy and that it wants to normalize its relations with Armenia.
On the other hand, it is impossible for Turkey to disregard the ‘Karabakh component’ of the situation, thus risking to ruin the relations with the country’s closest ally - Azerbaijan. In his interview to ‘Moskovskiy Komsomolets’ newspaper, Turkish President Abdullah Gul confirmed this position, saying that Turkey is ready to do everything to help settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He added that any progress obtained in it would contribute considerably to the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. Gul emphasized that the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations and the Karabakh conflict settlement are but two aspects of a common process affecting the whole region.
It is noteworthy that Turkish PM Erdogan walked out on Armenian President’s address to the UN in a demonstrative manner. According to Turkish media, the PM did this in protest to the ungrounded statements of Serge Sarksyan concerning separatist Nagorno-Karabakh state. This act clearly indicated that Turkey is as adamant as ever as far as the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is concerned. In his address to the UN Assembly Erdogan stressed that Turkey is true to the UN principles, and that the organization doesn’t do enough to help Azerbaijan – clearly, the victim in this situation.
Therefore, there are no grounds to assert that the ‘Armenian question’ will be placed on top of Turkey’s agenda any time soon, much less – that it will be used to pressure Baku. Turkey can’t reconsider its attitude towards the protocols because t would contradict numerous claims of the country’s highest officials, who named the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement as one of the most principle conditions of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. Turkey understands that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is one of the most sensitive spots as far as Azerbaijani public opinion is concerned, so if Turkey gives it up it would lose Azeri popular support. The ‘suspended state’ of Zurich protocols doesn’t seem to be a means of exercising political pressure on Baku. It is more likely another illustration that the integration processes in the region can’t be successful if Armenia doesn’t give up its policy of occupation.
Orkhan Sattarov. Exclusively to VK
