Sochi will host a trilateral meeting of the Russian, Azerbaijani and
Armenian presidents on March 5. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will have a meeting in
Russia. Russia and the USA are expected to be more active in settling
Armenian-Turkish ties.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin recently visited
Yerevan and met with Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Firudin
Sinirlioglu. Turkish political observer Togrul Ismail talked about the
regional situation with Vestnik Kavkaza.
He said that normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations is already in
progress. It started with the signing of protocols in Switzerland.
Russian pressure on Armenia was visible during the negotiations on
signing the protocols. Other than that, Russia did not play an active
role in the process. There is always talk that Russia and the USA will
help in settling Armenian-Turkish ties on the eve of every trilateral
meeting.
Ismail believes that real progress can be achieved if Turkey and
Armenia determine their mutually beneficial limits of consensus. He
said that he does not expect results from trilateral meetings, just
like it was at the summit in Astana, where there was no progress in
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The problem with Armenian-Turkish ties is that Armenia continues to
insist on some principal points. Firstly, it demands Turkey recognize
the Armenian genocide in 1915. Secondly, the protocols do not mention
the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, yet that is the reason for the
closure of the Armenian-Turkish border. Turkey recognized Armenian
occupation of Azerbaijani territories. This is where Armenia refuses
to make concessions. There will be no progress until the issues are
solved. Armenia is making no contribution to settling the conflict. It
does not recognize the territorial unity of Turkey and has territorial
claims. There will be a breakthrough in normalizing Armenian-Turkish
ties if at least one of the points is resolved.
