MISSION ACCOMPLISHED SO LET’S MOVE ON WITH PEACE AND TOURISM

Kaan Soyak has an important question for McCarthy: “Why is he not addressing the US Congress or the European Parliament or in France or England? Why talk in Turkey where we already refuse these allegations?”

Kaan Soyak is the co-director of Turkish – Armenian Businessmen Development Council established in 1997 and he currently lives in the U.S. He was in Turkey for the Caucasian Friendship Days attended by Rotarians from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, California, New York and Turkey. Also a member of the Rotary Club of New York, Soyak was the co-moderator and co-chair at the meeting hosted by Erhan Ciftcioglu the 2430 district governor. The meeting aimed to form a public-private alliance of peace in the region through a people-to people contacts.

A new bill for the recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide is scheduled to come to the American Congress on April 23. The possibility of its adoption is a stronger than ever, warned Soyak, adding, “But this has nothing to do with Turkey-Armenian relations or forcefull lobbying carried out by the diplomats from Armenia.”

He said he asked Armenian diplomat in Armenia about this bill, but the diplomat knew little. Yerevan has only a handful officials working in U.S., he told Soyak, ruling out the possibility that such a force could enable the bill to reach the Congress.

“Who benefited from the economic embargo or the borders that have been closed for 12 years?” asks Soyak. He was in Armenia a month ago and he learned that the amount of money being transferred from families living outside Armenia to those living in Armenia has reached U.S. Dollar 800 million while the population of the country is only 2.5 million. “The Armenians’ only concern is that they are getting lazy” Soyak says. He also saw that new restaurants and bars have been opened as many foreigners are visiting the country. Real estate prices have also been on the rise in the last 2 years, the monthly rent of an apartment has increased from U.S. Dollars 300 to 1,500.

Then is it the powerful Armenian Diaspora in U.S.? Soyak said that the Diaspora is indeed well organized but adds that they have been working on the issue for decades and at no time in history has such a resolution been so close being passed by Congress. He further stated that even the Armenian Caucus at the U.S. Congress has not been able to pass these bills in the past. Claiming that somebody, perhaps at the White House, has been preventing such measures from reaching the Congress and that this time it is likely that they will not stop it, Soyak stressed, “It has strictly to do with Turkish-U.S. relations and not the lobbying efforts of Armenians”.

Soyak said that Armenia will hold ceremonies commemorating “crimes against humanity” this year, while the Diaspora who have grown up on stories of the so-called genocide and accepts it as fact, will be more outspoken and seek ever more press coverage in U.S. as it is the 90th anniversary of the alleged events.

Soyak added that the world did not know Turkey’s stand until quite recently, while the Diaspora was successful in persuading the world and even the academic institutions to acknowledge it as genocide. Soyak claimed the issue has become political and thus should be resolved as one.

Standing that the so-called genoside is not the primary issue on Armenia’s agenda, Soyak said that the problems with Azerbaijanand the closed borders are their main problems. Soyak argued that both these issues can be resolved through diplomatic means. “Armenia would agree to talk about the so-called genocide issue but there is no diplomatic relations, and newspapery are serving as the channels of communication between the two countries. The style of communication should be changed. If Turkey wants to investigate the issue through a board of historians and is inviting those in Armenia, then the invitation should be placed through diplomatic channels and not newspapers.” He stressed.

“McCarthy shouldn’t waste time talking here talking to people who already agree with him, said Soyak. He should talk in France, in England, at the European Parliament and at the U.S. Congress.” Soyak argues that if McCarthy has applied and been refused the opportunity to deliver speeches at these institutions then the issue is not a historical one but a political one. “If that is the case then the starting point to resolve the problem should be the political platform,” he added.

Noting that he has recently met Hikmet Ozdemir, head of the Armenian studies department at the Turkish Union of Historians. and that the Diaspora does not know most of his work, Soyak said that without a political resolution it is not possible for historians in Turkey to go beyond their borders either.

Soyak said that Turkey has successfully managed to carry the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan from the national platform to the international level. Telling how the problem has become an important issue on the agendas of the United Nations and the European Union, “Mission is accomplished”. Claiming that it will merely be a repetition of the status quo to continue focusing on the Azerbaijan-Armenia problem, Soyak said that Turkey should start working for its own national interests. “We should send our ambassador and open the borders.” Soyak argued further that more good can be done for Azerbaijan by opening the borders and establishing diplomatic relations with Armenia.

If it is in Turkey’s national advantage, then why is Turkey not acting? Soyak said he does not have the answer to that question, but he claims that certain progress must have been made between Azerbaijan and Armenian but that this progress is not being shared with Turkey.

Numerous countries in the Middle East and the Balkans have historic and territorial claims on each other’s current lands, explained Soyak, as the region has witnessed large amounts of migration. “Thus the people of this area insist on calling certain areas their own or use the old names for certain places.” Soyak said that by embracing the EU vision where borders loose their importance, hopefully an end will be brought to these historic rivalries.

Soyak pointed to the enormous economic potential of the region. Emphasizing the importance of projects such as TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia), Soyak called it basically a Silk Road project on railways aimed at forming a corridor from Europe through Turkey and heading east. Stating that soon there will be a rush towards Central Asian goods and that investments are already in place, Soyak said that it is in the national interest of Turkey to open the Turkey-Armenia borders.

Soyak highlights the organic farming in Caucasus that has a future of 400 years. Kars, Erzurum, Georgia and Azerbaijan are very rich with water resources, in addition to the valuable oil and natural gas in the region as a whole, Soyak said. Remarking that major countries of the world, including China are vying for the resources in this region, he added, “Turkey should administer this area and not be administered in it. Turkey should make sure that its national interests and security are administered independent of third countries.”

Adressing the extremely high rate of migration from eastern Turkey and southeastern Anatolia to Western Turkey, Soyak blamed the lack of jobs in the migrants’ hometowns. He said that the potential of trades depends on the neighboring countries and our relations with them. “There isn’t much rewarding economic activity with Turkey’s neighbors to the east and Southeast except Georgia,” he added.

Soyak said that the migration is a result of Turkish politics and suggests that tourism is the foremost solution to the job woes of the region.

Claiming that the would-be customers of the tourism sector in this area are already ready, he implies the 6 million Armenian Diaspora who have three major places in the world that they would like to visit, namely the Ani ruins in Kars, the Aktamar church in Van, and the mount Agri. He gives the example of their pilgrimage-like visit to eastern Turkey in 2001 and said that these Armenians did not come to threaten the national security of Turkey. “We came with around 150 people and traveled for 15 days spending U.S. Dollars 1 million by the time we left Turkey.” Soyak also noted that major hotels including Hilton contacted him with proposals of opening branches in the area.

Lamenting that the tradespeople in the area are basically choking blood, Soyak suggest checking the bank accounts any day of the week. He said that not a single lira is deposited to these banks from outside the vicinity. “They are transferring the money among themselves while an injection from outside is vital,” he added.

Citing how the British Council spends millions of pounds every year to enable people in other countries to learn the English, Soyak said that Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans visit the lands where their cultural heritage lays and that the eastern Anatolia is the land where Armenian-Americans would like to visit. “Furthermore many of these ethnic Armenians know the Anatolian traditions and some even speak Turkish, he added. On the economic upside, a simple calculation would prove that opening the Armenian borders is in Turkey’s national interest. If every visitor were to spend $200 a day and stay for 15 days, visit 50,000 people will leave $150 million in 2 weeks. That is a great sum that the area is in urgent need of.”

Soyak said that the area can be developed through the promotion of the tourism sector. “Five-star hotels can be built here. The people of the area can sell their handicrafts or open restaurants or coffeehouses or little hotels and the unemployment problem can be solved to a great extent.” The area has the potential of such a development, he claimed, that one day there might be reverse-migration from the west to the east.

Irazca Geray

The New Anatolian / Istanbul

31 March 2005