| TURKISH BUSINESSMAN DENIES AZERI EFFORTS TO HINGE OPEN BORDER ON KARABAGH CONFLICT
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS: Kaan Soyak, the Turkish cochairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Commission (TABDC) told a press conference in Yerevan today that the trade between the two nations last year amounted to $120 million. Soyak said he has come to Armenia to look together with Eurasia Foundation into prospects for developing ties Armenia after Turkey opens its closed border. Soyak argued that open borders may triple the current trade volume.
Soyak said he has been working to prove that open borders would benefit both Turkey and Armenia and even invited officials of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation/ Dashnaktsutyun to Turkey to start dialogue on urgent issues. The Dashnaktsutyun party is against the open border saying that Turkey must first acknowledge the killing of around 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman empire. “Dashnaktsutyun is a serious party with wide experience and I am ready to exert every effort to have this dialogue happen,” he told reporters.
Soyak also spoke about the most sensitive issue in Turkish-Armenian relations, the 1915 genocide, saying it has become a topic of debates in Turkey just a couple of years ago. “Our organization is doing what it can so that more broader segments of Turks get involved in discussions on this problem and to learn the historical truth,” he said. Incidentally, Soyak used the word “genocide” when talking about the events of 1915.
Soyak said the TABDC works also for establishment of cultural and business contacts and is organizing trips of Turkish Armenians to Yerevan and vice versa. He added that TABDC is criticized in Azerbaijan and Turkey. “Azerbaijan is campaigning aggressively in Turkey to link the opening of the border with the resolution of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict. We are against it and we believe that borders must be open irrespective of whether the conflict is solved or not yet,” he said, adding that in today’s world there is no gain in keeping a couple of borders closed as countries will always find a way to survive.” I believe we need to have a constructive approach, to open the borders and solve the problems with a vision enabling us to carry the conflicts to international platforms and solve the problems with an active diplomacy, and to work towards it together.”
TABDC, established in 1997 is the only Turkish-Armenian joint organization, a well-known businessman Arsen Ghazarian is the co-chairman of the Armenian side.
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
14 Feb 05
[Presenter] The co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council Kaan Soyak, is against the proposal that the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict should be a precondition for the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border. Turkey’s position is that the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict is Azerbaijan’s problem. The Armenian genocide is also on the agenda of the opening of the border. Touching upon the Armenian genocide, Soyak said that Turks have begun speaking of it in the last two or three years. The main aim of Kaan Soyak’s visit to Yerevan is to discuss a joint programme on the development of economic relations, which will be implemented with the assistance of the Eurasia Foundation.
[Correspondent over video of meeting] The Azerbaijani embassy in Ankara does not like the co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council, Kaan Soyak. The reason is that this organization has been taking a liberal position on Armenia and Turkish-Armenian relations. As Soyak noted, both sides [Azerbaijan and Turkey] are against the reopening of the Armenian-Turkish border and want Turkey’s foreign policy to depend on Azerbaijan. There are failures in the political field, but the economic sphere is yielding positive results.
[Kaan Soyak speaking in Turkish with Armenian voice-over] The commodity turnover between Armenia and Turkey is approaching 110-120bn dollars today. Before the establishment of the Council [in 1997], the commodity turnover was less than 60m dollars. You have a great diaspora and I hope that we can cooperate with Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. In connection with my work, I have participated in Turkish-American, Turkish-Russian and Turkish-British business meetings, but I must say that Turkish-Armenian business relations are the best example of cooperation.
[Correspondent] The Turkish businessman noted that their organization has prepared a programme on protecting Armenian monuments in Turkey.
Soyak also stated that he is in favour of opening the border as soon as possible and invited the members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun [ARFD] to Turkey in order to open up a dialogue on urgent issues. The ARFD is a serious and experienced party and if they agree, I am ready to make every effort to start the dialogue, Soyak said.
The Turkish businessman also has a special position on the issue of genocide.
[Kaan Soyak] Our organization is not dealing with the issue of genocide, but I believe that the Turkish people has the right to know the historical truth. Our organization will do its best to make the historical truth known to the Turkish people.
[Correspondent] Kaan Soyak is making constructive proposals against the background of Turkey’s policy of denying the genocide.
Ayk-Aram Nahapetyan and Armen Andreasyan, “Aylur”.
OIL PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION FROM BAKU TO CEYHAN VIA YEREVAN WOULD COST 30% LESS THAN BAKU-TBILISI-CEYHAN PROJECT
14.02.2005 15:11
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway project is political but not economic as the distance Kars-Tbilisi-Baku and Kars-Yerevan-baku is almost the same”, Co-Chairman of the Council of Armenian-Turkish Relations Development Council Kaan Soyak stated in Yerevan. In his words, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline is not an economic project either, since the construction of a similar Baku-Yerevan-Ceyhan pipeline would cost 20-30% less. “However every state is pursuing its own objectives; and the construction of the BTC was started on the assumption of such aims.” Soyak said he is sure that taking into account today’s Armenian-Turkish relations the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway project will be approved and implemented. The Turkish businessman also stated that both parties still have the time for
trying to correct bilateral relations. At the same time Soyak did not agree with the opinion that the building of the railway can be viewed as pressure exerted by Turkey upon Armenia, as, in his words, both Armenia and Turkey are under pressure of different states and organizations.
COMMODITY TURNOVER BETWEEN ARMENIA AND TURKEY IN 2004 MADE $120 BILLION
14.02.2005 16:54
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The commodity circulation between Armenia and Turkey in 2004 made about $120 billion, Kaan Soyak, the Co-Chairman of the Armenian-Turkish Relations Development Council, stated in Yerevan today. According to him, before the formation of the Council in 1997 the turnover made no more than $60 million. He says, in case of opening of the Armenian-Turkish border the turnover can increase at least three times. Kaan Soyak stated he is for soonest opening of the border and invited representatives of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun to Turkey for establishing dialogue on urgent issues. “The ARFD is a serious and experienced party and if they agree I am ready to exert every effort to start this dialogue”, he noted. When touching upon the Armenian Genocide Soyak said that Turks began speaking of it during the recent 2-3 years. “Our organization will do its best to make the historical truth clear to the Turkish people”, he stated. It should be noted that when commenting on the killings of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire the Turkish businessman used the word “genocide”.
Dashnaks Offered ‘Dialogue’ With Turkey
By Karine Kalantarian
A Turkish businessman who has long been advocating improved relations with Armenia called on the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) on Monday to embark on a “dialogue” with Turkey over issues dividing the two peoples.
“I seriously invite them to Turkey for a dialogue. If Dashnaktsutyun agrees to engage in a dialogue with Turkey, I promise you that I will do my best to organize it,” Kaan Soyak, one of the two co-chairmen of the Turkish-Armenian Business Council (TABC), told a news conference in Yerevan.
Soyak would not elaborate on what concrete forms that dialogue should take, saying only that it could yield “serious results” and give the nationalist party represented in Armenia’s government an opportunity to shake off its highly negative image in Turkey. He said he thinks that Dashnaktsutyun is not as fiercely anti-Turkish as it is presented in his country.
“In Turkey, the Dashnaktsutyun party has a negative image,”
Soyak said. “But if you ask for my opinion, I would describe the party and its leaders as very serious and sensible.”
Soyak voiced the surprise invitation immediately after passing on “greetings to the Armenian people” from Turkey’s prime minister and foreign minister. But it was not clear if official Ankara had anything to do with the offer.
Turkish governing circles and media often portray Dashnaktsutyun as a key obstacle to the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. They also use Dashnaktsutyun’s implicit support for Armenian territorial claims to Turkey to accuse Yerevan of failing to recognize the existing border between the two states.
Dashnaktsutyun favors a hard line on Turkey, making normalization of bilateral ties contingent on Ankara’s recognition of the 1915 genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The party’s leaders have denounced U.S.
efforts to ease tensions between the two historical foes which led to the creation of the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC) in 2001. They are also opposed to the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border which Ankara keeps closed out of solidarity with Azerbaijan.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul assured his visiting Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov last week that the border will not be reopened until a solution is found to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “The continuing [Armenian] occupation and the fact that almost a million Azeris are currently displaced constitute a big obstacle for any change in Turkish policy,” Gul said after the talks.
The Armenian government has long urged the Turks to drop that precondition, a position shared by both Turkish and Armenian business people making up TABC. Soyak said he and his Turkish colleagues will continue to lobby for an open border but did not sound optimistic about the success of those efforts.
Soyak estimated the annual volume of Turkish-Armenian trade, mainly carried out via Georgia, at $120 million. He said it would quickly triple if the Turkish embargo is lifted.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
TURKISH BUSINESSMAN PROPOSES DIALOGUE WITH ARMENIAN COALITION PARTY.
Kaan Soyak, a Turkish businessman who co-chairs the Turkish-Armenian Business Council, invited the Armenian Revolutionary Federation–Dashnaktsutiun (HHD) on 14 February to visit Turkey to embark on a dialogue aimed at overcoming the HHD’s negative image in that country, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reported. The HHD, one of the two junior partners in the three-party coalition government, has in the past pegged a normalization of relations with Ankara to official recognition by the Turkish government of the 1915 genocide; it also
opposes opening the Armenian-Turkish border. Soyak said on 14 February that bilateral trade has increased to $120 million and could treble if the border were opened, Noyan Tapan reported. LF
Seeking Relations: Turkish business leader calls for an open border with Armenia
By Gayane Mkrtchyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
http://armenianow.com/eng/?go=print&id=557
Dashnak Leader Shrugs Off Turkish Offer Of ‘Dialogue’
By Karine Kalantarian
http://www.azatutyun.am/armeniareport/report/en/2005/02/73A04297-613B-40FD-967B-EEEEC7082866.asp |
Akgün Medya