USA CALLS UPON TURKEY TO OPEN THE ARMENIAN BORDER

Source : “525ci Gazet” newspaper (Azerbaijan) – 26/04/2003

Author: Ilkhama Gasimli

The Foreign Affairs Minister of Turkey, being in

Baku in January of the current year, has noted in

reply to the question of “525ci Gazet” that Turkey

will open its borders with Armenia when Azerbaijan

wants it.

USA calls upon the Turkish government to open the

Armenian border. The latter is stated in the last

report of the State Department. Taking this report

as a basis, Armenian sources have disseminated

information about how the opening of the borders

will impact the development of trade ties and the

restoration of economic relations between the two

states, and in the end will favorably affect the

whole region. The report states that this issue

was discussed on April 2 during the meeting of the

US Secretary of State Collin Powel with the

Foreign Affairs Minister of Turkey Abdulah Gull.

However, the report does not contain any

information on the details of the given meeting.

As a whole, the suggestions on opening the borders

between Turkey and Armenia are not new and they

have been voiced at different levels. Already on

January 19 of 2000, a protocol on cooperation was

signed between the municipality heads of Kars and

Gyumri – Naif Alibeyoglu and Vartan Gukasyan. It

was also mentioned in the protocol that a

temporary agreement, before the opening of the

borders between Turkey and Armenia, had been

achieved with the plenipotentiary bodies of

Georgia that border trade Shirak-Kars would be

organized once a week at the check-points between

Georgia and Turkey

Then one of the local businessmen, coordinator of

the activities on the development of ties

Kars-Gyumri, Alijan Alibeyoglu has declared in the

conversation with our correspondent that this,

(opening of the borders), is the only way out of

the chaos for the region. In his opinion, the fact

that Turkey, presenting claims for accession to

the Council of Europe, keeps the border with one

of the neighboring countries closed may be

assessed as a violation of the commitments

undertaken by this state. Answering the questions

of the “525ci Gazet” correspondent, the head of

Kars municipality Naif Alibeyoglu said that the

resolution of the Karabagh problem solely through

military means is impossible, “Hostility cannot

last forever, especially as neither they nor we

will be able to exterminate each other. Therefore

our only condition at present is living in peace.

But the most important condition is that they

liberate Karabagh”.

In his conversation with us the co-chairman of the

Turkish-Armenian Business Council Kaan Soyak,

commenting on the prospects of Turkish-Armenian

reconciliation, said that if the reconciliation

and opening of the borders would be to the benefit

of the South Caucasus as a whole, the opening of

the borders was possible, “That is

Turkish-Armenian ties are not a utopia but a

reality which may turn into a topic for

discussion. We believe that the

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline will bring

stability to the whole region. According to the

data provided by State Oil Company of Azerbaijan

(SOCAR) starting from 2004 the volume of the daily

extraction of oil in Azerbaijan will surpass the

capacity of “Baku-Ceyhan.” If the political

conditions are profitable, it is even possible for

the second pipeline to pass through Yerevan.”

However, Ankara still officially gives no

positive answer to the suggestions by a part of

businessmen and public organizations to open the

borders with Armenia.

All political forces of Turkey, coming to power at

different periods of time, have unanimously

declared that the borders will be opened when

Armenians liberate the occupied Azerbaijani

territories.

In his interview to our correspondent, the Foreign

Affairs Minister of Turkey, Yasar Yakis, being in

Baku in January of this year, has confirmed that

there will be no changes in the policy of his

state concerning Armenia. Yashar Yakish, refuting

the rumors from the Armenian sources that

officially Ankara is seemingly planning to change

the policy towards its closest neighbor Armenia,

said that Turkey would like to enlarge its

relations with all the neighboring countries,

“However, we do not want to change the relations

with Armenia, without taking into account

Azerbaijan’s wish. We will not change our policy

and will open the borders only when Azerbaijan

wants it.”

The Foreign Affairs Minister of Azerbaijan,

Vilayet Guliev, accompanying Y. Yakish, has once

again declared that officially Baku will agree to

the opening of the border between Turkey and

Armenia only after the resolution of the Karabagh

problem.