We Are Ready to Talk to Turkey
\nBy SERZH SARGSYAN<\/p>\n
Mr. Sargsyan is president of Armenia.
\nFROM TODAY’S WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE
\nJuly 9, 2008<\/p>\n
YEREVAN, Armenia<\/p>\n
The problems of newly independent nations attempting to build a
\nnovel, democratic way of life did not end with the break-up of the
\nSoviet Union. Armenia, a small country strategically located between
\nTurkey, Russia, Iran and the energy-rich Caspian region, is a case
\nin point. Postindependence Armenia’s potential for peaceful
\ndevelopment has not been realized as best it could.<\/p>\n
During the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey closed its border with
\nArmenia as an expression of ethnic solidarity with Turkic
\nAzerbaijan. The regrettable result is that for almost 15 years, the
\ngeopolitically vital border between Armenia and Turkey has become a
\nbarrier to diplomatic and economic cooperation. It is closed not
\nonly to Armenians and Turks who might want to visit their
\nneighboring countries, but to trade, transport and energy flows from
\nEast to West.<\/p>\n
Strategic projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and
\nthe projected Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad bypass Armenia, while the
\nexisting railway between Turkey and Armenia remains shut. And the
\nArmenian people are not the only ones who have suffered from these
\nrestrictions and detours. All countries in the region, and the
\nbroader community of European nations, pay a high cost for these
\nunnatural barriers to commerce, progress and international
\ncooperation.<\/p>\n
The time has come for a fresh effort to break this deadlock, a
\nsituation that helps no one and hurts many. As president of Armenia,
\nI take this opportunity to propose a fresh start \u2013 a new phase of
\ndialogue with the government and people of Turkey, with the goal of
\nnormalizing relations and opening our common border.<\/p>\n
After my election in February, my Turkish counterpart, Abdullah G\u00fcl,
\nwas one of the first heads of state to congratulate me. Turkey’s
\nPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that the doors are
\nopen to new dialogue in this new period.<\/p>\n
There is no real alternative to the establishment of normal
\nrelations between our countries. It is my hope that both of our
\ngovernments can pass through the threshold of this new open door.
\nEstablishing normal political relations would enable us to create a
\ncommission to comprehensively discuss all of the complex issues
\naffecting Armenia and Turkey. We cannot expect tangible progress
\nwithout such structured relations. Only through them can we create
\nan effective dialogue touching upon even the most contentious
\nhistorical issues.<\/p>\n
Already, on a more personal scale, many Armenians and Turks have
\nfound ways to get around the closed border. They take advantage of
\nregular charter flights from Yerevan to Istanbul and Antalya. There
\nare numerous bus and taxi routes through Georgia, and container
\ntrucks even make the long detour, enabling some trade between our
\ntwo countries.<\/p>\n
And just as the people of China and the United States shared
\nenthusiasm for ping pong before their governments fully normalized
\nrelations, the people of Armenia and Turkey are united in their love
\nfor football \u2013 which prompts me to extend the following invitation.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 6 a World Cup qualifier match between the Armenian and
\nTurkish national football teams will take place in Yerevan. I hereby
\ninvite President G\u00fcl to visit Armenia to enjoy the match together
\nwith me in the stadium. Thus we will announce a new symbolic start
\nin our relations. Whatever our differences, there are certain
\ncultural, humanitarian and sports links that our peoples share, even
\nwith a closed border. This is why I sincerely believe that the
\nordinary people of Armenia and Turkey will welcome such a gesture
\nand will cheer the day that our borders open.<\/p>\n
There may be possible political obstacles on both sides along the
\nway. However, we must have the courage and the foresight to act now.
\nArmenia and Turkey need not and should not be permanent rivals. A
\nmore prosperous, mutually beneficial future for Armenia and Turkey,
\nand the opening up of a historic East-West corridor for Europe, the
\nCaspian region and the rest of the world, are goals that we can and
\nmust achieve.<\/p>\n
Mr. Sargsyan is president of Armenia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We Are Ready to Talk to Turkey By SERZH SARGSYAN Mr. Sargsyan is president of Armenia. FROM TODAY’S WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE July 9, 2008 YEREVAN, Armenia The problems of newly independent nations attempting to build a novel, democratic way of life did not end with the break-up of the Soviet Union. Armenia, a small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":774856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenian-question"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}