TODAY.AZ / Politics

Turkey-Armenia protocols have caused split in Armenia: political expert

12 October 2009 [15:12] - TODAY.AZ
I welcome the peacemaking process between Armenia and its Turkish neighbors,” Azerbaijani political expert Rasim Agayev said commenting on Turkey-Armenia protocols aimed at normalizing relations between the two countries.
"I think that some effort and a certain honesty and integrity by the countries that stand behind this process, primarily the United States and Russia will enable to resolve the Armenian-Turkish and the Karabakh issue without harming national interests of the sides,” he said.

"Of course, there will be a lot of zigzags and misunderstandings in the process of normalization of relations and a lot of different interpretations of the compromises that are inevitable in such a complicated and complex issue, especially with the presence of such a complex ethno-political phenomenon as in case of Armenian diplomacy,” he noted.

“To deceive, cheat, to be cunning have been inherent in Armenians originally. But the trouble is that Armenians, by signing a treaty does not consider themselves obligated to implement it. This observation by a connoisseur of Armenia, Russian historian Vasily Velichko, fully manifested in the course of more than two years of negotiations between Turkey and Armenia,” Agayev said.

"Nevertheless, we must look for compromises and approaches. Azerbaijan fears that the Armenians can deceive and our allies may leave us with nothing.  As the process of settling the Armenian-Turkish relations has began, I believe that Azerbaijan should be more active and proactive in order to convince them that we are the main player in this field that we are not small brother and do not sit and wait. We have our own interests, we are protecting them and believe that they should be satisfied in the general context of the Armenian-Turk normalization,” he said.
 
"I think that the main task of Azerbaijan's diplomacy is act as one tandem in the negotiating process. The main achievement of the yet not successful protocol is that for the first time since 1988 Armenians, as the ethno-political formation, was split. All this time, Armenia has acted in a consolidated way, but now for the first time we see that the Armenian society is fragmented, there is no unity, and if to bring this process to finish, we can achieve much,” he said.

"This is a new and significant point in the geopolitical situation, which is compounded by the signing of the protocols. Implementation of protocols, I think, will change the situation, and in view of the impending changes, it is very important to demonstrate unity, both within our country, and in the broader geopolitical field. Azerbaijani diplomacy must be intensified in all directions and not take a wait-and-see attitude,” Agayev added.

"With respect to visit of Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to Turkey for a football match, I think that if nothing extraordinary happens, he will go. We must not forget that the major players involved the peace building process are not willful as it seems. They decide not only national issues, they also perform tasks of interest to world powers. So this football tactics will continue,” he said.

/Day.Az/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/56460.html

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