Cooperation With Russia

1/13/2005
Turkish Press
BY SAMI KOHEN

MILLIYET- Leaders’ official visits to other countries rarely yield concrete, immediate results. Taking certain decisions to strengthen economic ties and opening a Turkish Trade Center in the middle of Moscow are among the positive results of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit this week to Russia. The actual successes of the visit are the steps taken towards strategic partnership.

Putin’s statements on Armenia signal possible strategic cooperation between Ankara and Moscow on regional problems. Concerning the Upper Karabagh issue, Putin said that Russia might serve as a mediator and even a guarantor and that he would help Turkey to forge friendly relations with Armenia. Ankara has stipulated up to now that firstly Yerevan should withdraw from the Azerbaijani territory it’s occupying and solve its disputes with Baku in order for Turkey to normalize its relations with Armenia. The reasons for this stance can be understood easily. However, Turkey was unable to play a mediator role because of this. Now Russia seems ready to step in. However, if Turkey can establish a good dialogue with Yerevan, it can help create a consensus between the parties and push claims of a so-called Armenian genocide from the agenda. Now the Armenian diaspora is about to try to take the initiative over the 90th anniversary of the ‘genocide.’ It’s time for Ankara to step forward now with a bold stance. This can be done in cooperation with Russia, in light of Putin’s statements.


Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.