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CARNEGIE

E N D O W M E N T F O R I N T E R N AT I O N A L P E A C E
POLICY
BRIEF
87
APRIL 2010

Armenia and Turkey:


Bridging the Gap
THOMAS DE WAAL
Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program
S U M MARY
■ Armenia and Turkey have embarked on a historic normalization process, but it is now in trouble and the United
States needs to take a lead in rescuing it.
■ If Armenia and Turkey succeed in opening their closed border it will transform the South Caucasus region. But
Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally and the losing side to Armenia in the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, has understandable
fears. The international community must invest more resources in resolving the Karabakh conflict and breaking
the regional deadlock it has created.
■ The annual debate over the use of the word genocide to describe the fate of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915
has turned into an ugly bargaining process. It is time to take a longer view. President Obama should look ahead
to the centenary of the tragedy in 2015 and encourage Turks to take part in commemorating the occasion.

THE ARMENIA–TURKEY the House International Affairs Committee


PROTOCOLS voted on March 4 to call the 1915 killings
In October 2009 Armenia and Turkey began genocide, causing Turkey to recall its ambas-
a historic rapprochement, signing two pro- sador from Washington. Turkey’s outspoken
tocols on normalizing their relations that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan fur-
showed them a way to escape their tragic ther undermined hopes for normalization
past. In 2010, the process has run into trou- in a March 17 BBC interview in which he
ble. Ankara appears highly unlikely to ratify threatened up to 100,000 Armenians work-
the protocols in parliament, saying it will ing illegally in Turkey with deportation.
not do so without progress in the Nagorny This looming crisis will reach a head by
Karabakh conflict between Armenia and April 24, the date commemorated as Armenian
Azerbaijan—even though that conflict is not Genocide Day. Both Armenians and Turks
explicitly mentioned in the agreements. The will seek to influence President Obama to use
Armenian leadership is suggesting that, if the words on that day that support their position,
Turks do not act quickly, Yerevan should cut while the Armenians will continue to press
its losses and annul its signature on the agree- Congress to pass a resolution calling the 1915
ment in April. At the same time the United killings genocide. This puts the normalization
States’ capacity to mediate was eroded after process under strain. A “hard landing” for the
2 POLICY BRIEF

Armenia–Turkey Protocols will be the cause of humanity and civilization,” and many his-
recrimination and introspection on both sides. torians agree that more than one million
It will reinforce an unhealthy siege mentality Armenians died. For the Armenian diaspora,
in Armenia, with Armenians opposed to the most of whom are grandchildren of surviving
process saying their skepticism about Turks is Anatolian Armenians, this issue defines their
vindicated. Turkey’s relations with the United identity. Since the 1960s they have lobbied
States and the EU will suffer, as they will blame internationally for the killings to be termed a
Ankara for its role in the failed process. The genocide. Modern Turkey, the successor state
already troubled peace process over Nagorny to the Ottoman Empire, consistently denies
Karabakh could shut down further, increas- that there was a genocidal policy toward the
ing the threat of violence across the cease-fire Armenians and points out that hundreds
Thomas de Waal is a senior
line separating the Armenian and Azerbaijani of thousands of Ottoman Muslims died in
associate in the Russia and
armies. deportations and killings during the same
Eurasia Program at the
There is now virtually no hope that the two period.
Carnegie Endowment,
protocols will be ratified soon, but there is time Turkey recognized the newly independent
specializing primarily in the
for the parties to agree to a “soft landing” that Republic of Armenia after the Soviet Union
South Caucasus region
would allow each to make small steps affirm- collapsed in 1991. However, bilateral relations
comprising Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Georgia and
ing their faith in the process. This will allow quickly became captive to Armenia’s escalat-
their breakaway territories,
the parties to re-engage with the substance of ing war with Ankara’s new ally Azerbaijan over
as well as the wider Black the agreements at a later date—probably after the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh.
Sea region. the 2011 Turkish elections. In April 1993 Armenian forces extended their
De Waal is an acknowl- A persistent curse of the Caucasus is that military campaign beyond the borders of
edged expert on the its leaders focus on short-term agendas and Nagorny Karabakh capturing the Azerbaijani
unresolved conflicts of the their own political survival and lack the will province of Kelbajar. Turkey closed its border
South Caucasus: Abkhazia, and political space to think strategically about with Armenia in protest; seventeen years later,
Nagorny Karabakh, and the long term. The Turkey–Armenia process the border remains closed.
South Ossetia. From 2002 to briefly but heroically defied that trend. It Over the past decade, however, people-
2009 he worked as an analyst was the most positive initiative in the South to-people Armenian–Turkish relations have
and project manager on the Caucasus in years and still has the potential to improved. The mayors of Kars and Gyumri
conflicts in the South transform the region. If the process is to get have lobbied jointly for a re-opening of the
Caucasus for the London- back on track, all involved parties, including border. Armenian tourists visit Turkey regu-
based NGOs Conciliation the United States, should articulate a strate- larly, and thousands of Armenians live and
Resources and the Institute gic vision for the region, and for resolution work illegally there. There are weekly Armavia
for War and Peace Reporting. of the Karabakh conflict. They must set their (Armenian Airlines) flights between Yerevan
He is author of the sights on larger goals several years hence and and Istanbul. In Turkey the taboo about talk-
authoritative book on the “make haste slowly” toward them. The cen- ing about the Armenian issue has been lifted.
Karabakh conflict, Black tenary of the Armenian tragedy in 2015 is a Celebrated author Orhan Pamuk has publicly
Garden: Armenia and
good reference point by which to set the goal challenged his countrymen to break their
Azerbaijan Through Peace
of Armenian–Turkish normalization. silence on the fate of the Ottoman Armenians.
and War (NYU Press, 2003),
The Istanbul editor Hrant Dink—an ethnic
which has been translated
A TRAGIC HISTORY Armenian and Turkish citizen—played a key
into Armenian, Azeri, and
Armenian–Turkish relations live under the role in bridging the divide. Dink’s assassina-
Russian. His new book, The
shadow of the mass deportation and killing tion in 2007 by a seventeen-year-old national-
Caucasus: An Introduction
of the Armenian population of Eastern Ana- ist fanatic triggered grief and outrage. At his
(Oxford University Press),
will be released in summer
tolia by the Ottoman Young Turk regime in funeral tens of thousands of mourners walked
2010.
the years following 1915. The allied powers the streets of Istanbul, some chanting “We are
at the time called the killings “crimes against all Armenians.”
ARMENIA AND TURKEY: BRIDGING THE GAP 3

This small but vocal civic movement with Turkey re-opens, imported goods will
backed Turkish President Abdullah Gül as be cheaper and their volume will increase
he and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian by 13 percent over five years; transportation
moved this rapprochement to a state level. Gül costs will be cut by 20 percent. Armenia will
accepted Sarkisian’s invitation to an Armenia– benefit from sharing an open border with a
Turkey soccer match in Yerevan in September country that since 1996 has had a customs
2008, and the two sides began working on union with the European Union for trade in
measures to normalize relations. Both took non-agricultural products.
advantage of a changed geopolitical environ-
ment: Russia, Armenia’s strongest ally, backed The Turkey–Armenia process … was the most positive
the initiative and has dramatically improved its initiative in the South Caucasus in years and still has
own relationship with Turkey in recent years. the potential to transform the region.
For Turkey’s governing AK Party, holding
out an olive branch to Armenia fit within the For the Turkish government, a successful
new “zero problems with neighbors” policy rapprochement with Armenia will allow it
devised by its chief foreign policy strategist, to engage in the South Caucasus as a disin-
Ahmet Davutoğlu, who is now Turkey’s foreign terested power. Ratifying the protocols would
minister. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian also be a major step toward ending the per-
also saw an opening. His legitimacy had been petual humiliation of foreign parliaments
damaged by the violence which accompanied passing genocide resolutions that condemn
his election in February–March 2008, and his Turkey. For four decades Ankara has expended
courageous decision to invite Gül to Yerevan time and resources fighting the Armenian
opened a new credit line of international diaspora on this issue, yet the parliaments
support. The Armenian and Turkish foreign of nineteen countries, including Canada,
ministers eventually signed two protocols on France, Germany, Greece, Poland, Russia, and
normalizing their relations at a ceremony in Sweden, have passed resolutions on the 1915
Zurich on October 10, 2009, supported by, massacres, with most designating the killings
among others, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary as genocide.
Clinton. Both sides gave themselves extra However, neither government received
room to maneuver by requiring their parlia- a groundswell of domestic support for the
ments to ratify the Zurich protocols. Once Protocols. In Armenia, public opposition was
they are ratified, the documents stipulate that not fierce: Armenia’s veteran nationalist party,
diplomatic relations must be established and the ARF or Dasnaktsutiun, left the governing
the Armenia–Turkey border opened within coalition in protest but did not convene more
two months. than a few token street protests. But popular
enthusiasm for the Protocols has not been
OPPORTUNITIES AND PROBLEMS strong either. Much of the public expresses
The Zurich Protocols opened up hopeful short-sighted concerns about the shops of
vistas for both countries. For Armenia they Yerevan being flooded with cheap Turkish
promise an end to regional isolation and goods or more general worries that Turks
long-term economic transformation. Even cannot be trusted. There is a consensus that
with the border closed, Turkey is Armenia’s Turkey must open the border but that nothing
fifth biggest trading partner via Georgia, with should be expected from Armenia in return.
an annual trade turnover of more than $200 Sarkisian faced much stronger criticism
million. The country manager of the World when he visited Lebanon, France, and the
Bank in Armenia, Aristomene Varoudakis, United States to sell the Protocols. Some crit-
cites figures predicting that when the border ics within the diaspora accused him of selling
4 POLICY BRIEF

out Armenia’s heritage by promising to recog- wording of the court’s commentary, assert-
nize the current border with Turkey, agreed ing it added new conditionality to the Zurich
with Moscow in 1921. Former foreign min- Protocols. The Turkish objection looked like
ister Raffi Hovannissian, a major critic of the caviling over details—after all, Armenia’s pol-
Protocols, described accepting it as “ratifica- icy is no secret—but it would help the normal-
tion of the existing boundary as negotiated by ization process if Sarkisian would state openly
the Bolsheviks and Kemalists behind Armenia’s that Armenia attaches no extra conditions to
back in 1921.” Others have denounced the the protocols.
pledge to establish a sub-commission “on the
historical dimension to implement a dialogue THE KARABAKH FACTOR
For the Turkish government, the major obsta-
But popular enthusiasm for the Protocols has not cle to proceeding with normalization is the
been strong either…. There is a consensus that damage this does to its strong relationship
Turkey must open the border but that nothing with its Turkic ally, Azerbaijan. Baku accuses
should be expected from Armenia in return. Turkey of plotting to sell the disputed terri-
tory of Nagorny Karabakh to the Armenians.
with the aim to restore mutual confidence The conflict over Nagorny Karabakh
between the two nations.” The wording here is the deepest problem facing the South
appears to leave the Armenian government Caucasus. The dispute erupted in 1988
freedom of interpretation, but many diaspora when the Armenian majority population in
Armenians reject the idea of a dialogue with Karabakh, an autonomous region inside Soviet
Turkey over the events of 1915 on the grounds Azerbaijan, tried to secede from rule by Baku
that it provides an opportunity to question and join Soviet Armenia. A low-level conflict
what they say is a confirmed and well-docu- gradually escalated into a full inter-state war
mented genocide. with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Fighting
This criticism caused Sarkisian, who is ended in 1994, when Armenian forces won a
not a risk-taker, to proceed with caution. He military victory that saw them secure control
ignored the advice of some aides to have the not just of Nagorny Karabakh itself but, par-
Armenian parliament ratify the Protocols at tially or wholly, of seven Azerbaijani regions
the end of 2009 (as the pro-government party around the enclave which they called a “secu-
has a majority in parliament, the vote would rity zone.” Since then the Armenians have built
be a foregone conclusion). Instead Sarkisian up a small, unrecognized statelet in Karabakh
insisted that Armenia and Turkey ratify the behind a 110-mile-long cease-fire line, with the
Protocols in tandem, a strategy that now leaves two opposing armies deployed on either side.
him unable to assert any pressure on the Turkish Protracted negotiations on the conflict invari-
side. Sarkisian also sought the cover of send- ably get stuck on the issue of the final issue
ing the Protocols for an expert judgment by of Nagorny Karabakh itself. For the past five
Armenia’s Constitutional Court, which added years the talks, mediated by the three co-chairs
a new complication to the process. In January of the Minsk Group of the Organization for
2010 the court ruled that the documents were Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
in accordance with Armenia’s constitution and have centered on a draft Document of Basic
1990 Declaration of Independence, Article Principles (“The Madrid Principles”), which
11 of which states “The Republic of Armenia seeks to resolve this issue through creative for-
stands in support of the task of achieving inter- mulations. As talks drag on, Azerbaijan in par-
national recognition of the 1915 Genocide ticular expresses frustration with a status quo
in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.” that leaves around one-seventh of its de jure
The Turkish foreign ministry seized upon the territory under Armenian military control.
ARMENIA AND TURKEY: BRIDGING THE GAP 5

Azerbaijan (population almost nine mil- Part of the answer is that President Gül and
lion) is a junior partner to Turkey (population Prime Minister Erdoğan put different priori-
70 million), but has ways of influencing its ties on this issue. It appears that Gül and oth-
domestic politics and is also a major supplier ers hoped to see progress on the Karabakh dis-
of its gas. On a popular level solidarity between
the two Turkic states is strong. Several months It is difficult for the local actors to move first to break
before the Protocols were signed in October the deadlock of the Karabakh dispute. International
2009, Erdoğan explicitly linked the normal- players need to help them to do so by promising more
ization process with Armenian concessions international resources to the resolution of the conflict.
over Karabakh. Speaking in Baku in May
2009, he said, “The occupation of Nagorny pute in the months after the Zurich ceremony,
Karabakh is a cause, and the closure of the giving them political cover to ratify the pro-
border is an effect. Without the occupation tocols. Turkish officials, perhaps as a result of
ending, the gates will not be opened.” So why undue U.S. assurances, had an overly optimis-
did Turkey commit itself to opening the bor- tic impression of how well the Karabakh peace
der with Armenia in a document that never negotiations were going. When the officials
explicitly mentions the Karabakh conflict? learned in December 2009 that the talks were

MAP Nagorny Karabakh: The Heart of the Matter?


G E O R G I A
RUSSIA
Sheki Quba

Qazakh Kü
r (K
ura Mingechaur
) Reservoir

Vanadzor Ganja Shemakhi


Yevlakh

r(

A Z E R B A I J A N
Ku

Shaumian
ra

Terter
)

Lake
Sevan
Yerevan Martakert

A RME N IA Kelbajar Aghdam


Khojali NAGORNY
TURKEY Stepanakert KARABAKH
Martuni
Lachin Shusha Fizuli
Hadrut s
xe
AZ Ara
Goris r
ER Riv
e
BA Jebrail
IJ Kafan Kubatly
A Zone under Armenian
Nakhichevan
N

military control
Julfa Zangelan
NAKHICHEVAN Meghri The Line of Contact
AUTONOMOUS Rive
r Ar
axes Goris-Stepanakert Road
REPUBLIC
0 25 50 Kilometers
I R A N 0 25 50 Miles
Credit: Christopher Robinson
6 POLICY BRIEF

deadlocked, they found themselves boxed in. It is difficult for the local actors to move
More broadly, Turkish officials have dis- first to break the deadlock of the Karabakh dis-
played naivety about the Karabakh issue. They pute. International players need to help them
have derived their information on the conflict to do so by promising more international
from Azerbaijani sources. They underesti- resources to the resolution of the conflict.
mated how fundamental the Karabakh ques- Rather than seek to bend the will of the parties
tion is to Armenians, believing that Yerevan even further, it makes sense for the American,
could be prevailed upon to cede several of French, and Russian mediators of the Minsk
the occupied regions around Karabakh in Group to declare a pause in the talks over the
exchange for the re-opening of the Armenia– Basic Principles and work on other areas of the
peace process that will underpin a final agree-
In contrast to the healthy Armenian–Turkish civil ment. In contrast to the healthy Armenian–
society dialogue, there is virtually no “Track II” Turkish civil society dialogue, there is virtu-
ally no “Track II” between Armenians and
between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. There
Azerbaijanis. There is also very little planning
is also very little planning for the post-conflict for the post-conflict settlement—the de-min-
settlement—the de-mining, reconstruction, economic ing, reconstruction, economic rehabilitation,
rehabilitation, and security measures that will be and security measures that will be required
required to make a peace work on the ground. to make a peace work on the ground. The
European Union is well-suited to play this
Turkey border. Yet there is almost no chance latter role, as it did in the Balkans, but thus
that Sarkisian, a Karabakh Armenian, would far it has been shut out of the overly secre-
give up conquered territory for the sake of the tive and narrow Karabakh peace process. A
Turkish border. Even if he wanted to—which third area that needs more attention is the
is doubtful—domestic opinion simply would Line of Contact dividing the Armenian and
not allow it. Azerbaijani armies. The cease-fire along it is
Azerbaijan sees the Armenia–Turkey issue basically self-regulating, monitored by just six
through its own fearful spectacles: It worries OSCE officials with a weak mandate. In 2009,
that opening the Armenia–Turkey border a relatively quiet year, there were nineteen
would remove a lever on Armenia and make casualties along the cease-fire line. This year,
it more intransigent in the negotiations over with high-level talks stalled, there have already
Nagorny Karabakh. Many Armenians prob- been two bad shooting incidents.
ably share this view and were the border with As a full settlement on Karabakh remains
Turkey to open, in the short term Armenians elusive, the two sides can also consider smaller
might seek to consolidate the status quo steps that will build confidence and change
in and around Karabakh. Yet the longer- a negative dynamic into a positive one. One
term dynamic is almost certain to work the potential “win-win” area is the Azerbaijani
other way: with its border to the West open, exclave of Nakhichevan, which is separated
Armenia would begin to lose its siege men- from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenian ter-
tality and be more ready to give up occupied ritory. In Soviet times, Nakhichevan was a
land in order to emerge from international major junction on the Moscow–Tehran rail-
isolation. Azerbaijan would likewise be under way. It relied on neighboring Armenia for gas,
pressure to soften its aggressive posture on the electricity, and railroad connections. As the
Karabakh issue and join Turkey in seeking Karabakh conflict escalated, Armenia cut off
to normalize relations with Yerevan. Turkey all supplies to Nakhichevan, leaving the exclave
would enter the South Caucasus as a neutral in a desperate condition. All sides would win if
player and begin to exert a more positive role. Armenia were to agree to open up communi-
ARMENIA AND TURKEY: BRIDGING THE GAP 7

cations and rebuild shared infrastructure with honoring both the large Armenian-American
Nakhichevan in tandem with the opening of community and a strategic relationship with
the Armenia–Turkey border. Azerbaijani citi- Turkey. Unfortunately the problem of how to
zens would benefit in a tangible way; Armenia
would have secured the opening of its western As it seeks to help bridge … [Armenian–Turkish]
border without ceding captured territory, and differences, the United States is hobbled by what
Turkey could hail the initiative as a success. could be called the “April 24 question,” the issue of
how to describe the 1915 tragedy while honoring
THE ROAD TO 2015
The current Armenia–Turkey crisis needs both both the large Armenian-American community and a
short-term fixes and a longer-term strategy. strategic relationship with Turkey.
Turkey has dragged its feet and now needs to
make goodwill gestures toward Armenia to describe a great historical tragedy has devolved
keep the process alive. Possible gestures include: into grubby political bargaining. On April 24,
2009, President Barack Obama adopted a dig-
■ An opening of the Armenia–Turkey border
nified formula, foregoing the word genocide in
for noncommercial travelers.
favor of the most common Armenian phrase
■ A limited opening of a zone next to the to describe the tragedy: the meds yeghern, or
Armenia–Turkey border that contains the “great catastrophe.” Turkish liberal intellectu-
medieval Armenian city of Ani, now just als have begun to use the same phrase—and
inside Turkish territory. This would allow might have been Obama’s inspiration. Many
Armenian tourists to visit the ancient site. of them have taken up the cause of the late
Hrant Dink, arguing that Turkey must come
■ A Turkish initiative to fully open and digi-
to its own reckoning with what happened to
tize the Ottoman archives containing the
its missing Armenians, without pressure from
official Ottoman records of the events of
foreign parliaments.
1915 to 1921.
In order to move away from this annual
■ A Turkish government initiative to invite agony, it makes sense to reframe the
diaspora Armenians to visit the ancient Armenian–Turkish issue within a longer
Armenian heritage sites of Anatolia. perspective. The coming centenary of the
Armenian holocaust in five years’ time in 2015
■ The opening of a Turkish Airlines route
and the growing debate within Turkey on the
between Istanbul and Yerevan.
“Armenian question” gives impetus to this
Although the Armenian leadership will approach. In 2015—whether the Turks like it
maintain that the Karabakh issue and nor- or not—the world will mark the anniversary
malization of relations with Turkey are not of the Armenian tragedy. The president could
formally linked, Yerevan can allay Turkish deliver a message on April 24, 2010, in which The Carnegie Endowment does
concerns on this issue by pledging to end the he notes that the centenary commemorations not take institutional positions on
isolation of Nakhichevan once the Turkish– are now five years away and pledges that, if public policy issues; the views
Armenian border opens. The Minsk Group still in office, he will join in those events (per- represented here are the author’s
mediators can play their part by issuing a new haps even in Yerevan), but in which he also own and do not necessarily reflect
joint statement that pledges extra interna- promises the Turks a little peace until then by the views of the Endowment, its
tional resources to resolution of the conflict. affirming his faith in the internal debate in staff, or its trustees.
As it seeks to help bridge these differences, Turkey. Obama could say, “We hope to mark
the United States is hobbled by what could this tragic date with our Turkish friends, and © 2010 Carnegie Endowment for
be called the “April 24 question,” the issue not without them,” and aspire to be a catalyst International Peace. All rights
of how to describe the 1915 tragedy while for Armenian–Turkish reconciliation. ■ reserved.
www.CarnegieEndowment.org

The Carnegie Endowment


RESOURCES
for International Peace is a
Visit www.CarnegieEndowment.org/pubs for these and other publications.
private, nonprofit organiza-
tion dedicated to advancing
Black Garden, Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, Thomas de Waal,
(New York: New York University Press, 2003).
cooperation between
nations and promoting active Armenia and Turkey: The Truce in Need of a Rescue, Henri J. Barkey and Thomas de
international engagement by Waal, Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/05/opinion/la-oe-
the United States. Founded
barkey5-2010feb05.

in 1910, Carnegie is nonparti-


Unsilencing the Past: Track Two Diplomacy and Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation,
san and dedicated to achiev- David L. Phillips (New York: Berghahn Books, 2005).
ing practical results. Building
on the successful establish-
Turkey and Armenia: Opening Minds, Opening Borders, International Crisis Group,
Europe Report no. 199, April 14, 2009, http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/europe/
ment of the Carnegie
199_turkey_and_armenia___opening_minds_opening_borders.pdf.
Moscow Center, the Endow-
ment has added operations Unlocking Nakhichevan, the Gate of Orient, Lifting the Blockade on Nakhichevan
in Beijing, Beirut, and Brus-
in the Context of the Turkish-Armenian Rapprochement, Burcu Gültekin Punsmann,
TEPAV Policy Note, November 2009, http://www.tepav.org.tr/eng/admin/dosyabul/upload/PN_
sels to its existing offices in
Sark_Kapisi_Nahcivanin_Kilidinin_Acillmasi_ENG.pdf.
Washington and Moscow.

1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW


Washington, DC 20036

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