Armenian diplomat reflects on protocol failure

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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

YEREVAN - Hürriyet Daily News

Veteran diplomat David Hovhannesian, a former Armenian ambassador to Syria, is critical about the Serge Sarkisian government’s attitude toward the protocols. DAILY NEWS photo

Although 2008 was considered a turning point for the normalization of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, the starting point of the process dates back to 2001, according to a former Armenian diplomat.

In that year, the “road map,” which was signed with the initials of both foreign ministers from the two countries, was prepared as a draft by Turkish and Armenian experts under the auspices of the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission, or TARC.

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review last week, veteran diplomat David Hovhannesian, a former Armenian ambassador to Syria and one of those involved, said the draft contained information on how to revitalize relations. “It constituted the backbone of the Road Map that was signed last year.”

TARC included politicians, diplomats, historians and psychologists from both countries, Hovhannessian said. The commission’s activities came to a halt following a disagreement between parties in 2004 concerning the 1915 events.

“Although the commission decided to apply to an international impartial organization, the Turkish side later withdrew, which brought our activities to a halt,” he said.

Warm relations with Turkish diplomat

Hovhannesian said he had been in diplomatic contact during his post in Syria between 1992 and 1998 and that these diplomatic contacts included oil transfers to Armenia via Turkey. “The Turkish ambassador [to Syria] was a close friend and we were in regular contact. It was going all perfect and then the war broke out in [Nagorno-Karabakh],” he said.

Evaluating the recent developments on the normalizations protocols, which have been frozen by Armenia, he said: "It had to happen because it was not really possible to move ahead given the current conditions. Turkey was incessantly proposing preconditions.”

However, Hovhannesian was also critical of the attitude of Serge Sarkisian government’s toward the protocols. “[If the government took such an initiative] in the first place, it should not have backed off but have passed the protocol quickly in the parliament. If they had done so, the ball would have been in Turkey’s court,” he said.

He also said bilateral affairs are not entirely under bilateral control. “We have been witnessing the power show of the U.S and Russia,” he said. “They all have different interests. A reorganization of Turkey-Armenia relations would mean a fresh start in the entire Caucasus region.”