From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Fri Jun 21 2002 - 09:58:15 EDT
Anonymous US official says Washington ready to mediate between Armenia,
Turkey
An anonymous US State Department official has said that the USA cannot force
Turkey to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia but is ready to act
as mediator between the two if this is the wish of both sides. The official
also said the USA did not regard the presence of Russian troops on Armenian
territory as a destabilizing factor in the Caucasus. The following is the
text of a Tatul Akopyan report by Armenian newspaper Azg on 20 June
entitled "Washington is ready to take on the role of mediator between
Armenia and Turkey if this is what Yerevan and Ankara want":
Turkey has been USA's main strategic ally in the Caucasus and Washington
will never jeopardize Turkish-American friendship for the sake of the
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations
In response to a question from the daily Azg about why the USA does not want
to apply pressure to its ally to force it to lift its blockade of Armenia,
a senior official from the US State Department's bureau for Caucasian and
Central Asian issues, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "There are
states which do not have good relations, like Turkey and Armenia. The USA
is ready to mediate in the establishment of Turkish-Armenian relations, if
Yerevan and Ankara both say they want this. Very often one of the states
says it cannot agree to the USA becoming a mediator. We want Turkey and
Armenia to have a good relationship as this is very important for the
stability and economic development of the entire Caucasian region."
"We cannot force Turkey to open its borders with Armenia or establish
diplomatic relations, we can only encourage it to do so. Yerevan has been
doing a great deal of work to achieve this. There are very competent and
seasoned diplomats in the Armenian Foreign Ministry and President [Robert]
Kocharyan's staff have a clear vision of this problem and its importance.
They are true patriots. Turkey is ready to move ahead by taking small steps
and Armenia is ready to do the same. The 100-year-old burden of the past
cannot be resolved and surmounted overnight. The foreign ministers of
Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia will most probably meet in Istanbul on 25
June," the US official said.
In response to another question about whether the US views the deployment of
Russian border troops along the Armenian-Turkish border as an obstacle to
the normalization of Turkish- Armenian relations and a destabilizing factor
in the Caucasus, the official said: " We do not think that the presence of
Russian troops in Armenia is a destabilizing factor. Armenia is an
independent and sovereign state and if it thinks that it needs the help of
Russia, it can request the presence of Russian troops on its territory. Now
the USA is in no way against Russia's military presence in the Caucasus."
Whatever the case may be, up until recently Washington made no attempt to
conceal the fact that it was not delighted by the presence of Russian
troops along Armenian-Turkish border.
The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA), a strong advocate of improving
Turkish-Armenian relations that was also instrumental in creating the
Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC), believes that the
establishment of Turkish-Armenian relations is important for Armenia.
Source: Azg, Yerevan, in Armenian 20 Jun 02 p 1
BBC Mon TCU 200602 aed/ah
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