Internet Press Conference with Sinan Ogan
Sona Kyurkchyan, “Hetq” online newspaper-www.hetq.am (Armenia)
1. How powerful is the Azerbaijani Diaspora in Turkey and what part of the population does it constitute? What is the attitude to the slogan “One state, two nations” in Azerbaijan and Turkey? Does your personal perception of this slogan differ from its official construction?
-About 3 million Azerbaijani Turks live in Turkey. They live especially in Igdir, Kars, Istanbul, Ankara, Kocaeli. Azerbaijani Turks have always been active in Turkish policy. In this term, they are represented by two MPs (Member of the Parliament) in Turkish Grand National Assembly… “One nation, two states” is the best sentence which describes Azerbaijan and Turkey. Both my personal idea and state’s opinion are approximately similar about this subject. Both Turkish and Azerbaijani communities believe and trust this statement.
2. Please mention the most serious domestic and foreign policy issues, currently existent in Turkey? Which of them are most significant?
-Turkey’s most important problems are terrorism and earthquake. Both of them are significant but certainly, terrorism is more important for us. In the foreign policy, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Israel and Gaza issues are two important concerns.
Gagik Baghdasaryan, “News Armenia” news agency-www.newsarmenia.am (Armenia)
1. Do you admit the probability of military actions against Iran? What consequances may such actions have?
-According to me, the probability of military intervention to Iran is very low. No one, even the people thinking about intervention to Iran, cannot estimate the results of this. As for me, they will want to change the regime in Iran using methods that are similar to those in the Arab Spring.
2. Will Turkey be ready for the normalization of relations with Armenia without preconditions in any term?
-Unless Armenia withdraws from Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions that it occupied and gives up its immaterial averments aimed at Turkey, I cannot see that possible. Although, the United States of America (USA) has some demands about this issue, Turkey does not fulfill these demands.
Emil Babayan, “NEWS.am” news agency-www.news.am (Armenia)
1. Turkey has threatened to freeze relations in case Cyprus presides over the EU. How realistic do you think these threats are? Do you think Turkey has all the necessary levers not to allow this?
-This discourse of Turkey is absolutely realistic. As you know, the European Union (EU) Presidency Term for an EU state lasts 6 months. Hence, if Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus gets the presidency term, relations will be pended by Turkey for 6 months. “Is it possible that Turkey will avoid EU Presidency Term of the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus?” We will live and see this.
2. An opinion is being widely circulated that Turkey purposefully used the casualties in the Liberty Flotilla incident on May 30 – 31, 2010, to demonstratively aggravate its relations with Isreal, thus improving its position on muslim platforms. What is your vision of the present and the future of the Turkish-Israeli relations? To what extent, do you think, the above-mentioned opinion corresponds to the reality?
-No matter what anyone thinks, Israel intervened to the Turkish ship and killed 9 armless Turkish citizens. Israel should apologize for that as a state and also pay compensation. Besides, Israel lays an embargo on Gaza in an unlawful way. Turkey’s declaration about the unfairness of this embargo and deteriorating its relations with Israel are of course met with sympathy in the Arab world.
Armen Minasyan, panorama.am (Armenia)
1. The official Baku has earlier voiced a thesis on the military predominance over the Armenian armed forces, however, in the last month the moods in the statements of the representatives of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s administration have changed abruptly, shifting from threat to accusation. What is this conditioned by?
-I don’t think that there is a change in Baku’s formal statements about Nagorno Karabakh. Formerly, Azerbaijan declared that it might take its territories back by force, if necessary, today Azerbaijan uses the same expressions.
2. Recently some contradiction has been observed in the statements with regard to the process of the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict made by the top officials of Azerbaijan. Thus, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Elyar Mamedyarov announced that even if Armenia did not intend to continue the peace negotiations, Azerbaijan would anyway go on with the policy of peace achievement, whereas President Ilham Aliyev has been making militaristic statements, thus demonstrating his unconstructive approach. Along with this the official Baku proposes to put aside all the points no agreements has been reached on and move on to the preparation of a comprehensive peace agreement. However, both the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia E. Nalbandyan have expressed their astonishment with regard to this position, since they wonder how it is possible to start the development of a peace agreement if there is no success with regard to a narrow range of issues. What is your attitude to the statements that the unwillingness of Azerbaijan to accept the basic elements of the resolution has brought the negotiation process to a deadlock and that with such actions Azerbaijan is trying to avoid responsibility for the disruption of the process?
-The logic in your second question is in contradiction with the comment in your first question. Moreover, everywhere in the world, Foreign Affairs Ministers always prioritize diplomacy.
David Stepanyan, “Arminfo” news agency-www.arminfo.am (Armenia)
1. In one of your latest interviews to an Azerbaijani media outlet you said that President of France Nicolas Sarkozy may only negatively impact on the Karabakh conflict and that he visited South Caucasus to attain his goal of receiving extra votes from the Armenian Diaspora in the coming Presidential elections in France rather than to help achieve peace among the countries in the region. Can you list the goals that Turkey pursues with regard to South Caucasus?
-Fair peace in Caucasus is the primary mission for Turkey. Fair peace can only be realized when the territorial integrity of the countries is provided. In this context, Turkey defends Azerbaijan’s and Georgia’s territorial integrity. Only heading out from this principle, can peace come to the region. Turkey thinks that prosperity will come to South Caucasus when peace comes. Thus, it ascribes as much importance to peace as to prosperity and tries to implement them at the same time. When peace is brought to the region, the communities living there and, of course, the Armenian community will take advantage of it. This is what Turkey wants.
2. You think that Nagorno Karabakh is an “occupied” territory. Please qualify the present status of the Northern part of Cyprus that was originally Greek.
-Nagorno-Karabakh and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have different statuses. These two areas have different histories and dynamics. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus were two communities that coexisted before the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation. Solely, when the southern side wanted to invade the northern side, Turkey had to interfere in. It is written like that even in the simplest history book. Thereby, today both sides continue their negotiations about coming together. These two sides will become together and establish a federal state which has a new status or both of the two countries will go on their way as separate states. But the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus does not have a status which represents the whole island.
3. Do you agree to the assertion that the prospects of Turkey’s accession to the European Union must be given up as lost hope?
– Of course, Turkey has a chance to access EU. But I do not expect that it will be realized in a short term. Turkey is the world’s 16th and Europe’s 6th biggest economy. The EU is Turkey’s 1st and Turkey is EU’s 7th biggest trade partner. Thus, in the term that EU economies are struggling with the economic crisis, Turkey has always a chance to access the EU with its sound economy. But some countries like France have an attitude against Turkey. Besides, Turkey does not have the same spirit now in its relations with the EU if compared with the past.
Angela Khachatryan, 1in.am (Armenia)
1. On October 25 Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a number of agreements on export that allow Turkey to buy gas from Azerbaijan and transit it into Europe through the neighboring country. Western experts think that this gas agreement allows for the installation of a pipeline that will go round Russia. How does Russia react to this project? Will the roles of Russia and Turkey in the region change after this?
-Russia always looks negatively to the natural gas pipelines which do not pass through its territories. Of course, Russia looks negatively to that. But Russia’s negative look does not affect the fate of the project and Turkish-Russian relations unfavorably. While Russia and Turkey are cooperating in several fields in the region, they are in rivalry in energy. But this rivalry does not ruin their regional roles and relations. I do not think that it will be ruinous in the future either.
2. Azerbaijan has become a nonpermanent member of the Security Council of the UNO. Shall we expect Azerbaijan to present issues that are of Turkey’s interest there? Shall we expect Azerbaijan to be working for two countries at a time?
-Yes, it will definitely be the way you say. Besides, the words of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on his visit to Turkey on October 25, 2011, are very similar. On this visit, Aliyev said: “Azerbaijan’s temporary membership to the United Nations (UN) Security Council is also Turkey’s membership.”
3. The “zero problems with neighbors” policy failed, and today Turkey has problems with Syria, too. What will the new policy of Turkey with its neighbors and towards the developments in the region be?
-I am from the ones who criticize “zero problem policy” from the beginning. I do not think that this policy can give results considering world realities. Besides, regional and global conjunctures have roles in that, too. Today, there is a global campaign called Arab Spring in the region. The Ruling party in Turkey – the Justice and Development Party (AKP) – moves together with this global campaign. Turkey is involved in the structuring of the region together with the United States of America (USA) and its allies.
Artak Barseghyan, Public Radio of Armenia-www.armradio.am
1. How probable do you think it is that the incumbent Turkish Parliament will ratify the Armenian-Turkish protocols, signed in Geneva?
-I am also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Turkish Parliament. I do not think that the Parliament will ratify these protocols. For their ratification, firstly Armenia has to withdraw from the lands which it has occupied. Besides, Armenia has to give up its immaterial averments against Turkey. In the opposite case, the ratification of the protocols will be too difficult.
2. How can the positioning of the NATO anti-missile systems in Turkey impact on the situation in the region, and in particular, on the relations between Ankara and Tehran and also Moscow?
-I personally opposed to launching this system in Turkey from the beginning, because, at the same time the system has a probability of including Israel into its coverage area. Launching this system in Turkey’s district, Malatya will not evoke any problems between Moscow and Ankara. But I cannot say the same about Iran, because, Iran has clear objections to Turkey about this issue. Therefore, the relations with Iran may become cold.
Rauf Mikadirov, “Zerkalo” newspaper-www.zerkalo.az (Azerbaijan)
1. Mr. Ogan, recently the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey in fact conceded that the “zero problems with neighbors” policy failed, but he blamed the neighbors for that failure. Do you agree to such an interpretation of the developments or was the “zero problems with neighbors” policy doomed to fail from the very beginning?
-As I have already mentioned in the answer to a similar question above, such a policy cannot give results in today’s real conditions from the beginning. This policy does not take place in world politics. It has also no example which was performed before. So, this policy was condemned to fail from the very beginning.
2. Literally the other day the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Hovik Abrahamyan announced that by giving assistance to Turkey after the earthquake in Van, Armenia gave the official Ankara another chance to restart negotiations over the Zurich Protocols. Can Armenia’s reaction to the earthquake in Van cause the restart of negotiations for the normalization of relations?
-Israel, who has bad relations with Turkey now, sent aids to Turkey after Van Earthquake. Greece also helped Turkey during the conflagration in 2007. Again, in 1988 Turkey succored Armenia just after the earthquake in Armenia’s Spitak district. Such initiatives can open a door to solve problems. But for a solution, both sides must take steps. Armenia neither withdraws from the lands that it has occupied nor gives up its immaterial averments against Turkey. Thus, it is out of the question that the protocols will be ratified by the Turkish Parliament just because of Armenia’s help to the earthquake zone.
3. On what conditions is the party that you represent in the Parliament ready to vote for the ratification of the Zurich protocols for the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations? Is the position of your party exclusively based on the lack of progress in the resolution of the Karabakh conflict or do you also consider that there are other quite serious disagreements between Armenia and Turkey, for example, the question of the “genocide” and territorial claims?
-Armenia’s withdrawal from Azerbaijan’s territories which it has occupied is not enough. Besides, Armenia has to give up its immaterial averments against Turkey. Moreover, after the last earthquake in Van, we saw once again that the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant is a big threat source for the region and the closure of this nuclear power plant should be introduced as a precondition.
4. To the best of my knowledge, you have been closely watching the developments in the post-Soviet space. Recently, changes have been introduced to the Charter of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. CSTO renounces the principle of a consensus when making a decision on the use of force both within and beyond the geographical borders of the organization. Besides, a reason for the use of forces by CSTO beyond its geographical borders may become such an abstract argument as “a threat to international peace and security.” Don’t you think it would have been reasonable to strengthen the military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey even more in such a complicated situation and to officially create a military and political alliance between the two states?
-The military relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are actually very good. But taking it one step further is also possible. In the context of regional balances, “How true correct is doing it now?” this should be estimated well. The profits and damages to the regional peace after creating Russia- Armenia and Turkey-Azerbaijan military blocs should be calculated comprehensively. But, in principle, it can be done, and if it is realized, I personally will support it.
Natig Javadli, “Bizim Yol” newspaper-www.bizimyol.az (Azerbaijan)
1. A question that has become recurrent in the course of the last 18 years: why are issues related to economy and energy believed important in the Turkish and Azerbaijani relations, while issues that have to do with democracy and human rights are not treated as significant?
-Despite Turkey’s long-lasting republic and democracy history, Turkey does still have problems with democracy. So, is it true if Turkey interrogates Azerbaijan, who is 20 years old young republic in terms of this issues? Here, we have not solved our democratic problems literally yet.
2. As I have found out from Turkish press, 67 journalists are in detention in the country, regardless of the fact that two of them have been elected into the Parliament. These two are Mustafa Balbay and Mehmed Khaberan. 2 thousand journalists are under investigation, and Turkey occupies the second position after China by the number of its journalists in detention. Don’t you think that these problems may hinder the accession of Turkey to the European Union?
-In my answer to your first question, I stressed this point. Problems with democracy in Turkey will also cause problems in our relations with the EU. Our struggle is also for the democratization of Turkey.
3. Don’t you think that the opening of the Turkish – Armenian border better meets the interests of Azerbaijan?
-Turkey’s closure of its land border with Armenia eventuated after the Armenian occupation of Kelbecer. Opening borders with Armenia before the withdrawal from the occupied lands means rewarding occupation. Thus, our border is closed not only because Azerbaijan wants so. It is closed for not rewarding occupying states, penalizing and preventing the repetition. Besides, Armenia has not given up its immaterial averments against Turkey.
Anna Bartkulashvili, freelance journalist (Azerbaijan)
1. The disclosure of big reserves of natural gas in an exclusivelty economic zone in Cyprus has caused some concern in Turkey.Erdogan constantly mentions the fact that the processing of the resources violates the rights of Turkish Cypriots who equally possess these resources. What do you have to say about this?
-In the region that you mentioned, there have been no reserves have been proved to exist. There are predictions about this issue. The important part of these reserves are in the economic field of Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Of course, Turkey will not let others operate reserve which is in its own right. Turkey will do what is needed for it.
2. Do you think that the escalation of tension in the Eastern Mediterranean zone complicates the relations between the USA and Turkey? And if yes, what makes you think so?
-In this area, American companies are also carrying out search. That will inevitably cause problems between Turkey and USA. But, this will not make the two countries’ position against each other.