After hours of contradictory reports about the possible cancellation of his trip, Nalbandian arrived in Istanbul late on Monday. Although Nalbandian’s attendance at the summit was confirmed and announced 10 days ago, his last-minute decision not to board a flight from Yerevan on Sunday as expected called this into question.
Nalbandian’s strong language in his statements to Interfax news Sunday, denying that the Karabakh issue is not related to establishing relations between Turkey and Armenia, were interpreted as a reaction to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statements on Friday, providing a basis for the reason to delay his trip to Turkey.
Turkey will not lift its blockade on Armenia unless the country fulfils Turkey’s preconditions regarding the Karabakh issue and the international recognition of the Armenian claims regarding the 1915 incidents, Erdogan said in London Friday during the G20 summit. Recalling the United Nations resolution to describe the situation in Karabakh as occupation, Erdoğan said: “Then there is a need to lift the occupation first so that we can take our steps comfortably. Otherwise we would do wrong to our brothers in Azerbaijan.”
In a counter move, Nalbandian on Sunday said: "The establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations should be realized without any preconditions. The establishment of relations is not related to the resolution of the Karabakh issue.” The Armenian Foreign Ministry released Nalbandian's response just before cancellation of the flight to Istanbul on Sunday night.
Just as the news reached Ankara, the Turkish Foreign Ministry took action to ease the Armenian side’s discomfort. Ministry spokesman Burak Özügergin made a statement to the Anatolia news agency late Sunday praising talks between Ankara and Yerevan. “There have been developments in the talks for normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia. We wish that this would help stability and peace in the region and contribute to the solution of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Özügergin said.
Following Sunday’s distress, Armenian officials said Nalbandian’s trip was canceled early Monday, while Turkish Foreign Ministry sources insisted he would arrive in Turkey as planned. After hours of inarticulate and confusing messages, the Daily News learned that Nalbandian would arrive in Istanbul Monday afternoon and only attend the reception and dinner hosted by President Abdullah Gül. Sources confirmed that Nalbandian skipped other meetings that he initially intended to attend at the Alliance of Civilizations summit. But they declined to comment on whether this change in Nalbandian’s decision was due to Erdoğan’s recent statements.
The director of Armenian Center for National and International Studies Richard Giragosian said this recent tension between the two countries would postpone an agreement prior to April 24 commemorations of 1915 events. “While the theatrics of diplomacy are nothing new, we are reaching a historic stage in Turkish-Armenian relations, with an agreement seemingly very close. But I am doubtful that any breakthrough will be reached this month, as the pressure from the April 24 statement by President Obama, and moves by the U.S. Congress to consider a bill recognizing the Armenian genocide, suggest that it may be more prudent to wait until emotions abate on both sides,” he told the Daily News.
Meanwhile Ankara’s efforts to persuade Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to attend the summit failed despite phone calls from President Gül, Prime Minister Erdoğan and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Azerbaijani side has abruptly canceled their participation in the summit upon reports that Ankara is readying to open land borders with Armenia.
