Public talks ’put consensus at risk’

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian has been criticized by former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian for making public the progress of secret reconciliation talks with Turkey.

"Presidents cut ribbons and then do formalities. But if you start formalities when the substance does not match what you project, you get yourself into difficulty," he said. Oskanian warned his successors that Turkey benefited from this exposure, not Armenia.

A veteran politician, who served as the country’s foreign minister for 10 years and conducted similar secretive meetings with his Turkish counterparts, deciphered today’s talks to the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review in Yerevan on Saturday.

"We are where we were. Abdullah Gül’s visit to Armenia last September was a formality. As long as the border remains closed and there are no diplomatic ties, that visit although historic, is still a formality. Things can only change when the border is opened and ties are established. Then the formality can transform to pragmatic diplomatic steps," he said.

Recalling his own experience with Turkey, he argued that the only way to test whether Ankara was genuine was to engage them confidentially. "The new government continues the process of normalizing ties with the same intentions but the style is different. Ours was confidential, theirs is public. We will see which one succeeds but I still think that confidentiality should have been maintained, at least until the agreement is initialized," Oskanian added.

When you raise expectations and give publicity to the process of starting dialogue with, you also attract the attention of third-party countries, Oskanian said. "This is fine if both sides, and in this case particularly Turkey, are genuine about opening the border. But if Turkey is reluctant to do so, then these raised expectations only serve Turkish interest," he said.

According to Oskanian, even if there is no deal in the end it is beneficial for Turkey to show the world that there is a discussion on a committee of historians to study 1915 events. "By this, Turks can tell Americans and others to stay out of the ’genocide’ issue," he argued.

The history of Nagorno-Karabakh: A bloody war
The issue of Nagorno-Karabakh goes back to the conflict from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small ethnic enclave in southwestern Azerbaijan, between local ethnic Armenians backed by Yerevan against the state of Azerbaijan. Both countries were formerly part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The enclave's parliament had voted in favor of uniting itself with Armenia and a referendum was held with the vast majority of the Karabakh population voting in favor of independence. Ethnic violence broke out within the statelet after the autonomous parliament voted for Nagorno-Karabakh to be reunited with Armenia in 1988. Full-scale fighting erupted in the late winter of 1992. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself, and by the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control approximately 9 percent of Azerbaijan's territory outside the area.

Sluggish peace talks
As many as 230,000 Armenians from Azerbaijan and 800,000 Azerbaijanis from Armenia and Karabakh have been displaced as a result of the conflict.
A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and sluggish peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been going ever since.
Armenia-Turkey border also has been closed since 1993.