RFE/RL on Armenia-Turkey Secret Talks

RFE/RL has more on news that officials from Armenia and Turkey met for secret talks on normalizing relations between the two countries in Berne earlier this month. The Turkish foreign minister has not denied the report with the Turkish daily, Hurriyet, suggesting that positive overtures from Armenia’s new president, Serge Sargsyan, are responsible for what could be a new chapter in Armenian-Turkish relations.

While it comes as no surprise to discover the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnakstutyun are against moves to normalize relations, especially when it comes to the creation of a Turkish-Armenian commission to deal with the question of the 1915 Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, the radical opposition led by Levon Ter-Petrossian has condemned the move. This is bizarre and obviously political given the former president’s previous position on Turkey.

Interestingly, the point is not lost on the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza. He is also quoted as saying that he hopes the Turkish president will attend a World Cup qualifier football match to be played in Yerevan by the two countries at the beginning of September.

“President Gul is a courageous leader, and we very much hope that he will be able to accept that generous invitation from President Sarkisian, which would transform this modest football match into what could be a real ground-breaking moment,” Bryza told RFE/RL.

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“It is odd to us that some people have decided to criticize President Sarkisian for taking those courageous steps when in fact some of those same people used to propose those very same steps,” Bryza said, in an apparent reference to Ter-Petrosian, who is known for his otherwise conciliatory line on Turkish-Armenian relations.

Bryza also made clear that the United States has no plans to offer to act as a mediator in a Turkish-Armenian dialogue. “The parties need to talk to themselves and figure out what they want,” he said. “If they ask us to do that, we would consider it. But we are not mediators of Armenia’s relations with Turkey.”