Davutoğlu has no doubt: Armenia deals will be signed

An announcement by Switzerland, the country that has mediated talks between Ankara and Yerevan, concerning the venue, date and participants of the signing ceremony was expected to be released on Monday. Delay in the announcement led to comments suggesting a setback in the ongoing normalization process between Ankara and Yerevan, particularly due to the Armenian diaspora's pressure on Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan. Late last month, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan disclosed that the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers would sign the two protocols on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Speaking at a joint press conference following talks with visiting Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Balazs, Davutoğlu was asked whether the protocols would be signed on Saturday, as announced by Erdoğan but not officially confirmed by Armenia.

Statements concerning the issue should be expected from Switzerland as it is the host country, Davutoğlu said.  “You'll get statements on the issue from Switzerland in a short time. From our point of view, any doubt concerning the signing ceremony is out of the question,” Davutoğlu added.

In response to another question concerning the reason behind the delay in Switzerland's announcement, Davutoğlu stated that everything concerning the process has been proceeding as it should.  “Don't pay attention to voices coming from the diaspora or other places; everything is following its natural course. For us, any surprise on this issue is out of the question,” Davutoğlu responded.  The minister also said he hoped Armenian President Sarksyan would attend next week's World Cup qualifier between Turkey and Armenia without conditions.

Turkish President Abdullah Gül went to Yerevan to watch the first leg of the soccer match between the Turkish and Armenian national teams upon the invitation of Armenian President Sarksyan on Sept. 6, 2008. Sarksyan has said he would go to the Oct. 14 game if there is progress toward opening their joint border.

“When our president went to Yerevan, he showed great political courage without having any expectations. We want Sarksyan to come without putting forward any preconditions or expectations,” Davutoğlu said. “Sports matches are matches where gentlemanliness, friendship and humanitarian communication outshine everything else. In this perspective, we expect Sarksyan to come to Turkey and we also believe that this will happen. There is no need for grand formalities over this,” Davutoğlu said.

Davutoğlu's remarks came on the same day as the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia were holding talks in Chisinau, Moldova, that may bring progress to a years-long dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh and ease the way for restoring normal ties between Armenia and Turkey.

When asked about his expectations of the meeting between Sarksyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Davutoğlu first of all said that he was naturally expecting a positive outcome. “One has to see that this is the fourth meeting [between the two presidents] since May. In the last 17 years, the two leaders never met as frequently. This is in itself an indication of the acceleration which has been gained. But we don't expect that all problems will soon be resolved through these meetings. We have a realist approach,” he added, while citing efforts by the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has been working for a decade-and-a-half to mediate the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as a reason for holding out hope.

A senior deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), meanwhile, said that lack of progress by Azerbaijan and Armenia towards resolving their dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh would affect Turkey's parliamentary approval of the protocols to normalize ties with Armenia.

“Lack of progress towards the resolution of Armenian-Azeri problems will certainly affect the parliamentary process,” Murat Mercan, chairman of Parliament's foreign affairs commission, told Reuters news agency late on Wednesday.

Second round of talks with opposition

As of Thursday, Davutoğlu started a second round of talks with opposition parties in a bid to win their support for parliamentary ratification of the protocols on normalizing relations with Armenia. As part of those talks, Davutoğlu visited the Democratic Society Party (DTP) on Thursday.

Last month, following the Aug. 31 announcement of the protocols between Armenia and Turkey, Davutoğlu requested a meeting with the leaders of all political parties who won at least 1 percent of the vote in the July 2007 general elections.

Davutoğlu's talks with opposition parties are part of the internal consultations before signing the two protocols which will be followed by their ratification by the Turkish and Armenian parliaments. Parliament's role is thus vital in the normalization process. Erdoğan has noted that the accords will not go into effect until the Turkish Parliament approves them.