The ex-president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan gave an exclusive interview to Russian First Channel.
In his interview with Vladimir Pozner, a famous journalist in Russia, he talked about various important issues, such as the impacts of the Second Karabakh War in Armenia, the reasons for the failure of negotiations on the solution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the existing social and economic problems as well as the early parliament elections in Armenia.
While touching upon the opening of Armenian border with Turkey, Kocharyan said Turkey is a greatest threat for Armenia.
“The threat is existential and historical. The Turks and Armenians view each other as threats. This is explained by the closed border and the absence of diplomatic relations,” – Kocharyan said. And he added that if Turkey and Armenia open their borders, Turkey will do what it did in Adjara.
It should be noted that the majority of the population in Armenia think that the opening of the border between Armenia and Turkey might lead to push Armenia under the economic control of Turkey. They believe that Turkey could use the opportunity to infiltrate into their country and pose a threat to their independence.
There is also the issue of Armenian claims about the so-called Armenian genocide. Since 1915, the majority of Armenians have opposed reconciliation and peace with Turkey.
Speaking to Eurasia Diary, Murad Muradov, the co-founder of Topchhubasov analytical centre, Baku-based think tank, made brief comments on Kocharyan’s statement about the relations between Turkey and Armenia.
He considered that Armenian national mind has not still saved from the narratives depicting Turkey and Azerbaijan as threats.
“One cannot deny that the Armenian national mind is very heavily focused on the alleged existential threat from Turkey- and, by extension, Azerbaijan which is usually viewed as the continuation of the Turkish state. The Armenians have so firmly believed in the narrative they have built around the events of 1915, that it will be hard to overcome this kind of thinking in a short amount of time,” Muradov said.
According to his opinion, in order to make strong attempts for peace and reconciliation with Turkey and Azerbaijan, it will need to take a new generation of Armenian intellectuals and opinion makers, who could dare to challenge the so-called long-established Armenian claims.
“Doing this will take a new generation of Armenian intellectuals and opinion makers daring to challenge the old “truths” and also the government’s unwillingness to mobilize popular support over Turkish nationalism,” he noted.
By the way, according to some Armenian media sources, a number of Pashinyan government officials have stressed the importance of opening the border with Turkey.
Some experts argue that Pashinyan may review the resumption of diplomatic relations with Turkey if he wins in the early parliament elections, which will be held in June.
According to Muradov, if Pasinyan wins the June elections he will do first steps for being cleaned from the stigma of the leader who lost the war which took thousands of Armenian casualties.
“It has been very visible that in the aftermath of the war Pashinyan often made contradictory statements, on the hand recognizing the need for normalization of relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey, but on the other, making populist and even revanchist statements from time to time in order not to give patriotic credentials to the “non-parliamentary opposition” which claimed him to be a traitor,” he said.
“So, if Pashinyan wins again, he will probably be more consistent in realization of certain measures for conflict alleviation, for example restoration of mutual communications etc,” he added.
by Yunis Abdullayev
