Armenian-Turkish relations

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Armenian-Turkish relations
Location of Armenia and Turkey
ArmeniaArmenia TurkeyTurkey
Armenia Turkey

The relations between Armenia and Turkey are due to the genocide of the Armenians charged as historic. It is denied by the Turkish government . According to the Treaty of Kars (1921), Armenia does not recognize the border with Turkey to this day, which stands in the way of normalizing relations.

From 1923, Turkey no longer pursued any goals in the Caucasus and Central Asia due to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the republic. The contacts remained very limited, there was only one visit by Süleyman Demirel to Baku and Tashkent in the 1960s, in which the public showed strong participation.

Although Turkey was the first state in the world to recognize Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and the formal relations between the two countries were initially positive, they suffered due to Turkish support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Armenian intervention in the conflict. In 1993 Turkey unilaterally closed the 268 km long border with Armenia in solidarity with Azerbaijan, broke off all diplomatic relations and imposed an economic blockade on Armenia, which has had a negative impact on Armenia's economy to this day. After the collapse of the Soviet Union , the US encouraged Turkey to take action in the Caucasus and Central Asia to limit Iranian influence. This created two axes in the Middle East; Armenia and Iran see themselves as a barrier against Turkish influence in the region.

According to a treaty negotiated by Lenin, Armenia's border with Turkey is to be guarded by the Russians until 2044 .

Although there are currently no formal diplomatic relations between the two states, it was announced on October 10, 2009 that the two states had agreed on mutual diplomatic recognition. However, the normalization efforts advanced with the mediation of Switzerland were delayed - mainly due to the unsolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan put massive pressure on Turkey, especially economic (Azerbaijan has large oil wells in the Caspian Sea ), to prevent Turkey from reaching any agreements with Armenia.

Turkey recognized the state of Armenia shortly after its independence in 1991, but both states failed to maintain diplomatic relations. In 1992, Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel came under enormous Turkish public pressure to intervene in the Nagorno-Karabakh War in favor of Azerbaijan and to invade Armenia. In 1993, Prime Minister Tansu Çiller sent thousands of Turkish soldiers to the Armenian border and a trade embargo was imposed on Armenia. Whether arms were delivered to Azerbaijan as claimed by Armenia is controversial, if arms were delivered, there were only small quantities. The reasons for the Turkish reluctance are different. The dominant ideology of Kemalism in Turkey at the time allowed interventions abroad only in the event that Turkey was directly threatened. It was therefore unclear whether there would have been enough support within Turkey for a military operation in the Caucasus. The risk of dragging Russia and Iran into the conflict was great; Russia made specific threats. The Armenian influence on politics in the US and Europe could have jeopardized Turkey's plans to join the EU or led to US measures against Turkey; Turkey also feared an escalation similar to the Cyprus conflict . Last but not least, the Turkish military was busy with actions against the Kurds in their own country and after the genocide of the Armenians from 1915 they did not want to undertake another campaign against Armenia.

Foreign ministers Nalbandjan and Davutoğlu sign the agreement on establishing diplomatic relations in Zurich

Thousands of Turkish citizens demonstrated across the country in protest against the murder of the ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007 by the Turkish national religious Ogün Samast . The diplomatic thaw led President Abdullah Gül to be the first Turkish leader to visit Armenia, as well as the announcement of a preliminary roadmap to normalize diplomatic relations. However, this relaxation phase was short-lived due to the pressure from Azerbaijan and the Armenian diaspora . In 2010, Turkish President Erdoğan refused to ratify the agreement as long as Armenia does not withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh . The border remained closed.

See also

Web links

Commons : Armenian-Turkish Relations  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 125 kB) Recommendation 751 on the stability and security of the South Caucasus, The German Bundestag , accessed on May 9, 2013  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundestag.de
  2. Claude Moniquet and William Racimora: The Armenia-Iran Relationship - Strategic implication for security in the South Caucasus region . European Strategic Intelligence & Security Center, Brussels 2013, p. 30 ( esisc.org [PDF]).
  3. William M. Hale. Turkish Foreign Policy, 1774-2000 , Routledge, 2000, ISBN 0-7146-5071-4 , p. 273
  4. Claude Moniquet and William Racimora: The Armenia-Iran Relationship - Strategic implication for security in the South Caucasus region . European Strategic Intelligence & Security Center, Brussels 2013, p. 31 ( esisc.org [PDF]).
  5. Las Vegas for Mullah Tired . In: DGAP eV October 6, 2011 ( dgap.org [accessed December 6, 2017]).
  6. Sebnem Arsu: Turkey and Armenia to Establish Diplomatic Ties. In: New York Times . August 31, 2009, accessed on September 1, 2009 : "Turkey and Armenia, whose century of hostilities constitutes one of the world's most enduring and acrimonious international rivalries, have agreed to establish diplomatic relations, the two countries announced Monday."
  7. Turkey, Armenia to sign diplomatic deal next month, says official . Hürriyet Daily News . September 27, 2009.
  8. http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2263636.html
  9. a b The Armenian Weekly, "President Sarkisian Announces Suspension of Protocols"
  10. ^ Svante E. Cornell: Azerbaijan since independence . Sharpe, Armonk, NY 2011, pp. 369 .
  11. ^ Svante E. Cornell: Azerbaijan since independence . Sharpe, Armonk, NY 2011, pp. 370 .
  12. Gul in landmark visit to Armenia. Europe. BBC News September 6, 2008, archived from the original September 9, 2008 ; Retrieved September 12, 2008 .
  13. ^ Paul Richter: Turkey, Armenia are likely to ease conflict. In: LA Times . April 3, 2009, archived from the original on April 7, 2009 ; Retrieved April 3, 2009 .
  14. Houman A. Sadri and Omar Vera-Muñiz: Iranian relations with the South Caucasus . In: Thomas Juneau and Sam Razavi (eds.): Iranian Foreign Policy since 2001 . Routledge, Abingdon 2013, ISBN 978-0-415-82743-0 , pp. 145 .