Yerevan, May 12, Noyan Tapan. By making public the Armenian-Turkish negotiations Armenia has lost control and leverages on the process, and this cause anxiety, said Vardan Oskanian, Armenia's former foreign minister, President of the Board of the Civilitas Foundation in an interview with AR, an Armenian private TV company. Moreover, by publicizing the Armenian-Turkish process and signing the Moscow declaration, Armenia has appeared in a diplomatically unfavorable conditions in respect to Armenian-Turkish relations and the Nagorno Karabakh issue, he said. Making the process public is a policy of Turkey, stressed Oskanian, saying that "we contributed to that process". Oskanian expressed confidence that Turkey, getting today the accord of the Armenian side, realizes well that it cannot open the border, since the Azerbaijani side will be strongly hurt. According to the former foreign minister, having a bilateral agreement with Armenia, Turkey today holds negotiations with the U.S., Russia, Europe, to make them work with the Armenian side on the Karbakh issue, in order reach some concessions which would enable Turkey to open the border. According to Mr. Oskanian's estimations, this link is very apparent. This is seen from statements made by Turkey's president Gul and prime minister Erdogan, like this: "Azerbaijani are our brothers, we will never betray them". Erdogan was much more concise, saying that the boarder will be opened only when Armenians return Azerbaijani territories. Azerbaijani factor simply prevails, otherwise the Armenian-Turkish border should have be open already. "The border may be opened in a day or two, in a month or two, before the visit of our president to Istanbul, but a question will arise, at what cost did Turkey open the border?" In Vardan Oskanian's opinion, Turkey has two options. Either it has to wait for concessions from the Armenian side in the Nagorno Karabakh process in the form of a return of territories or something else that will please the Azerbaijani side, and then open the border; or, Turkey will open the border only when it receives promises from the main players, such as U.S., Russia and Europe. "The process has become very complex and the source of these complications is in the fact that we made public the process, which had been started long ago since January -February of 2007. The very Swiss was mediating, but we did not allow publicizing the process and we didn't allow Turks to exploit it. In the conditions of a public process Turks can call on the world not to interfere and not to pass Genocide formulas in order not to harm a possible resolution that will eventually lead to establishment of diplomatic relations, the former minister said. Mr. Oskanian expressed confidence, that the U.S. president Barack Obama had to use the "Genocide" legal term, since he promised to do this. In Mr.Oskanian's opinion, some things are understandable to Diaspora, and some things are not. "We have seen the results of this situation, when Dashnaktsutyun stopped its membership in the coalition since it has been bended before the Diasporan population, among other reasons." As Mr. Oskanian determined, Diaspora, particularly Armenians living in western countries, are "an open organism" and they like transparency, consequently Armenian authorities should involve Diaspora, should work with them, and explain what is done when the problem relates to the issue of the Genocide, Armenia-Turkey relations, as well as the region. As Mr. Oskanian mentioned, that involvement doesn't need to be public, and can be behind the curtain. "I am sure some things are done, but yet, what has been done is not enough. I think, it is necessary to keep Diaspora informed," he said. However, according to Vartan Oskanian, "these all are not irreversible processes in diplomacy, first we should acknowledge that we are on some wrong way due to our own missteps, and by taking proper steps, we must turn back the wheel," he concluded.

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