The upcoming meeting between the special representatives of Armenia and Turkey — Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar Kılıç — is a PR stunt aimed at demonstrating that the Washington agreements are being implemented, according to international affairs expert Grigor Balasanyan.
He stated that no concrete agreements on unblocking the Armenian-Turkish border will be reached because Ankara has no interest in fulfilling these agreements. Turkey needs a blocked Armenian-Turkish border as a tool to pressure Armenia into advancing Turkish-Azerbaijani demands, Balasanyan believes.
“Now they will link the border’s unblocking to changes in the Constitution. If a new Constitution is adopted — though there’s no guarantee how citizens will vote, let’s assume it’s adopted — Turkey will then insist on the return of 300,000 Azerbaijanis to Armenia. Then more demands will follow, with no end in sight,” the expert said.
Balasanyan is convinced that Turkey will not open the border, as it has capitalized on Armenia’s tactical mistake. According to the expert, Armenia’s error was taking the first steps toward reconciliation and normalization of relations with Turkey. He emphasized that it was Turkey that unilaterally blocked the border with Armenia, and therefore, Turkey should have been the one to take steps to unblock it.
“We should not have allowed the border unblocking issue to be tied to the Armenian-Azerbaijani process. But we swallowed the bait Turkey offered, as if it were primarily beneficial to Armenia. In reality, Armenia is not ready to open the border; it could be catastrophic for our economy,” he stated.