{"id":28290,"date":"2013-08-07T08:49:54","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T04:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/?p=28290"},"modified":"2013-08-07T08:49:55","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T04:49:55","slug":"not-in-turkeys-interest-to-provoke-border-clash-with-armenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/en\/?p=28290","title":{"rendered":"Not in Turkey\u2019s interest to Provoke Border Clash with Armenia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Harut<\/a>By Harut Sassounian<\/p>\n

Publisher, The California Courier<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A deadly incident with potentially serious consequences took place on the Armenian-Turkish border in the night of July 31.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Armenian and Turkish sources have provided conflicting versions of this event. They agree, however, that a Turkish shepherd was shot dead after crossing into Armenian territory.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kars Governor Eyup Tepe claimed that without warning \u201cArmenian soldiers\u201d opened fire on 35-year-old Mustafa Ulker, as he was trying to retrieve his \u201csheep\u201d from the Armenian side. The Turkish Governor accused Armenians of using \u201cexcessive force,\u201d alleging that \u201cthe shepherd did not have a gun in his hand.\u201d Another local Turkish official, Osman Ugurlu, identified the intruder as a Turkish citizen of Azeri origin who was armed only with a knife and was shot in the back.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a diplomatic note of protest delivered to Armenia, the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated: \u201cWe strongly condemn the shooting of an innocent citizen for a simple border infringement apparently made very innocently. There is no valid explanation for the disproportionate use of Armenian force in such an ordinary event.\u201d In a separate public statement, Ankara called on Armenia to show \u201cgood sense\u201d in its relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, warning Yerevan of the dire consequences of wrong moves that could endanger regional stability and peace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Armenia disputed the Turkish version of events, stating that two Turkish young men had crossed the border at 3 a.m., to steal sheep. When Russian soldiers guarding the Armenian frontier ordered the intruders to go back, the Turks mocked them and refused to retreat. The border guards then fired two warning shots in the air at which point one of the Turks opened fire on them. The Russian troops responded, killing one Turkish intruder, according to the Armenian Border Department of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turkish sources have repeatedly stressed that the shepherd was shot by Armenians, despite Ankara\u2019s awareness that Russian troops are the ones guarding Armenia\u2019s borders with Turkey and Iran, in line with the Moscow-Yerevan agreement of 1992. Instead of blaming the Russians, the Turkish government insists on holding Armenia responsible for the shepherd\u2019s killing, turning it into an Armenian-Turkish incident rather than a Russian-Turkish quarrel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a restrained statement, expressing regret for the loss of life and hoping that such incidents will not recur in the future. It is clear that Yerevan does not wish to inflame tempers and trigger a more serious incident with unintended consequences.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is understandable that Turkish leaders would want to exaggerate the significance of this relatively minor border incident in order to distract attention away from Turkey\u2019s multitude of domestic and foreign troubles, in particular:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 On-going mass protests in Turkey, challenging Prime Minister Erdogan\u2019s despotic rule.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Arresting 3,000 demonstrators, injuring 8,000, and killing five others as a result of the \u201cdisproportionate use of force\u201d by Turkish police.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Announcements placed in major American, British, and German newspapers, denouncing Erdogan\u2019s \u201cNazi-like\u201d actions. The Turkish Prime Minister\u2019s threatened lawsuit against The (London) Times for publishing a full-page paid letter, signed by dozens of prominent Western intellectuals and artists, would more widely expose his intimidating tactics.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Letter addressed to Turkey\u2019s President Abdullah Gul by 46 Members of the US House of Representatives, asking him to condemn the recent anti-Semitic statements of Turkish leaders, including Erdogan, who had referred to Zionism as a \u201ccrime against humanity\u201d and blamed the recent Gezi Park protests on Jewish instigators.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Serious internal feuds with Kurdish groups, opposition political parties, and high-ranking imprisoned military leaders.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Repeated military intrusions into Iraqi Kurdistan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Strained relations with Egypt\u2019s new rulers after the overthrow of Pres. Mohamed Morsi, Erdogan\u2019s fellow Islamist.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Frictions with Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Iraq, and Israel, and hostilities with Syria.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 The bombing of the Turkish Embassy in Somalia last month by an al-Qaeda-linked group.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With all these problems swirling in and around Turkey, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu\u2019s announced policy of \u201czero problems with neighbors\u201d has turned into \u201czero neighbors without problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At a time when Armenians are planning worldwide commemorations of the Genocide Centennial, Turkey can ill afford to add to its host of troubles a border clash with Armenia, which would only serve to publicize Turkey\u2019s long list of past and present crimes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier   A deadly incident with potentially serious consequences…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[221,224,212,137],"tags":[416],"class_list":["post-28290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-choice","category-news","category-weekly-news","category-world","tag-harut-sassounian","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}