Return of Turkish troops to Lebanon marks turning point
By Henri Mamarbachi

Agence France Presse — English
October 20, 2006 Friday 12:31 PM GMT

The arrival in Lebanon Friday of Turkish troops taking part in a UN
peacekeeping mission comes 88 years after the last Ottoman soldier
fled and marks a turning point in Ankara’s relations with Arab states.

Turkey is the first Muslim nation to send troops to take part in the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission policing a
ceasefire between its ally Israel and Shiite movement Hezbollah after
their devastating summer war.

But it also marks the first time that Turkish troops have set foot
on Arab soil since the defeat of the Ottoman empire at the end of
World War I in 1918 and its subsequent collapse.

That ended four centuries of dominance of the Arab world, which was
divided into Ottoman provinces. That included Lebanon, which had a
particularly troubled relationship with Istanbul, including numerous
revolts and massacres.

Resentment of Turkey is high in Lebanon, particularly among the
country’s Armenian population, the largest in the Middle East,
whose leaders consider the arrival of Turkish troops an insult to
the collective memory of the Armenian people.

But Ankara has in recent years established strong political, economic
and occasionally security ties with Arab countries, in particular
with former arch-foe Syria, Lebanon and the Gulf nations.

A member of NATO and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference,
Turkey’s efforts to bolster its presence in the Middle East come amid
the currently fraught process of joining the European Union.

"Turkey has a major role to play for peace in the Middle East,"
Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara said recently.

Ankara also played an active role in trying to establish a ceasefire
during the summer war between Israel and Hezbollah, with Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul telling a parliamentary debate on sending in
peacekeepers that Turkey "cannot remain indifferent to the distress
of its neighbours".

"Like other participants in UNIFIL, we refused being called on to
disarm Hezbollah," Gul said before the Turkish deployment.

"Turkish participation in UNIFIL shows the growing importance of its
role as a stabilising factor in the Middle East," historian Ibrahim
Tabet told AFP.

Representatives of Lebanon’s 140,000-strong Armenian community do not
agree, given Turkey’s refusal to recognise as genocide the 1915-1917
massacres of Armenians by the Ottomans.

"Their return is for economic reasons and to revive their dream of
a new Ottoman empire in the Middle East," said Armenian-Lebanese MP
Agop Pakradounian.

"We don’t understand why the Lebanese government is enthusiastic for
the Turks to come."

"Turkey must reconcile itself with its past. If it comes to Lebanese
land today, it’s to protect the interests of Israel."

But fellow Armenian-Lebanese MP, Hagop Kassarjian, said his community
had to accept the facts on the ground.

"Even though we’re Armenian and we’ve protested, we’re Lebanese after
all. We did what we have to do but the Lebanese government has taken
a decision and so has the international community," he said.

"This is not the time to create new problems while the country lives
difficult moments and the decision to send the soldiers was adopted
by a UN resolution."