Refusing the hand of friendship
By Sarah Rainsford
BBC News, Kars, northeastern Turkey
High on a hill overlooking the city of Kars, there is a vast column of
concrete obscured by wooden scaffolding.
What is inside was meant as a 32m (100ft) peace gesture from Turkey to
Armenia.
"It’s an image of two human figures, facing one another with a hand of
friendship held out between them," explains the security guard,
emerging from the portable building at the statue’s feet.
But on the day the finished project should have been unveiled its
giant hand stands severed on the hillside.
This friendship statue has enemies, and they have forced construction
to stop.
Kars is in Turkey’s far north-east, within sight of the Armenian
border.
But that border has been closed since 1993. Turkey broke off
diplomatic ties with Armenia then, backing Azerbaijan in its conflict
with Armenia over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The relationship deteriorated further after Armenians stepped up
pressure for international recognition that the 1915 deportation and
massacre of hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians was
genocide. That is something Turkey vigorously denies.
Now there are signs of a thaw in relations.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul broke the ice in September, when he
became the first Turkish head of state to visit Armenia – invited to
watch his own national side take on Armenia in a football match.
Since then, the two countries’ foreign ministers have held three
meetings in as many months. Diplomats on both sides say they
are "cautiously optimistic" for the future.
"I see no serious obstacle to the normalisation of relations very
soon," Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said this week, on
a visit to Istanbul.
So it seems the mayor of Kars was ahead of the game when he
commissioned his enormous friendship statue.
Naif Alibeyoglu had already collected 50,000 signatures in favour of
reopening the Armenian border – almost 70% support. Activists argue
increased contact between Turks and Armenians is crucial to fostering
mutual understanding and tolerance.
Most locals simply hope opening the border would pull their remote
region out of its poverty.
"We’d love to do business. Kars can develop as a result," says Mehmet,
a trader, scooping huge handfuls of stringy white cheese from a barrel
at the local market.
"I think the border should open," another stall-holder agrees. "Kars
hasn’t got much. Our farming and cattle sectors are almost
finished. If there’s demand for our cheese in Armenia we could double
our income," Soner says.
‘Delicate’ situation
Annual trade volume between Turkey and Armenia is now estimated at
around $150m. But since the border closed it is mostly firms in
Istanbul and Ankara doing the business. The lengthy detour via
Georgia adds up to 35% to costs.
Armenia’s foreign minister said again this week that his country sets
no preconditions for reopening the border.
Here in Turkey, diplomats will not disclose their terms, describing
the situation as "too delicate".
But they confirm that settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
an end to genocide allegations are among the issues under discussion.
"I think both sides are increasingly aware that normalising relations
is to their benefit," explains Istanbul politics professor Sahin
Alpay.
"There are economic issues… and of course Turkey wants to prevent
the genocide bills passed by Western parliaments. It’s not helping its
image in the world as a whole."
He means bills recognising the 1915 Armenian massacres as genocide,
already passed by many European parliaments. Turkey now fears that the
US Congress will pass such a resolution next year, and that
President-elect Barack Obama will accept it.
A historic breakthrough in relations with Armenia could help avert
that.
Discussion closed
Up in Kars, the economic benefits of increased trade and tourism are
much sought after.
But on Turkey’s closed border, people’s minds
remain firmly closed to any discussion of history.
"I don’t see any need to open the border," Gurbet says, hanging
strings of home-made spaghetti to dry in the sun.
"The Armenians keep bringing up the past, claiming there was
genocide. That only creates hatred here," she says.
"President Gul’s visit to Armenia broke Turkey’s pride and honour,"
insists Oktay Aktas, more forcefully.
He is chair of the local MHP nationalist party that is blocking
construction of the mayor’s peace statue.
"What did Armenia give us in return? They have to drop their genocide
claims, and stop demanding land and compensation. There can be no
friendship in these conditions."
There has been so much fuss about his statue that the mayor has given
up linking it to Armenia now. Now he calls it a statue for world
peace, instead. But he has vowed to finish it.
"Facing history will come together with the peace process," Naif
Alibeyoglu says.
"Neither side is ready for
that yet. How can two neighbours discuss their history and have a
dialogue
when they don’t even have an official relationship?"
Slowly – and very tentatively – that could now be changing.
Story from BBC NEWS:
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Published: 2008/11/28 12:41:27 GMT