LAST REMNANT OF THE IRON CURTAIN SET TO FALL IN VICTORY FOR FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY: ARMENIA
by Tony Halpin
The Times
April 14, 2009 Tuesday
London
A potholed road runs through the village of Margara into a barbed-wire
fence that marks Europe’s last Cold War frontier. All that separates
Armenia and Turkey is a narrow bridge across the River Araks and
almost a century of enmity that began with the massacres of Armenians
in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 and continued with the Iron Curtain that
divided the Soviet Union from the West.
The Soviet legacy in the Caucasus and the painful burden of history
have conspired to keep the border closed long after the end of the Cold
War. Now more than 70 years of separation may be only weeks from ending
as relations between Turkey and Armenia undergo a remarkable thaw.
The opening of the border is being seen as a pivotal moment in
Turkey’s rise as a major force in the Caucasus and beyond to Central
Asia. With Russia also resurgent in the Caucasus after last summer’s
war with Georgia the stage is being set for an intensified struggle
for control of the region’s energy resources.
Russian and Turkish troops eye each other warily from observation
towers on either side of the bridge. The Russian Army patrols the
border under a security agreement with Armenia and, with Turkey in
Nato, this is the last place where
the former Cold War foes still confront each other across a sealed
border.
Turkey refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia
after it became independent in 1992 because of a dispute over border
recognition. Ankara denies Armenian charges of genocide and is fearful
of a claim for land in eastern Turkey once occupied by Armenians.
Turkey briefly allowed trucks to cross the border in 1992 to
deliver wheat to Armenia, where the population risked starvation
as its Soviet-era economy collapsed. It sealed the border in 1993
in protest at Armenia’s war with Azerbaijan for Nagorno-Karabakh,
a Soviet enclave populated largely by Armenians.
Repeated negotiations, often secret, failed to end the stand-off but
a bout of "football diplomacy" brought a breakthrough in September
when President Sargsyan of Armenia invited President Gul of Turkey to
watch the two countries play a World Cup qualifying match in Yerevan,
the capital.
Mr Gul accepted and invited Mr Sargsyan to watch the return match in
Turkey in October. Mr Sargsyan has said that he wants to cross the
land border to go to the game.
Ali Babacan, the Turkish Foreign Minister, is expected in Yerevan
on Thursday for a meeting of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation
Organisation, only nine days before Armenia traditionally marks the
anniversary of the genocide.
He is not expected to announce a date for the opening of the bo rder
but all sides believe that it is close.
Richard Giragosian, director of the Armenian Centre for National
and International Studies, said that he expected the opening of the
border to be followed by diplomatic recognition and an agreement to
establish joint commissions dealing with everything from trade and
transport issues to the genocide.
"This is the first time that both sides have been ready and willing
at the same time and this, combined with Russian support, makes me
optimistic," he said.
"It’s a Turkish effort but also part of a Russia-Turkish warming that
I think is only temporary because they are inherently rivals in the
long term."
The West views the Caucasus as a key channel for pipelines to link
Central Asia’s massive oil and gas reserves with Europe, bypassing
Russia. The opening of the border has special resonance in Margara,
however, an impoverished village 40km (25 miles) from Yerevan, where
refugees crossed the river to safety.
The snow-capped peak of Mount Ararat also stands tantalisingly out
of reach, rising majestically above farmland 40km inside Turkey. The
biblical resting place for Noah’s Ark is sacred to Armenians, who
were the world’s first state to adopt Christianity.
Kostan Piliposyan, 75, told The Times that he was eager to visit
Ararat and to see his mother’s birthplace in nearby Igdir when the
border opened.
Then he dissolved into tears as he recal led how she had left behind
her dead parents as she fled the genocide.
"Of course, Turkey doesn’t want to talk about this question," he
said. "But it will be good for Armenia that the border is open. The
Turks are also people and we need to talk and trade with each other,
so let them come."
Thawing relations
1915 Armenia claims that the Young Turks, the dominant party in the
Ottoman Empire, arranged the killing of 1.5 million Armenians
1920 Armenia invaded by Turkey and Russia. An agreement with the
Bolsheviks leads to Armenia proclaiming itself a socialist republic
1993 Turkey shuts its border with Armenia after separatists fight
for independence in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh
2001 Armenia becomes a full member of the Council of Europe.
France ignores Turkish objections and introduces a law stating that
Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians in 1915
2005 Turkey says that it is ready for political relations with Armenia
and proposes joint commission to investigate the 1915 killings
2008 Talks accelerated after Turkish President attends a Turkey-Armenia
football match in Yerevan