ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS TALK MORE DIPLOMACY THAN FOOTBALL
Hurriyet Daily News
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
In Bursa, the talk of the town for newly arrived Armenian journalists
is not Wednesday evening’s football match between the Armenian and
Turkish national teams. Instead, they discuss the countries’ recent
strides in diplomatic relations and how the progress can be sustained
AFP photo
Football was forgotten Wednesday among the Armenian journalists who
arrived in Bursa to watch the Turkey-Armenia match. Instead, talk
focused on last weekend’s historic signing of protocols to normalize
the countries’ relations, ending decades of enmity.
Speaking to the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review before the
match between the two national teams, neither of which will go to
the World Cup finals, Bedros Ghazaryan said Turkey and Armenia are
passing through a difficult test.
"Yes, the road to be covered is very long, but if we can manage to
turn a new page, it would be a great accomplishment for our peoples,"
Ghazaryan said.
Although the protocols to normalize relations between Turkey and
Armenia were signed, Turkey emphasizes that the border will not be
opened unless the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is solved. The Armenian
government, on the other hand, states that relations should be built
without preconditions.
Ghazaryan said a process is required to solve the problem. "A chance
for consensus between the two peoples is available for the first time
in 94 years; we should not miss that. If Turkey continues to offer
Karabakh as a precondition, the process will be stuck."
One of the most important articles of the protocols is the recognition
by both sides of the countries’ borders. "The borders have been drawn
already; it is meaningless to discuss this and make claims," Ghazaryan
said. "We are living in the 21st century; we should be looking forward,
not backward. Yes, our homeland is not ours anymore. We have to get
used to accepting that.â~@ nians who originated from Anatolia living
in various countries. Ghazaryan pointed to the demonstrations held
by Armenians of the diaspora in recent weeks to protest the Sarkisian
administration and the protocols.
"Armenia is an independent republic; therefore its decisions should
be respected," Ghazaryan said, adding that he is following the Turkish
press closely.
"News on Armenia and the diaspora entering a process of division are
being published in the Turkish press. Such a thing cannot happen; this
is just a Turkish fantasy," he said. "The Armenians of the diaspora
are a part of our body. The children of the genocide survivors that
have been spread throughout the world. Our only request of them is
to support this process, not block it."
‘Our country needs open borders’
Levon Barseghyan, director for Journalists Club Asparez from Armenia’s
second biggest city, Gyumri, was more critical about the diaspora. "We
thank you for your support to Armenia, but our country needs open
borders and democracy in order to be integrated in the world," he said.
Although the dialogue process between Turkey and Armenia seems to
have accelerated under the Sarkisian administration, one of the major
and most important actors of this process is Levon Der Bedrosyan, the
first president of the country. One of Sarkisian’s biggest opponents
in the 2008 elections was Der Bedrosyan, who was running for a second
term. Barseghyan said the Sarkisian administration came into power
through deceit and without the support of the people. Although he
supports the process, he said he does not support Sarkisian.
"Sarkisian may be successful in his politics, but we will not consider
his success as our own because we did not elect him," he said.
Barseghyan said the process is in Armenia’s interests but that the
protocols favor Turkey. "The protocols are in favor of Turkey because
it wants to get rid of its responsibility by founding a commission
of historians [to investigate the events of 1915]," he said.