TURKEY AND ARMENIA: BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA?

Daily News Egypt
October 2, 2009 Friday
Egypt

NEW YORK: The announcement that Turkey and Armenia have decided
to establish diplomatic relations is a significant measure, the
importance of which goes beyond the relationship between the two
countries: it could also catalyze Turkey’s accession bid to the EU
and improve Armenia’s standing in the region.

In 1915, as the Ottoman Empire was waning, over one million Armenians
were killed by Ottoman forces because they were perceived as a threat
to the empire’s security. Many others were forced into exile. While
Armenians consider those events genocide, Turkey has steadfastly
denied that accusation and claims that those Armenians were killed
in warfare. Animosity by Armenians towards Turks persists and has
caused deep tension and mistrust between both countries.

I feel a close connection to both peoples because one of my ancestors
is of Turkish-Armenian origin: one of my grandmothers was born in
Adana, once belonging to Armenia but now part of Turkey. During a trip
to Armenia a couple of years ago, I was reminded of man’s inhumanity
to man. I also found myself face-to-face with the power of memory
and hate.

Can this bitterness be overcome so that a productive relationship
between both peoples and countries can develop?

During my trip, I spoke in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, with Professor
Mira Antonyan, director of the Fund for Armenian Relief, about the
effects of past events on Armenians today. "The only thing that unites
us [Armenians] now is our resentment against the Turks for the events
of the past", she told me. Her husband and a friend, both of whom
do business with Turks, shared this sentiment despite their regular
interactions. "Being Armenian means having sad memories", she added.

I told them that I felt Armenians were in a quagmire, unable to move
forward because of the tremendous weight of past events. Mira’s husband
answered, "Genocide is a very heavy burden on our shoulders. We cannot
just forget what happened. We cannot erase our memory."

However, it seems there is a generational divide on this issue. Older
generations – those over 50 years of age – insist on the need for an
official apology from the Turkish government for the assassination of
Armenians. Younger generations, without rejecting the facts of history,
feel the need to overcome the negative effects of those memories. They
believe that such visceral attachment to the past is self-defeating.

Kamilla Petrosyan, an Armenian psychiatrist in her late 30s, told
me how her 4-year-old son arrived home one day from kindergarten
frightened to death on learning about the 1915 massacres. "We have
to stop this culture of victimization", she said, "Otherwise, we will
never be able to move forward."

A number of Turkish intellectuals, including the winner of the
2006 Noble Prize for literature, Orhan Pamuk, have also made public
statements on the need to move forward. Turkish President Abdullah
Gul has been quite forceful on the need for, and potential mutual
convenience of, better relations between both countries and has
called for the formation of a joint commission of Turkish and American
scholars to assess past events.

Although Pamuk has faced incredible backlash from the Turkish
government due to his views on the Armenian genocide, he has
courageously continued expressing his opinion. And Gul’s push for
better relations has been well received by Armenian officials, many
of whom are eager for better relations with Turkey.

The creation of a commission of both Turkish and Armenian historians
under the auspices of the United Nations, with representatives from
the International Court of Justice at The Hague, is an important and
necessary step. The task of such a commission would be to analyze
historical documents that would shed definitive light on the events
of the past.

A change of paradigm that would allow us to move away from a culture
of antagonism, towards one of reconciliation, is desperately needed.

Some important steps have already been taken. In July 2008, Armenian
President Serzh Sarkisian invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to
visit Armenia. The September 2008 visit was the first-ever visit of a
Turkish head of state to Armenia and led to high-level talks between
officials from both countries.

Richard Giragosian, director of the Armenian Center for National
and International Studies (ACNIS) in Yerevan, recently wrote that a
changing relationship could result in a "win-win" situation for both
countries. For Armenia, it offers new economic opportunities and a
much-needed foreign policy shift, particularly on an issue that has
been of tremendous economic and psychological cost to Armenians. For
Turkey, it would result in improved status vis-a-vis the European
Union.

In a world wired for war, peaceful and productive relations between
Turkey and Armenia would show that understanding among peoples burdened
by the past is possible. It could also provide an important model
for other groups – such as the relationship between Turkey and its
Kurdish population. More significantly, these events could create
momentum for peace in a region of the world that desperately needs it.

Cesar Chelala is co-author of "Missing or Dead in Argentina: The
Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims", a New York Times
Magazine cover story, for which he shared an Overseas Press Club of
America award. This commentary is distributed by Common Ground News
Service (CGNews), ().