THE CAROUSEL KEEPS GOING ROUND AND ROUND: ARMENIAN AND TURKISH JOURNALISTS MEET IN TURKEY’S PARLIAMENT

Tert.am
13:40 16.10.09

Yesterday, a meeting of Armenian and Turkish journalists organized by
the Hrant Dink Foundation in Ankara was held in the Turkish parliament
building. The parliament’s media relations person also participated
in the meeting.

After a long process of being checked by security, Armenian journalists
finally entered the building and begun the process of clarifying
the ways to resolving problems between the two countries with their
colleagues. Representatives of leading media, NTV and TRT TV companies,
Hurriyet, Haber Turk, Yeni Safak, Star newspapers and Anadolu Ajansi
journalists were present from Turkish media.

It seemed as if the discussion would be constructive: there were
smiles, hospitality, and an overall friendly atmosphere, but that
came to an end when the talk turned to the Armenian Genocide and
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The representative from Turkish TV station TRT, for instance, insisted
that the Turkish people are ready to live side-by-side with Armenians,
as it has been the case for years, and that he isn’t against if out of
his two sons, one falls in love with an Armenian woman, and the other,
with an Azerbaijani woman. But when the main topic, the Genocide
issue, was raised, everything drastically changed. In this matter,
Turkish journalists, both pro-government and opposition supporters,
took a position of denial.

All of a sudden, independent thinkers, who just before had expressed
their views freely, now addressing difficult topics, became a unified
mouthpiece for the government, repeating over and over again Turkey’s
official viewpoint.

The next moment they were speaking about Hrant Dink’s role, about
the fact that the renowned journalist was perceived and loved equally
by both nations, forgetting , though, that the main values Dink was
advocating were connected with human rights.

Tert.am’s correspondents’ contact with Turkish journalists was somewhat
inco ple in both countries who are ready to simply regurgitate the
official viewpoint, that perspective is pivotal for them at each
meeting; however, these same individuals, from a human perspective,
are unequivocally understanding, ready to share the table, to be
hospitable and to be welcomed in turn.

And after such meetings, you understand even better that by changing
the individual-to-government and government-to-individual contact
to one of individual-to-individual, both communities benefit, and,
perhaps, by hearing the term Armenian Genocide, Turkish journalists
would not become so wound up and so official in their unified stance.

On a positive note, it’s important to state that it was difficult to
imagine such a meeting taking place in Turkey’s parliament building
just 20 years ago.