Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)
October 15, 2009 Thursday

Local Armenians, Turks are split on historic pact

By Prudence Brighton, Sun Correspondent

LOWELL — Leaders of Armenia and Turkey may have signed an historic accord
this past weekend in Switzerland, but much work remains to repair relations,
according to members of local Armenian and Turkish communities.

The key sticking points for the local Armenian diaspora are the failure to
recognize as genocide the mass killings of Armenians beginning in 1915, and
the disposition of territories, including Nagorno Karabakh, considered
historically part of Armenia.

The protocols signed Saturday would open the borders between the two nations
within months of ratification.

Turkey cut ties and closed the border with Armenia in 1993 in support of
Turkish-speaking Azerbaijan, which was fighting a losing battle against
Armenian separatists in Karabakh.

The accord would also create an international commission to study "the
historical dimensions" of the killings.

For UMass Lowell sociology professor Levon Chorbajian, whose expertise is in
the politics of genocide, this clause in the accord is "like having a
medical convention sponsored by the tobacco industry."

Chorbajian considers the killings of more than 1 million Armenians by
Ottoman Turks from 1915 into the 1920s to be well-documented genocide.
Turkey has held that the deaths were a byproduct of World War I and that
Turks also were killed.

Chorbajian explained that last weekend’s accord was reached because the
United States and Russia have trade and security interests in the region.
Both countries put "very intense pressure on Turkey and Armenia to sign," he
said.

The geopolitics of oil and a growing crisis between Turkey and Israel over
the sale of arms provided some of the urgency that brought U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton to Switzerland to salvage the deal.

Chorbajian said Azerbaijan, an ally of Turkey, will be unhappy with the
protocols because the Azeris had been counting on strong Turkish support to
regain Nagorno Karabackh. One of the oil pipelines in the region begins in
Azerbaijan and ends in Turkey. Russia has been involved in some of those
dealings.

Of great concern to Chorbajian is the economic effect on Armenia.

"The Armenian government won’t benefit because it produces little that it
can sell to Turkey," he said. "I’m not sure how aware the leaders are of
this. Armenia had little choice but to sign, but this will be damaging."

But Erkut Gomulu, president of the Turkish American Cultural Society of New
England, is more upbeat.

"Signing the protocols between Armenia and Turkey is a historic moment in
terms of the normalization process of their relations," Gomulu said, adding
that it took "vision and courage" for the leaders of the two countries to
come to the agreement.

And, Gomulu added, "Maybe it is also time for courageous individuals and
opinion leaders in the U.S. to find ways to interact with each other for
open dialogue and empathy, although I am aware that this is not an easy task
to achieve, but better than the alternative — continuing to ignore each
other."

The parliaments of each country must approve the accord. That gives Steve
Dulgarian of Chelmsford reason to hope that the Armenian Parliament will
reject the protocols.

Dulgarian, who has been active in Armenian genocide remembrances, believes
that any accord must recognize the genocide and return "stolen territories
in Turkey" to Armenia.

Dulgarian’s parents each lost family members during the killings. His mother
was the only survivor of a death march, and his father survived a road gang.
Both parents lost siblings and even their first spouses. His parents met and
married in the United States in the 1920s after losing their first spouses.

Lenin in Russia and Attaturk, the founder of modern Turkey, "crushed the
Armenian Republic" while the allies stood by and while Armenia "was
dominated by Moslem Turks," Dulgarian said.

His great fear from this accord is that it will be a new opportunity for
Islam to gain ground in Armenia, which he notes became a Christian nation
decades before Constantine adopted the faith within the Roman Empire.

Concern over the protocols last week caused Congressional Armenian Caucus
co-chairs Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Armenian
Genocide Resolution sponsors Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and George Radanovich,
R-Calif., to raise issues that echo Chorbajian’s concern over the Armenian
Genocide, the Armenian National Committee of America reported.

"As leaders of the Armenia Caucus in the House of Representatives, we share
the concern of the Armenian American community regarding the possibility of
creating a historical commission to review the events of 1915 to 1923," the
legislators said in a joint statement. "This is a thoroughly discredited
idea. Turkey cannot be allowed to re-invent this tragic part of its history
as a price for normal relations with Armenia. To do so means acquiescence in
a charade that demeans the memory of so many victims."

The statement went on to urge President Barack Obama to include the Armenian
American community in the Turkey-Armenia negotiation efforts.

"As Secretary of State Clinton and other senior officials work to maintain
stability in the region," the legislators state, "we urge them to take
advantage of the knowledge and expertise of the Armenian American community,
which maintains strong ties to Armenia and is an invaluable source of
information and counsel."