NowLebanon, Lebanon
Oct 19 2009

Armenian Anger

By Ana Maria Luca

Sultana, Arshalouys, Elise and Mary only have each other now. The four
grey-haired ladies have no families left and, each day, they sit
together in the lounge of their nursing home in Bourj Hammoud,
watching the news and reminiscing about times past.

But in the last week, since they saw the television report about
Armenia signing an unprecedented accord with Turkey, which features
images of the Armenian president going to a football match with his
Turkish counterpart, Arshalouys has found it difficult to stay calm,
Sultana’s brown eyes have often filled with tears, while Elise stays
silent and Mary sighs more than usual.

They talk one at a time about the killings in the 1915 genocide, when
pregnant women were raped and killed by the Turkish soldiers, young
girls threw themselves in the rivers for fear they would be taken
slaves, men were tortured and cut in half, and boys had their eyes
punctured with needles.

Elise remembers the terribly stark story her mother used to tell her.
`They murdered our entire family. 50 people, all at once. They were
gathered for a celebration in Adana. The Turkish soldiers murdered
them all. My mother was one of the few who weren’t there. So she lived
to come to Lebanon,’ the old women says, trembling, `Many were killed
back then, but much more, died of hunger during the marches through
Syria.’

`Those were massacres,’ Arshalouys says in decisive voice. `It was
genocide. This president deserves the worst for signing the protocol
[agreement] with Turkey. He is not Armenian, we don’t think he is
truly Armenian and our people showed him they don’t agree with this
protocol. We had protests against him here in Beirut.’

The accord on the development of diplomatic relations was signed on
October 10 in Zurich by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and
his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian. Turkey and Armenia are set
to open the border in six weeks and to establish joint economic
committees.

They have had no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia declared
its independence in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. The
issue of the Armenian genocide has been haunted Turkey’s foreign
relations for at least two decades, especially as the country has
engaged in negotiations over possible membership in the European
Union. And while Ankara has faced significant pressure to admit and
apologize for the Armenian genocide, but it has steadfastly refused to
do so.

However, in July 2008, then-Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said
Turkey was open to normalize relations with Yerevan. Then in
September 2008, Turkish President Abdullah Gul travelled to Armenia to
watch the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier match between the two
countries upon an invitation of the Armenian president.

`I don’t want to go into the way this protocol was agreed upon,’
Lebanese MP and Minister Jean Ogassapian told NOW. `But I can say that
I, personally, don’t agree with it. I can’t agree with this before
Turkey admits it committed genocide. For us, the genocide is a fact,
they need to acknowledge it. Then maybe we can talk about committees
and borders.’

After a round of Swiss-mediated talks, Turkey and Armenia agreed in
August on an accord to establish relations and open their shared
border. Gul invited Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, to watch the
return match in Turkey on October 14, but offered no apology for the
genocide.

Most of the estimated 150,000 Armenians in Lebanon, almost all
descendants of the refugees of 1915, share Ogassapian’s feelings
toward the accord. Many took to the streets and gathered in front of
the Turkish embassy to protest the newly signed document and the
attitude of Sargsyan, who was in Lebanon at the beginning of the month
in order to convince the community that the accord was a step forward.

`We will continue our struggle against it,’ Ogassapian vowed. `We will
use diplomatic and political strings to stop this protocol from being
implemented.’

`The Turks cannot do anything anymore to make things right to us,’
Arshalouys says. `What they did to us is unforgettable. The government
in Armenia should know that. This president went to that game! How
could he? He should know how much we suffered. We were born in exile
and we will die in exile. This is our fate.’

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