Holidays, but no celebration

"A1+"
26/12/09

2009 was a year known for the tension in Turkish-Armenian relations,"
ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan told "A1+".

"I don’t think it was successful for Armenia, but what’s more
unsuccessful is the atmosphere created after the signing of the
Protocols. After the Protocols were signed in Zurich, Turkey went from
being the object to the subject of politics in the general context of
relations with Armenia," Kharatyan told "A1+".

According to Kharatyan, even if the relations don’t turn into a
reality, Turkey is actively normalizing relations, can revise its
attitude toward Turkish-Armenian relations, particularly Turkey’s
needs.

"Even if diplomatic relations are established, Turkey must not have
obligations and can actively set its conditions because the World
Trade Organization has voted in favor of Turkey under the condition
that those conditions don’t apply to the organization," says Hranush
Kharatyan.

According to her, the ratification of the Protocols will be delayed
for a rather long time and until that, there is not even a sign of
establishment of friendly relations.

Hranush Kharatyan also touched upon the internal political issues and
said that the real opposition that was created last year did not
justify itself. "We can sum up that the opposition lost in the
relations between the government and the opposition in terms of
ideology and political perspectives. In addition, the people lost the
amount of confidence that it had."

The ethnographer also sees the skillful actions of the government,
such as the postponement of release of political prisoners. "There is
a lack of political resistance. I believe that the government has
firmly settled down and I am even amazed to se that it is stronger
than it says it is," said Kharatyan.

The ethnographer says that the government could have made more
practical steps in the country’s economy by taking advantage of the
stable, but tense social state in the country. "The government only
registered success in politics, but monopoly continues."

Kharatyan saw a lack of cultural values this past year, including the
lack of culture of celebrations. According to her, Armenians only
celebrate New Year’s and a little constrained. "We have different
holidays, but we don’t celebrate. The greatest flaw in society is the
lack of culture of celebrations," said Hranush Kharatyan in closing.