ARMENIA’S BOLD STEP A MODEL FOR REGION

Daily Star
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Feb 13 2010
Lebanon

In a move that deserves praise and support, Armenian President Serzh
Sarksyan moved forward again on Friday to normalize relations with
Turkey. Sarksyan submitted to the Armenian Parliament two protocols
which spring from the deal he signed with Turkish President Abdullah
Gul last October; the two protocols would open bilateral diplomatic
relations and open the countries’ shared border.

Sarksyan will need all the help he can get for this initiative. He is
going against the prevailing tide in his own country and among much
of the Armenian diaspora, as we have seen demonstrated here. In a
bow to this resistance, Sarksyan’s government added codicils to the
accords which should make it easier for Yerevan to walk away from
the deal if Turkey dawdles.

This surprising and welcome break from the past should be seen only
through the perspective of the Armenian genocide; we do not for a
moment deny its horrors, but the massacre has become a mascot for
many other phenomena plaguing Armenia, a cudgel that can be readily
brandished to cast blame or distract attention from a spectrum of
problems: high unemployment, a stagnant economy and a lack of foreign
investment.

Nevertheless, the Armenian president has taken a bold and necessary
step. It is time to move forward; instead of living in the past
and playing the game of blame and victimhood, this region needs
understanding and reconciliation.

For its part, Armenia has a well of untapped potential, whether
as a passageway for a natural-gas pipeline or in its historically
talented populace – Armenians can boast a wealth of chess champions,
world-class musicians and accomplished engineers. And yet the country
lacks stability; it still has a smoldering conflict with neighboring
Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Certainly, Turkey also stands to benefit from the agreement; yes, we
could also say the Turks are trudging into this deal only to complete
part of their homework for their largely receding hopes for European
Union membership.

That, however, is a story for another day. The Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation should be acknowledged as an example of the way forward,
of a better alternative to the seething tensions that have bedeviled
this region for almost all of living memory. We need more leaders
willing to stick their necks out to end tensions and conflicts. Amid
the vortex of myriad wars and major shifts in geopolitics and the
world economy, the recipe for a nation’s success in recent decades
remains valid: stop making war and get to work.

Sarksyan’s brave move might not succeed – the deal still has to be
approved by both countries’ legislatures – but no matter how this
episode ends, the president deserves recognition for helping escape
the cell of the past and moving toward peace and reconciliation.