Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey
March 7 2010
Armenian and Turkish intellectuals discuss future of reconciliation
Amid increasing tension in US-Turkish relations after the approval of
a resolution advising the US president to term as genocide the events
of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian minority in
Anatolia, a group of Turkish intellectuals and journalists came
together on Friday in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, with their
Armenian counterparts with the aim of debating the future of the
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process.
In the third meeting of the Turkey-Armenia Dialogue Series: Assessing
the Rapprochement Process organized by the Yerevan-based Caucasus
Institute and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation
(TESEV), intellectuals and journalists from both sides attached great
importance to the improvement of dialogue between the so-called
hostile societies in getting to know each other better.
In his opening speech, Mensur Akgün from TESEV emphasized that the
purpose of the foundation in organizing the meeting was not to
represent the Turkish state or defend its arguments in regard to the
Armenian question. Explaining the stance of the foundation he said
they view the Armenian issue as an important part of Turkey’s
democratization, which means it seems like a domestic problem but with
an international political aspect as well.
Temel Ä°skit, a retired ambassador and columnist for the Taraf daily,
emphasized the change of the Turkish public’s perception towards the
Armenian issue. `I was an ambassador and denied the Armenian genocide
claims for 40 years. But now I am one of the people who made a
presentation at the first Armenian conference in Turkey, and I am one
of the people who signed the document aiming to apologize to the
Armenian people for the tragedy witnessed in 20th century,’ he said.
The first Armenian conference in Turkey sparked great controversy when
it was organized in 2005 and was considered a dangerous act that would
ultimately support the Armenian arguments related to the genocide
issue.
Characterizing the pressure Azerbaijan put on Turkey as a harmful act
regarding the Armenian reconciliation process, Ä°skit noted that the
remarks of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an in the Azeri parliament
in 2009 tied the Armenian reconciliation process to developments in
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. He also said that the protocols signed
between Armenia and Turkey should be seen from a larger perspective in
that the restoration of relations will trigger the establishment of
peace in the Caucasus region.
In 2009, Turkey and Armenia agreed to establish diplomatic relations
and reopen their border, which has been closed since 1993, but the
agreements have yet to be ratified by either parliament. Ratification
has been stalled as the two sides have traded accusations of trying to
modify the deal.
David Hovhannisyan, a retired Armenian ambassador who commented on the
US congressional resolution approved on Thursday, said the Armenian
people and state are not much interested in the measure and
interpreted the issue as a part of US-Turkish relations, which he
expects would cause a growing but temporary dispute between the US,
which deployed its soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, and its strong
Muslim ally Turkey. The retired diplomat assessed that the
establishment of diplomatic relations is the first step to
reconciliation between the two states but that peace between the
Armenian and Turkish societies will take much longer. `Turkey had
strained relations with Syria and Greece in the past, but their border
has not been closed. And now you have very good neighborly relations
with them, especially with Syria,’ he added. Hovhannisyan also accused
the Turkish government of dragging its feet in putting the protocols
on Parliament’s agenda, saying: `The process between Armenia and
Turkey must be based on sincerity and responsibility for peace. ¦ We
[the Armenians] have to be patient. I do not expect the Turkish
government will step things up concerning the protocols amid rumors of
early elections.’ He proposed the building of an EU-type mechanism in
the region in which the administrations could seek economic interests.
On the Armenian minority in Turkey, Aris Nalci, editor of Agos, a
bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly whose editor-in-chief was gunned
down by a nationalist Turk, drew attention to the identity problem of
Turkish citizens having an Armenian ethnic background. `During our
conversations in Yerevan, coming from Turkey, everyone called us `you’
but I do not know to which group I belong, `you’ as in Turks — or us
— Armenians.’
Evaluating the regional benefits of the reopening of the
Turkish-Armenian border, Tevan Poghosyan, executive director of the
International Center for Human Development (ICHD), expressed optimism
and said the border will be opened one day; Agri is closer to Yerevan
than it is to Trabzon, he said.
07 March 2010, Sunday
MÄ°NHAC Ã?ELÄ°K YEREVAN