Football kicks off an end to hostility between Armenia and Turkey
>From The Times Online
October 14, 2009
Commentary: Suna Erdem
Football and nationalism go hand in hand in Turkey and Bursa is one of its
more nationalistic cities.
Despite an agreement this week that hopes to end nearly a century of hatred
over Ottoman Turkish massacres of ethnic Armenians, the issue remains
divisive.
Talks between the leadership of the countries began in 2005 but it was the
attendance of Abdullah Gül, the Turkish President, at a game in Yerevan last
year that started a national debate.
That led to protocols being signed on Saturday which established diplomatic
ties for the first time since the founding of the Turkish republic 86 years
ago.
They will also lead to the reopening of the last closed European border,
which was shut in 1993. Turkey¹s Deputy Prime Minister, Cemil Cicek, said
that the protocols would be debated in Parliament on October 21. Opposition
parties in Turkey, with a tradition of nationalistic bluster behind them,
continue to resist the Armenia deal.
The two countries have also agreed to set up a joint ³historical commission²
to review the events of 1915-1923, though it is unclear how much authority
its findings will have against a century of enmity.
Nevertheless, many observers believe that there can be no return to the days
of outright hostility. ³All this is even more important than it looks,²
wrote Etyen Mahcupyan, the editor of Agos, the Armenian-language newspaper.
³The defining factor here is the process between the peoples… Even if they
do not open the border, people will behave as if it had been opened…
Turkey¹s good fortune here is that it has a government that could take the
initiative.²
The insistence of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister, to pursue an
unpopular political course less than two years before he faces a general
election has been lauded. However it is Mr Gül ? elected in 2007 amid public
fear over his Islamist background ? who has been singled out for praise as
the most democratically minded president Turkey has ever had.
³Abdullah Gül¹s contribution is enormous,² said Baskin Oran, who campaigns
for Turks to apologise for the 1915 killings. ³This leadership is the first
in Turkey without nationalistic baggage.²
Turkey undoubtedly hopes to please the European Union, which it wants to
join, and the US, which threatens to recognise the Armenian ³genocide². The
country¹s new masters are genuinely puzzled by the reluctance of their
predecessors to make amends.
As the Turkish Culture Minister, Ertugrul Gunay, declared: ³There is no
quarrel between today¹s Armenia and today¹s Turkey, and it is hardly
justified or rational for an argument over something that happened so long
ago, before the Turkish republic even existed, to overshadow relations
between the two countries.²