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Armenians Clash with French Police
Civilitas Foundation
Friday, 02 October 2009 19:01 |
Analysis / Caucasus
It was not supposed to be this way. Rapprochement or normalization
between Armenia and Turkey was supposed to be a normal process,
signaling a historic new beginning. Two states, signing mutually
acceptable documents, respecting each other's past and intending to
share a future.
Instead, we have been presented documents which reject the past, which
endanger a stable future. This, at least in part because the processes
were co-opted for domestic political purposes.
In Turkey, a popular government, eager to improve its place in the
region and its image in the world, decided to open the border with
Armenia, but by exacting a price from Armenia.
In Armenia, an unpopular government, eager to improve its own image in
the world and its place at home, decided to take the risky step of
pursuing closer relations, but without considering the costs.
Armenians of Armenia felt confused and powerless. Armenians of the
Diaspora felt ignored. When Armenia's president decided the way to
round up support for the protocols was by visiting the Diaspora, and
not the various regions and cities of Armenia, the Diaspora leadership
decided to act.
His first stop, Paris, was met with disaster. The French police had to
forcibly remove the Armenian demonstrators who had gathered to express
their disagreement and fr ustration. What should have been an occasion
for a unified look forward, turned into a public fiasco.
Now the Armenian president must calculate how to explain signing
documents that don't, by any estimation, enjoy popular support among
Armenians anywhere.
Civilitas Foundation
Friday, 02 October 2009 19:01 |
Analysis / Caucasus
It was not supposed to be this way. Rapprochement or normalization
between Armenia and Turkey was supposed to be a normal process,
signaling a historic new beginning. Two states, signing mutually
acceptable documents, respecting each other's past and intending to
share a future.
Instead, we have been presented documents which reject the past, which
endanger a stable future. This, at least in part because the processes
were co-opted for domestic political purposes.
In Turkey, a popular government, eager to improve its place in the
region and its image in the world, decided to open the border with
Armenia, but by exacting a price from Armenia.
In Armenia, an unpopular government, eager to improve its own image in
the world and its place at home, decided to take the risky step of
pursuing closer relations, but without considering the costs.
Armenians of Armenia felt confused and powerless. Armenians of the
Diaspora felt ignored. When Armenia's president decided the way to
round up support for the protocols was by visiting the Diaspora, and
not the various regions and cities of Armenia, the Diaspora leadership
decided to act.
His first stop, Paris, was met with disaster. The French police had to
forcibly remove the Armenian demonstrators who had gathered to express
their disagreement and fr ustration. What should have been an occasion
for a unified look forward, turned into a public fiasco.
Now the Armenian president must calculate how to explain signing
documents that don't, by any estimation, enjoy popular support among
Armenians anywhere.