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Today's Zaman, Turkey
March 21 2010
Harsh rhetoric heralds gloomy spring for normalization
Nobody expected that a normalization process between two nations that
share a deep wound and dispute over the course of affairs regarding
the fate of their ancestors during World War I would be painless.
Nonetheless, one cannot help but wonder whether adding insult to
injury in this already thorny process was really unavoidable. A line
in a Turkish movie from 1990 called `Camdan Kalp' (A Heart of Glass)
by Fehmi YaÅ?ar says: `The heart is made of glass, you know? Can broken
glass be stuck back together? No, it can't.' The line was said by a
housekeeper to her boss.
Most likely, that's how migrant Armenian workers in Turkey as well as
Turkey's Armenian citizens felt earlier this week when they heard
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an's remarks about the possible
deportation of undocumented Armenian workers from Turkey after US and
Swedish lawmakers passed resolutions branding the World War I-era
killings of Anatolian Armenians as genocide.
`Look, there are 170,000 Armenians in my country -- 70,000 of them are
my citizens, but we are [tolerating] 100,000 of them [illegally] in
our country. So, what will we do tomorrow? If it is necessary, I will
tell them, `Come on, back to your country.' I will do it. Why? They
are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them in my country. I
mean these are [defenders of the Armenian claims of genocide]. Their
attitude is negatively affecting our sincere attitude, and they are
not aware of it,' ErdoÄ?an said in an interview on Tuesday.
The number of Armenian immigrants in Turkey is unknown. But
Turkish-Armenian groups say Turkish politicians inflate the numbers of
illegal workers and threaten expulsions whenever tensions escalate
between Ankara and Yerevan.
According to research conducted last year by the Yerevan-based Eurasia
Partnership Foundation, some 94 percent of the undocumented Armenian
workers in Turkey are women working in housekeeping, nursing and
childcare.
Misunderstanding
On Friday, ErdoÄ?an dismissed criticism of his remarks and reassured
Turkey's Armenian community that they are not the target.
`We never have had any problem with our Armenian citizens,' ErdoÄ?an
said. He complained that he was misquoted in the media, which he said
misrepresented his remarks to mean that they were targeting Turkey's
Armenian community.
`Unfortunately, my remarks were published after the reference to
illegal immigrants was taken out. There is a vast difference between
`expelling Armenians' and `expelling Armenians working here
illegally',' he said. `We have made no such remarks concerning the
Armenians that are our citizens, but unfortunately the televisions or
newspapers do not say that.'
Yet the damage has already been done, in addition to earlier harm
caused by factors such as the US and Swedish votes, which apparently
led to ErdoÄ?an's anger and harsh rhetoric. It is doubtful that anyone
will remember from this point on that it was the same ErdoÄ?an who
resisted similar calls from opposition parties for the deportation of
illegal Armenian workers in order to pressure the Yerevan government
in the past.
Moreover, on Monday, while delivering a briefing at Parliament's
Foreign Relations Commission concerning his ministry's strategy
vis-Ã-vis the genocide resolutions of foreign legislative bodies, when
main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Canan Arıtman
suggested deporting Armenian workers in retaliation, Foreign Minister
Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu reportedly said in reply, `Turkey could not explain
such move to the world,' in a bid to highlight the inappropriateness
of such an action.
Spirit, hearts and politics
And yet, damage has been done here and there, and the government
should make clear whether it wants to make peace with only with
citizens of Armenia or the entire Armenian nation, despite the
Armenian diaspora's actions, which are hampering the normalization
process -- without forgetting its own Armenian citizens, who are not
guests, but people of this country.
Khatchig Mouradian is an Armenian writer who arrived in Turkey on
Wednesday as part of a delegation of US commentators and analysts
visiting the country at the invitation of the Ankara-based Economic
Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV).
In an article posted on The Armenian Weekly Web site titled
`Memleketine HoÅ?geldin,' (Welcome to Your Country), Mouradian said the
title was inspired by what a Turkish journalist told him when she
learned of his arrival in Turkey.
Recalling ErdoÄ?an's recent remarks, Mouradian argues, `Turkish
diplomats and commentators do not view Armenians as a single
monolithic block, but as three supposedly homogeneous blocks.'
Mouradian lists those groups: `The Armenians living in Turkey [mainly
in Ä°stanbul] comprise the first group. ¦ In Turkey, these Armenians
are regarded as `our Armenians,' or the `good Armenians,' as long as
they do not speak out about the genocide and the continued
discrimination they face. ¦ The citizens of Armenia, the second group,
are, according to the dominant rhetoric in Turkey, the `neighbors'
(the `poor Armenians'), who are under difficult economic conditions
and do not mind forgetting the past and moving on, if the Armenian
diaspora leaves them alone. The diaspora Armenians, the third group,
are the `bad Armenians'.'
Mouradian's arguments are controversial, but this doesn't change the
fact that many hearts have been broken.
`Joint destiny' and vocabulary
If one questions whether it is possible to speak of broken hearts
regarding a political process, then one also has to remember what a
senior Turkish diplomat recently said about a decision by an Armenian
court in January that upheld the legality of protocols signed by
Ankara and Yerevan in October on the normalization of ties but
underlined that they could not contradict Yerevan's official position
that the alleged Armenian genocide must be internationally recognized.
`That reasoning behind the ruling is actually a political declaration
under the guise of a legal decision. We would like the trauma created
by this decision to be removed. Then we can turn back to the status
quo concerning the normalization process, which has been crippled
since Jan. 12,' the diplomat said.
Ankara says a new ruling that assures that the protocols are valid is
needed and that this may either be a written document or an assurance
by a third party that is acceptable to both the Armenian and Turkish
sides.
`Every word within the protocols has been placed into the text after
thorough deliberation in order to create a common language that would
help with the rest of the normalization process,' another Turkish
diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Sunday's Zaman last
month. `What the Armenian Constitutional Court ruling's reasoning is
doing is harming this common language. Our efforts are aimed at
recreating this common language to secure the healthy maintenance of
the normalization process,' the diplomat said.
In January, DavutoÄ?lu stated that the healthy continuation of the
normalization process is important for Turkey.
`We don't believe that this process will proceed with interpretations
that are not in line with the spirit and wording of the protocols
signed with Armenia,' DavutoÄ?lu said at the time, echoing Ankara's
view that the Armenian court's decision `contains preconditions and
restrictive provisions which impair the letter and spirit of the
protocols.'
The days ahead will probably require efforts by both Armenian and
Turkish sides to salvage -- if it exists anymore -- the common
language and spirit of the normalization process or add new words to
the vocabulary of the process.
21 March 2010, Sunday
EMÄ°NE KART ANKARA
March 21 2010
Harsh rhetoric heralds gloomy spring for normalization
Nobody expected that a normalization process between two nations that
share a deep wound and dispute over the course of affairs regarding
the fate of their ancestors during World War I would be painless.
Nonetheless, one cannot help but wonder whether adding insult to
injury in this already thorny process was really unavoidable. A line
in a Turkish movie from 1990 called `Camdan Kalp' (A Heart of Glass)
by Fehmi YaÅ?ar says: `The heart is made of glass, you know? Can broken
glass be stuck back together? No, it can't.' The line was said by a
housekeeper to her boss.
Most likely, that's how migrant Armenian workers in Turkey as well as
Turkey's Armenian citizens felt earlier this week when they heard
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an's remarks about the possible
deportation of undocumented Armenian workers from Turkey after US and
Swedish lawmakers passed resolutions branding the World War I-era
killings of Anatolian Armenians as genocide.
`Look, there are 170,000 Armenians in my country -- 70,000 of them are
my citizens, but we are [tolerating] 100,000 of them [illegally] in
our country. So, what will we do tomorrow? If it is necessary, I will
tell them, `Come on, back to your country.' I will do it. Why? They
are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them in my country. I
mean these are [defenders of the Armenian claims of genocide]. Their
attitude is negatively affecting our sincere attitude, and they are
not aware of it,' ErdoÄ?an said in an interview on Tuesday.
The number of Armenian immigrants in Turkey is unknown. But
Turkish-Armenian groups say Turkish politicians inflate the numbers of
illegal workers and threaten expulsions whenever tensions escalate
between Ankara and Yerevan.
According to research conducted last year by the Yerevan-based Eurasia
Partnership Foundation, some 94 percent of the undocumented Armenian
workers in Turkey are women working in housekeeping, nursing and
childcare.
Misunderstanding
On Friday, ErdoÄ?an dismissed criticism of his remarks and reassured
Turkey's Armenian community that they are not the target.
`We never have had any problem with our Armenian citizens,' ErdoÄ?an
said. He complained that he was misquoted in the media, which he said
misrepresented his remarks to mean that they were targeting Turkey's
Armenian community.
`Unfortunately, my remarks were published after the reference to
illegal immigrants was taken out. There is a vast difference between
`expelling Armenians' and `expelling Armenians working here
illegally',' he said. `We have made no such remarks concerning the
Armenians that are our citizens, but unfortunately the televisions or
newspapers do not say that.'
Yet the damage has already been done, in addition to earlier harm
caused by factors such as the US and Swedish votes, which apparently
led to ErdoÄ?an's anger and harsh rhetoric. It is doubtful that anyone
will remember from this point on that it was the same ErdoÄ?an who
resisted similar calls from opposition parties for the deportation of
illegal Armenian workers in order to pressure the Yerevan government
in the past.
Moreover, on Monday, while delivering a briefing at Parliament's
Foreign Relations Commission concerning his ministry's strategy
vis-Ã-vis the genocide resolutions of foreign legislative bodies, when
main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Canan Arıtman
suggested deporting Armenian workers in retaliation, Foreign Minister
Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu reportedly said in reply, `Turkey could not explain
such move to the world,' in a bid to highlight the inappropriateness
of such an action.
Spirit, hearts and politics
And yet, damage has been done here and there, and the government
should make clear whether it wants to make peace with only with
citizens of Armenia or the entire Armenian nation, despite the
Armenian diaspora's actions, which are hampering the normalization
process -- without forgetting its own Armenian citizens, who are not
guests, but people of this country.
Khatchig Mouradian is an Armenian writer who arrived in Turkey on
Wednesday as part of a delegation of US commentators and analysts
visiting the country at the invitation of the Ankara-based Economic
Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV).
In an article posted on The Armenian Weekly Web site titled
`Memleketine HoÅ?geldin,' (Welcome to Your Country), Mouradian said the
title was inspired by what a Turkish journalist told him when she
learned of his arrival in Turkey.
Recalling ErdoÄ?an's recent remarks, Mouradian argues, `Turkish
diplomats and commentators do not view Armenians as a single
monolithic block, but as three supposedly homogeneous blocks.'
Mouradian lists those groups: `The Armenians living in Turkey [mainly
in Ä°stanbul] comprise the first group. ¦ In Turkey, these Armenians
are regarded as `our Armenians,' or the `good Armenians,' as long as
they do not speak out about the genocide and the continued
discrimination they face. ¦ The citizens of Armenia, the second group,
are, according to the dominant rhetoric in Turkey, the `neighbors'
(the `poor Armenians'), who are under difficult economic conditions
and do not mind forgetting the past and moving on, if the Armenian
diaspora leaves them alone. The diaspora Armenians, the third group,
are the `bad Armenians'.'
Mouradian's arguments are controversial, but this doesn't change the
fact that many hearts have been broken.
`Joint destiny' and vocabulary
If one questions whether it is possible to speak of broken hearts
regarding a political process, then one also has to remember what a
senior Turkish diplomat recently said about a decision by an Armenian
court in January that upheld the legality of protocols signed by
Ankara and Yerevan in October on the normalization of ties but
underlined that they could not contradict Yerevan's official position
that the alleged Armenian genocide must be internationally recognized.
`That reasoning behind the ruling is actually a political declaration
under the guise of a legal decision. We would like the trauma created
by this decision to be removed. Then we can turn back to the status
quo concerning the normalization process, which has been crippled
since Jan. 12,' the diplomat said.
Ankara says a new ruling that assures that the protocols are valid is
needed and that this may either be a written document or an assurance
by a third party that is acceptable to both the Armenian and Turkish
sides.
`Every word within the protocols has been placed into the text after
thorough deliberation in order to create a common language that would
help with the rest of the normalization process,' another Turkish
diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Sunday's Zaman last
month. `What the Armenian Constitutional Court ruling's reasoning is
doing is harming this common language. Our efforts are aimed at
recreating this common language to secure the healthy maintenance of
the normalization process,' the diplomat said.
In January, DavutoÄ?lu stated that the healthy continuation of the
normalization process is important for Turkey.
`We don't believe that this process will proceed with interpretations
that are not in line with the spirit and wording of the protocols
signed with Armenia,' DavutoÄ?lu said at the time, echoing Ankara's
view that the Armenian court's decision `contains preconditions and
restrictive provisions which impair the letter and spirit of the
protocols.'
The days ahead will probably require efforts by both Armenian and
Turkish sides to salvage -- if it exists anymore -- the common
language and spirit of the normalization process or add new words to
the vocabulary of the process.
21 March 2010, Sunday
EMÄ°NE KART ANKARA