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Wed, May 5, 2010
Denial, Anger and a Bunch of Mountains in Azerbaijan - Acceptance, That's
Several Steps Later
Nicholas Clayton
Nicholas Clayton lives in Tbilisi, Georgia and works as a professor of
journalism and a freelance reporter covering the Caucasus. Having studied
NATO-Russian relations at Hertzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia in
2007, Clayton began blogging about the geo-politics ...
Last September, Slate columnist Christopher Hitchens wrote that "engaging
with Iran is like having sex with someone who hates you." If that's true,
then the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process is something like an orgy
of mutually despising interlocutors, each only agreeing to do it in the one
position the other one hates.
With that visual in mind, it shouldn't be surprising that after a year of
back-and-forths and ups and downs the process came to a screeching halt last
month as Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced he was "suspending"
discussion of the reconciliation protocols - a move that was
enthusiastically welcomed by his constituents.
But don't worry, this doesn't mean it's back to the silent game.
Although the highly touted reconciliation protocols are considered to be an
important part of U.S. President Barack Obama's foreign policy ambitions in
Europe, the move to freeze the discussions was telegraphed by insiders well
in advance and has even been endorsed publicly by administration officials.
Why? Because few seem to have expected it to get this far the first place.
The Turkish-Armenian relationship is fraught with unresolved baggage mostly
surrounding denial, anger and a bunch of mountains in Azerbaijan.
Sargsyan's announcement came 48 hours before the day that Armenians regard
as the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide - a nearly decade long
pogrom of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire that killed an estimated
1.5 million people. Twenty countries and 44 U.S. states recognize the events
that occurred from 1915-1923 as genocide, and Armenians have been upset by
their government's efforts to improve relations with Turkey without forcing
Ankara to recognize past crimes.
The last time Turkey and Armenia recognized one another diplomatically was a
brief period after the fall of the Soviet Union until 1993, when their
already rocky relationship hit a new low over Armenia's support for ethnic
Armenian separatists in the Nagorno Karabakh (Russian for Mountainous or
Highland Karabakh) region in neighboring Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally. Armenia
continues to occupy Nagorno Karabakh as well as other Azeri territory and
the two nations remain in a state of war.
In the end, despite the unprecedented nature of the breakthrough that led to
these talks, first announced in April 2009, neither side has been a
particularly considerate to each other's needs, and it's not surprising both
are saying they now need a break from each other.
The preexisting gripes quickly reclaimed the focus of the discussion not
long after it started; denial, anger and a bunch of mountains in Azerbaijan.
In the initial aftermath of this most recent hiccup in the dialogue, it's
not difficult to feel like both sides took one step forward and two steps
backward. In March, after Sweden and the U.S. House Foreign Relations
Committee recognized the Armenian Genocide, Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan told the BBC that he was considering deporting 100,000 Armenians he
claimed were living in Turkey illegally.
However, many observers see genuine progress amid the habitually fiery
rhetoric. Davit Alaverdyan, the chief editor of Media Max News Agency in
Armenia said that while he feels it is difficult to see where the process
will lead from here, he thinks both sides have made achievements through the
past year's bickering - first and foremost that the two sides were talking
at all.
But there's more to it than that.
When Obama gave a speech on the anniversary of the genocide last April using
the phrase "Medz Yeghern" - the Armenian word for the genocide, meaning
"Great Massacres" - he was falling short of using the G-word like he
promised during his campaign for president, but nonetheless pleased many on
both sides.
Suat Kiniklioglu, a member of the Turkish parliament and spokesman of the
Turkish Foreign Affairs Commission from the ruling Justice and Development
party told Media Max in an interview at the time, "I believe that "Medz
Yeghern" is an invaluable term for a positive language about the events of
1915. "Medz Yeghern" is a term whose scope should be widened. World War I
and the events leading to the war, namely the physical removal of Turks and
Muslims from the Caucasus, the Balkans and the Middle East was a Great
Catastrophe for us as well. Turks, Kurds and Armenians in the eastern front
of the empire truly experienced a Great Catastrophe [...] The Armenians lost
their homes and property and had to leave Anatolia. There were many deaths
and it was an immensely sad chapter of this region's history [...] I hope
that when we establish diplomatic relations, open borders and when our
peoples get the chance of direct communication with each other, we will be
able to elaborate positive wordings."
It's certain that there is no consensus for movement towards genocide
recognition in Turkey - it remains illegal to insult the Turkish nation or
ethnicity, a law that has been invoked to prosecute Turks calling for
genocide recognition.
But Armenians continue to point to various signs that an internal dialogue
within Turkey about its hard past is beginning. A few hundred Turkish
artists and intellectuals marched in Istanbul commemorating the 95th
anniversary of the genocide this year chanting "never again." Also,
information security analyst and blogger, Samvel Martirosyan pointed out
that new Turkish directives to its diplomats encourage them to engage with
Armenian communities abroad and publicly discuss and debate the facts of
1915-1923.
All of this he said shows things are moving, albeit so slowly it's hard to
actually see it. Meanwhile, Alaverdyan said in a Media Max report that the
temporary freeze with Turkey will give Armenia more time to devote to
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict while still appearing to be the
one committed to the process.
While no one is quite sure when, eventually the orgy of malice and mistrust
will be in full swing again in the near future.
Denial, Anger and a Bunch of Mountains in Azerbaijan - Acceptance, That's
Several Steps Later
Nicholas Clayton
Nicholas Clayton lives in Tbilisi, Georgia and works as a professor of
journalism and a freelance reporter covering the Caucasus. Having studied
NATO-Russian relations at Hertzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia in
2007, Clayton began blogging about the geo-politics ...
Last September, Slate columnist Christopher Hitchens wrote that "engaging
with Iran is like having sex with someone who hates you." If that's true,
then the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process is something like an orgy
of mutually despising interlocutors, each only agreeing to do it in the one
position the other one hates.
With that visual in mind, it shouldn't be surprising that after a year of
back-and-forths and ups and downs the process came to a screeching halt last
month as Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced he was "suspending"
discussion of the reconciliation protocols - a move that was
enthusiastically welcomed by his constituents.
But don't worry, this doesn't mean it's back to the silent game.
Although the highly touted reconciliation protocols are considered to be an
important part of U.S. President Barack Obama's foreign policy ambitions in
Europe, the move to freeze the discussions was telegraphed by insiders well
in advance and has even been endorsed publicly by administration officials.
Why? Because few seem to have expected it to get this far the first place.
The Turkish-Armenian relationship is fraught with unresolved baggage mostly
surrounding denial, anger and a bunch of mountains in Azerbaijan.
Sargsyan's announcement came 48 hours before the day that Armenians regard
as the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide - a nearly decade long
pogrom of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire that killed an estimated
1.5 million people. Twenty countries and 44 U.S. states recognize the events
that occurred from 1915-1923 as genocide, and Armenians have been upset by
their government's efforts to improve relations with Turkey without forcing
Ankara to recognize past crimes.
The last time Turkey and Armenia recognized one another diplomatically was a
brief period after the fall of the Soviet Union until 1993, when their
already rocky relationship hit a new low over Armenia's support for ethnic
Armenian separatists in the Nagorno Karabakh (Russian for Mountainous or
Highland Karabakh) region in neighboring Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally. Armenia
continues to occupy Nagorno Karabakh as well as other Azeri territory and
the two nations remain in a state of war.
In the end, despite the unprecedented nature of the breakthrough that led to
these talks, first announced in April 2009, neither side has been a
particularly considerate to each other's needs, and it's not surprising both
are saying they now need a break from each other.
The preexisting gripes quickly reclaimed the focus of the discussion not
long after it started; denial, anger and a bunch of mountains in Azerbaijan.
In the initial aftermath of this most recent hiccup in the dialogue, it's
not difficult to feel like both sides took one step forward and two steps
backward. In March, after Sweden and the U.S. House Foreign Relations
Committee recognized the Armenian Genocide, Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan told the BBC that he was considering deporting 100,000 Armenians he
claimed were living in Turkey illegally.
However, many observers see genuine progress amid the habitually fiery
rhetoric. Davit Alaverdyan, the chief editor of Media Max News Agency in
Armenia said that while he feels it is difficult to see where the process
will lead from here, he thinks both sides have made achievements through the
past year's bickering - first and foremost that the two sides were talking
at all.
But there's more to it than that.
When Obama gave a speech on the anniversary of the genocide last April using
the phrase "Medz Yeghern" - the Armenian word for the genocide, meaning
"Great Massacres" - he was falling short of using the G-word like he
promised during his campaign for president, but nonetheless pleased many on
both sides.
Suat Kiniklioglu, a member of the Turkish parliament and spokesman of the
Turkish Foreign Affairs Commission from the ruling Justice and Development
party told Media Max in an interview at the time, "I believe that "Medz
Yeghern" is an invaluable term for a positive language about the events of
1915. "Medz Yeghern" is a term whose scope should be widened. World War I
and the events leading to the war, namely the physical removal of Turks and
Muslims from the Caucasus, the Balkans and the Middle East was a Great
Catastrophe for us as well. Turks, Kurds and Armenians in the eastern front
of the empire truly experienced a Great Catastrophe [...] The Armenians lost
their homes and property and had to leave Anatolia. There were many deaths
and it was an immensely sad chapter of this region's history [...] I hope
that when we establish diplomatic relations, open borders and when our
peoples get the chance of direct communication with each other, we will be
able to elaborate positive wordings."
It's certain that there is no consensus for movement towards genocide
recognition in Turkey - it remains illegal to insult the Turkish nation or
ethnicity, a law that has been invoked to prosecute Turks calling for
genocide recognition.
But Armenians continue to point to various signs that an internal dialogue
within Turkey about its hard past is beginning. A few hundred Turkish
artists and intellectuals marched in Istanbul commemorating the 95th
anniversary of the genocide this year chanting "never again." Also,
information security analyst and blogger, Samvel Martirosyan pointed out
that new Turkish directives to its diplomats encourage them to engage with
Armenian communities abroad and publicly discuss and debate the facts of
1915-1923.
All of this he said shows things are moving, albeit so slowly it's hard to
actually see it. Meanwhile, Alaverdyan said in a Media Max report that the
temporary freeze with Turkey will give Armenia more time to devote to
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict while still appearing to be the
one committed to the process.
While no one is quite sure when, eventually the orgy of malice and mistrust
will be in full swing again in the near future.