Tweet
TURKISH, ARMENIAN NGOS LOOK TO HELP THAW FROZEN TIES
SONJA CAYMAZ
Hurriyet
Nov 24 2010
Turkey
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, center left, and Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, center right, shake hands during
the protocol signing ceremony in October 2009. AP photo
Armenian nongovernmental organizations are keen on continuing dialogue
with their Turkish partners to help thaw out the countries historically
frosty relations.
A conference in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on Tuesday hosted
by the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, USAID and the Yerevan
Press Club inaugurated a new wave of projects to strengthen civil
society interaction between Turkey and Armenia despite slow-moving
normalization efforts.
"Good neighbors talk over the garden fence," Jonathan Stark, a Eurasia
Partnership Foundation board member, told the meeting on Tuesday.
"This project will advance the concept of neighborly relations between
Armenia and Turkey."
The new project is expected to last until September 2012 and has a
budget of nearly $2.5 million. It envisions support for cross-border
peer group projects and provides an opportunity for interaction
between state actors on various levels.
A landmark agreement signed last October by Turkey and Armenia to
establish diplomatic ties and reopen their border after decades of
hostility stalled after Yerevan halted the ratification process
of two protocols in April, pointing out Ankara's linking of the
reconciliation efforts with Armenia's dispute with Azerbaijan over
the Nagorno-Karabakh region as a key problem.
An Eurasia Partnership Foundation project, initially launched in
January 2010, was meant to be called "The Second and Third Days of
the Turkish-Armenian Rapprochement," but unfortunately the protocols
were never ratified, said Gevorg Ter-Gabrielian, director of the EPF.
Speaking of a strategic vision for NGOs after the failure of the
rapprochement, Professor Mensur Akgun, director of Istanbul Kultur
University's Global Policy Center, or GPoT, said civil society groups
on both sides have to be ready to approach relevant authorities and
deliver their messages. "Civic organizations have to be ready to be
facilitators for state actors."
Dialogue between state actors
Another partner, the International Center for Human Development, or
ICHD, will facilitate dialogue and interaction between state actors
in the framework of the recently revived Armenia Turkey Rapprochement
Process, presented at the meeting in Yerevan on Tuesday.
The ICHD's role will include the facilitation of off-the-record
discussions via video conference - as official travel is impossible -
engaging in capacity-building and skill training for state employees
at ministries and organizing town hall meetings on Turkish-Armenian
relations.
NGOs are important as long as there are no official relations, Vahagn
Kachaturian, the former mayor of Yerevan, told the Hurriyet Daily
News & Daily News.
"The future of Armenia lies as part of a region," he said, adding
that he advocates an open-border policy in the neighborhood.
Regional cooperation should take place between Iran, Turkey, Armenia
and Azerbaijan, Kachaturian said. Manufacturing, science, innovation
and transport, especially railways, would benefit from open borders.
"In Turkey, they do not know Armenia; only a small group [of Turks] has
knowledge of modern Armenia," said Tevan Poghosian, executive director
at the ICHD. Pointing out Armenia's and Turkey's EU integration
efforts, Poghosian said the European Union could be a common point.
The European Neighborhood Policy, introduced to tie those countries
to the east and south of the EU into the bloc, has had a positive
impact on the development of relations between Turkey and Armenia,
said Boris Navasardian, president of the Yerevan Press Club.
"The Eastern Partnership initiative has a positive impact on
democratization, stability and security in Armenia, which directly
affects the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement," Navasardian told the
Daily News.
From: A. Papazian
SONJA CAYMAZ
Hurriyet
Nov 24 2010
Turkey
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, center left, and Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, center right, shake hands during
the protocol signing ceremony in October 2009. AP photo
Armenian nongovernmental organizations are keen on continuing dialogue
with their Turkish partners to help thaw out the countries historically
frosty relations.
A conference in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on Tuesday hosted
by the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, USAID and the Yerevan
Press Club inaugurated a new wave of projects to strengthen civil
society interaction between Turkey and Armenia despite slow-moving
normalization efforts.
"Good neighbors talk over the garden fence," Jonathan Stark, a Eurasia
Partnership Foundation board member, told the meeting on Tuesday.
"This project will advance the concept of neighborly relations between
Armenia and Turkey."
The new project is expected to last until September 2012 and has a
budget of nearly $2.5 million. It envisions support for cross-border
peer group projects and provides an opportunity for interaction
between state actors on various levels.
A landmark agreement signed last October by Turkey and Armenia to
establish diplomatic ties and reopen their border after decades of
hostility stalled after Yerevan halted the ratification process
of two protocols in April, pointing out Ankara's linking of the
reconciliation efforts with Armenia's dispute with Azerbaijan over
the Nagorno-Karabakh region as a key problem.
An Eurasia Partnership Foundation project, initially launched in
January 2010, was meant to be called "The Second and Third Days of
the Turkish-Armenian Rapprochement," but unfortunately the protocols
were never ratified, said Gevorg Ter-Gabrielian, director of the EPF.
Speaking of a strategic vision for NGOs after the failure of the
rapprochement, Professor Mensur Akgun, director of Istanbul Kultur
University's Global Policy Center, or GPoT, said civil society groups
on both sides have to be ready to approach relevant authorities and
deliver their messages. "Civic organizations have to be ready to be
facilitators for state actors."
Dialogue between state actors
Another partner, the International Center for Human Development, or
ICHD, will facilitate dialogue and interaction between state actors
in the framework of the recently revived Armenia Turkey Rapprochement
Process, presented at the meeting in Yerevan on Tuesday.
The ICHD's role will include the facilitation of off-the-record
discussions via video conference - as official travel is impossible -
engaging in capacity-building and skill training for state employees
at ministries and organizing town hall meetings on Turkish-Armenian
relations.
NGOs are important as long as there are no official relations, Vahagn
Kachaturian, the former mayor of Yerevan, told the Hurriyet Daily
News & Daily News.
"The future of Armenia lies as part of a region," he said, adding
that he advocates an open-border policy in the neighborhood.
Regional cooperation should take place between Iran, Turkey, Armenia
and Azerbaijan, Kachaturian said. Manufacturing, science, innovation
and transport, especially railways, would benefit from open borders.
"In Turkey, they do not know Armenia; only a small group [of Turks] has
knowledge of modern Armenia," said Tevan Poghosian, executive director
at the ICHD. Pointing out Armenia's and Turkey's EU integration
efforts, Poghosian said the European Union could be a common point.
The European Neighborhood Policy, introduced to tie those countries
to the east and south of the EU into the bloc, has had a positive
impact on the development of relations between Turkey and Armenia,
said Boris Navasardian, president of the Yerevan Press Club.
"The Eastern Partnership initiative has a positive impact on
democratization, stability and security in Armenia, which directly
affects the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement," Navasardian told the
Daily News.
From: A. Papazian