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CAN CHEESE BRIDGE THE TURKEY-ARMENIA DIVIDE?
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 24 2012
NY
October 24, 2012 - 4:06pm, by Yigal Schleifer
Sometimes diplomatic breakthroughs can happen through unlikely
channels. Although the Turkey-Armenia reconciliation process that
resulted in the 2009 signing of protocols to reestablish relations
between the two neighbors is now almost completely dead, it's worth
recalling that it was "soccer diplomacy" -- mutual visits by the
Turkish and Armenian presidents to watch their countries' national
teams play each other -- that got the diplomatic ball rolling in the
first place.
Now that sports have been used in an effort to get the two neighbors
to talk to each other, could "cheese diplomacy" be the next thing that
sparks a breakthrough in Turkey-Armenia relations? That's the hope
of Armenian activist Artush Lazarian, who for the last few years has
been the driving force behind an effort to create a kind of Caucasian
"peace cheese," one produced jointly be Turks and Armenians living near
their shared border. From a New York Times story about the project:
Artush Lazarian calls it cheese diplomacy. Others speak of informal,
or "track-two," diplomacy. By either name, it is all about building
bridges between Turks and Armenians in the absence of formal, or
"track-one," diplomatic relations between their governments.
Mr. Lazarian, 55, an engineer, art critic and activist from the
Armenian town of Gyumri has made cheese the medium of contact and
cooperation with the neighboring town of Kars, in Turkey.
Less than 70 kilometers, or 45 miles, apart but separated by a
border that has been closed for nearly two decades, cheese makers in
Gyumri and Kars, along with colleagues in the nearby Georgian town of
Ninotsminda, produce and market a "Caucasian cheese," invented by Mr.
Lazarian in 2008 to foster cross-border cooperation.
"My cheese diplomacy actually preceded the soccer diplomacy between
our countries," Mr. Lazarian said Monday as he walked into a meeting
in Istanbul organized by Support to Armenian-Turkish Rapprochement,
an umbrella group for like-minded activists from Turkey and Armenia.
That said, in a region filled with ancient animosities and political
divisions, cheese can divide as much as it can unite. In Cyprus,
for example, cheese has become yet another issue that divides the
island's Greeks and Turks.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66103
From: A. Papazian
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 24 2012
NY
October 24, 2012 - 4:06pm, by Yigal Schleifer
Sometimes diplomatic breakthroughs can happen through unlikely
channels. Although the Turkey-Armenia reconciliation process that
resulted in the 2009 signing of protocols to reestablish relations
between the two neighbors is now almost completely dead, it's worth
recalling that it was "soccer diplomacy" -- mutual visits by the
Turkish and Armenian presidents to watch their countries' national
teams play each other -- that got the diplomatic ball rolling in the
first place.
Now that sports have been used in an effort to get the two neighbors
to talk to each other, could "cheese diplomacy" be the next thing that
sparks a breakthrough in Turkey-Armenia relations? That's the hope
of Armenian activist Artush Lazarian, who for the last few years has
been the driving force behind an effort to create a kind of Caucasian
"peace cheese," one produced jointly be Turks and Armenians living near
their shared border. From a New York Times story about the project:
Artush Lazarian calls it cheese diplomacy. Others speak of informal,
or "track-two," diplomacy. By either name, it is all about building
bridges between Turks and Armenians in the absence of formal, or
"track-one," diplomatic relations between their governments.
Mr. Lazarian, 55, an engineer, art critic and activist from the
Armenian town of Gyumri has made cheese the medium of contact and
cooperation with the neighboring town of Kars, in Turkey.
Less than 70 kilometers, or 45 miles, apart but separated by a
border that has been closed for nearly two decades, cheese makers in
Gyumri and Kars, along with colleagues in the nearby Georgian town of
Ninotsminda, produce and market a "Caucasian cheese," invented by Mr.
Lazarian in 2008 to foster cross-border cooperation.
"My cheese diplomacy actually preceded the soccer diplomacy between
our countries," Mr. Lazarian said Monday as he walked into a meeting
in Istanbul organized by Support to Armenian-Turkish Rapprochement,
an umbrella group for like-minded activists from Turkey and Armenia.
That said, in a region filled with ancient animosities and political
divisions, cheese can divide as much as it can unite. In Cyprus,
for example, cheese has become yet another issue that divides the
island's Greeks and Turks.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66103
From: A. Papazian