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DAVUTOGLU'S YEREVAN VISIT
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Dec 10 2013
SEMİH İDİZ
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's visit to Yerevan on Thursday for
a meeting of the Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation has
stirred quite a debate in Armenia, judging by Vercihan Ziflioglu's
article in Monday's Hurriyet Daily News.
Many in that country say this visit is part of Turkey's "2015
maneuvers."
The reference is to the anniversary of the 1915 events, which
Armenians and many in the West and elsewhere consider to be the year
when Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks. Turks
deny this saying they suffered as much during World War One, the
difference being that they ultimately came out victorious in Anatolia.
The belief among hardline Armenians is that 2015 is going to be the
watershed year when Turkey is finally put in the dock and made to
atone for systematically denying the genocide. Those who believe this
say that anything Turkey does today that may appear positive vis-a-vis
Turkish-Armenian ties is merely a ploy to ensure that Armenian plans
for 2015 fail.
Born in the 1950s my generation has lived with the "Armenian problem"
since an old Armenian gunned down the Turkish consul and his young
deputy in Los Angeles in 1973. We knew nothing about what happened
in 1915 before that. The killing of the Turkish diplomats in 1973,
however, changed all that.
It also marked the start of a campaign of terrorism by Armenians that
left a large number of Turkish diplomats or members of their families
dead. Seeing Armenians hammering their point home with bullets also
killed off any chance of empathy among Turks for Armenian suffering
in the past, making "the blood feud of the century," as one Turkish
historian has called it, even more intractable.
Many Turks continue to see that campaign of terror as confirmation
that whatever Armenians may have suffered in the past, this did not
transpire in a vacuum. Some even see divine retribution in the fact
that Turks ultimately came out victorious in Anatolia against all odds,
the country having ended World War One on its knees.
Nearly a century later Turks and Armenians remain locked in a zero-sum
game. For one side to win the other must lose. In the meantime, all
international efforts to force Turkey into the corner on this score
have also failed, notwithstanding the diplomatic headaches these have
caused for Ankara.
Turkey withstood these pressures in the 1980s and 1990s mainly
due to its strategic placing during the Cold War, which it used as
counter-pressure against countries that were coming down on it over
the Armenian issue. The Cold War is over but Turkey's importance for
the West has not diminished.
Landlocked and resource-poor Armenia, on the other hand, has generated
little strategic and economic value since gaining independence from
the Soviet Union. Armenia's war with oil-rich Azerbaijan, whose
regional clout continues to grow, has not helped. This problem is
preventing the activation of the Zurich Protocols signed between
Ankara and Yerevan in 2009, although this is not the only reason why
these protocols remain dead letters.
Armenians are a proud people, no less so than the Turks, and will
refuse to bow to pressures that leave them looking as if they have
caved into Turkey. There has to be a way to break this cycle if these
two nations are to be reconciled, if indeed they want to be.
One hopes (against hope unfortunately) that Davutoglu's visit will
produce some positive results on the bilateral level. Judging by what
some in that country are saying, however, and the continuing cultural
animosity among Turks towards Armenians, which has increased due to
the Karabakh issue, it is hard to be optimistic.
It seems 2015 will have to pass before anything new can even be
considered between these two estranged nations, even if daily contacts
between ordinary Turks and Armenians are increasing, and a growing
number of Turks are coming around to realizing that genocidal events
did occur in 1915.
December/10/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/davutoglus-yerevan-visit.aspx?pageID=449&nID=59290&NewsCatID=416
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Dec 10 2013
SEMİH İDİZ
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's visit to Yerevan on Thursday for
a meeting of the Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation has
stirred quite a debate in Armenia, judging by Vercihan Ziflioglu's
article in Monday's Hurriyet Daily News.
Many in that country say this visit is part of Turkey's "2015
maneuvers."
The reference is to the anniversary of the 1915 events, which
Armenians and many in the West and elsewhere consider to be the year
when Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks. Turks
deny this saying they suffered as much during World War One, the
difference being that they ultimately came out victorious in Anatolia.
The belief among hardline Armenians is that 2015 is going to be the
watershed year when Turkey is finally put in the dock and made to
atone for systematically denying the genocide. Those who believe this
say that anything Turkey does today that may appear positive vis-a-vis
Turkish-Armenian ties is merely a ploy to ensure that Armenian plans
for 2015 fail.
Born in the 1950s my generation has lived with the "Armenian problem"
since an old Armenian gunned down the Turkish consul and his young
deputy in Los Angeles in 1973. We knew nothing about what happened
in 1915 before that. The killing of the Turkish diplomats in 1973,
however, changed all that.
It also marked the start of a campaign of terrorism by Armenians that
left a large number of Turkish diplomats or members of their families
dead. Seeing Armenians hammering their point home with bullets also
killed off any chance of empathy among Turks for Armenian suffering
in the past, making "the blood feud of the century," as one Turkish
historian has called it, even more intractable.
Many Turks continue to see that campaign of terror as confirmation
that whatever Armenians may have suffered in the past, this did not
transpire in a vacuum. Some even see divine retribution in the fact
that Turks ultimately came out victorious in Anatolia against all odds,
the country having ended World War One on its knees.
Nearly a century later Turks and Armenians remain locked in a zero-sum
game. For one side to win the other must lose. In the meantime, all
international efforts to force Turkey into the corner on this score
have also failed, notwithstanding the diplomatic headaches these have
caused for Ankara.
Turkey withstood these pressures in the 1980s and 1990s mainly
due to its strategic placing during the Cold War, which it used as
counter-pressure against countries that were coming down on it over
the Armenian issue. The Cold War is over but Turkey's importance for
the West has not diminished.
Landlocked and resource-poor Armenia, on the other hand, has generated
little strategic and economic value since gaining independence from
the Soviet Union. Armenia's war with oil-rich Azerbaijan, whose
regional clout continues to grow, has not helped. This problem is
preventing the activation of the Zurich Protocols signed between
Ankara and Yerevan in 2009, although this is not the only reason why
these protocols remain dead letters.
Armenians are a proud people, no less so than the Turks, and will
refuse to bow to pressures that leave them looking as if they have
caved into Turkey. There has to be a way to break this cycle if these
two nations are to be reconciled, if indeed they want to be.
One hopes (against hope unfortunately) that Davutoglu's visit will
produce some positive results on the bilateral level. Judging by what
some in that country are saying, however, and the continuing cultural
animosity among Turks towards Armenians, which has increased due to
the Karabakh issue, it is hard to be optimistic.
It seems 2015 will have to pass before anything new can even be
considered between these two estranged nations, even if daily contacts
between ordinary Turks and Armenians are increasing, and a growing
number of Turks are coming around to realizing that genocidal events
did occur in 1915.
December/10/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/davutoglus-yerevan-visit.aspx?pageID=449&nID=59290&NewsCatID=416