Category: Main Issues

BORDER TURKS WANT DOOR TO ARMENIA KEPT SHUT

IWPR’S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 491, May 1, 2009

Plan to reopen frontier between Armenia and Turkey wins few friends in towns and villages on Turkish side.

By Sabuhi Mammadli in Igdir, Turkey

Talk of the possible reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border has left residents in nearby Turkish towns divided on whether such a development is what they need.

Many say that even if it means certain economic benefits for them, they are not ready to make friends with their Armenian neighbours.

Igdir is a small town in Turkey. For all its provinciality, it lies in an area of great strategic importance for Turkey, located at an intersection of the country’s borders with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran.

Most of the local people in Igdir are Azeris who moved here from territories in or adjacent to Nagorny Karabakh.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in sympathy with Azerbaijan, following a series of defeats that the latter had suffered in its war over Nagorny Karabakh.

There are still no diplomatic relations between the two countries due to the still unresolved Karabakh conflict and Armenia’s demands that Turkey recognise the following: the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as a genocide; and the territorial claims of some Armenian political parties to six provinces in Turkey’s north-east.

But the fact that the opening of the frontier is one of the 35 requirements Turkey needs to meet to be admitted to the European Union has put pressure on Ankara to find a solution.

Armenia and Turkey, with Switzerland as mediator, have been negotiating behind closed doors on the issue since 2002.

The unblocking of the border was the top item on the agenda in talks between Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United States president Barack Obama during the latter’s recent visit to Ankara.

The issue was also discussed during the Turkish president Abdullah Gul’s short visit to Armenia last September.

It also featured in the Turkish-Armenian talks being conducted in Switzerland, which resulted in the recent joint declaration of a so-called road map, leading towards hoped-for normalisation of relations.

Signs that Turkey and Armenia might be moving toward a rapprochement have displeased the Azerbaijan president, Ilham Aliev, however.

He showed his annoyance by refusing to attend a recent international conference in Ankara, thus sacrificing an opportunity to meet Obama, who attended the event among other high-ranking guests.

Despite Azerbaijan’s demarches, the Turkish-Armenian road map already envisions reopening two checkpoints on the frontier between the two countries.

One is located near the village of Alijan in Igdir; the other is in the Kars village of Akyaka.

Cahid Erol, head of the Igdir department of the National Movement Party, known in Turkey as the MHP, is worried by the momentum leading towards reopening of the border.

He fears the recent election of a Kurdish mayor in Igdir may have advanced an undesirable, process.

Erol recently lost the local elections to the candidate of the Kurdish Democratic Society Party, Mehmet Gunesh, whom Erol insists is a sympathiser with the Kurdish Workers’ Party, PKK, deemed a terrorist organisation in Turkey.

“Now, unfortunately, they’ve appointed a member of the PKK to lead the municipality,” Erol complained.

He worries that the new Kurdish municipal chief will act on his pledges to open the frontier with Armenia.

Soon after being elected, Gunesh told a local newspaper he would “open the gates of Alijan”, the village near one of the proposed checkpoints.

“This will boost the region’s economic development,” he told the same newspaper.

The idea of trading away Turkey’s alliance with Azerbaijan in exchange for “development” does not appeal to Erol.

“Our respected [party] chairman, Devlet Bahceli, says, ‘We won’t back off on Karabakh, even if Azerbaijan does,’” he retorted.

“We would be glad if Azerbaijan took a tough stance on the Turkey-Armenia border reopening issue, and if [President] Aliev upset the plans of Obama and Erdogan.

“Our party has made its position clear. The border will never be opened, or they will have to step over our dead bodies first.”

Opinions vary among ordinary residents of Igdir, though many seem as hostile to the reopening of the frontier as Erol.

Nuri, an employee in the Hotel Barbarossa, in the heart of Igdir, said such a development would stain Turkey’s reputation.

“I just can’t imagine Armenians traveling freely to Turkey,” he said. “How can it be possible?”

A local businessman, Ekrem Yesil, struck a similar line. He said the sociology department of the University of Arzrum had recently conducted a survey of 10,000 people, showing the overwhelming majority against reconciliation.

“Ninety-seven per cent of the respondents said they did not want the border reopened,” Yesil said.

“Most of the remaining three per cent were members of the pro-government Justice and Development Party.”

Murat Karademir, of the opposition Popular Republican Party, also adamantly opposes a rapprochement, describing Igdir as “the door to the Caucasus” – a door, he says, that needed to remain firmly shut in Armenia’s face.

“For Armenians, the town represents a path to Europe via Turkey; in a word, it’s a strategic territory,” he said.

“Opening this door to Armenians now would mean a catastrophe for Turkey, a threat to its security.

“Besides, the PKK is very active in this region; it’s not a secret for anyone that many PKK members are trained in Armenia and the occupied Karabakh.

“It is there that terrorists get their wounds treated. Already it’s very difficult to [prevent them going] crossing into Armenia. Unsealing the border would make it still easier for them to move.”

Mehmet Aydin, who comes from Alijan and now lives in Igdir, said Ankara had recently made a point of sending envoys to the village to argue for reopening the frontier.

“They have been saying, ‘You see how Igdir has evolved from a small village into a town after the border with Azerbaijan was opened. That’s what will happen to Alijan, [if the border with Armenia is unsealed]’.

“Some believe in this propaganda and want [it] to be reopened, but most don’t.”

But not everyone in Igdir wants the frontier with Armenia to remain shut forever.

Ahmet Sahin, a local activist of the Democratic Society Party, believes many businesses in Igdir now idling because of economic difficulties could get back on track if the border was opened.

“I’m an entrepreneur myself,“ he said. “The chemical goods produced at my factory have been collecting dust in storage facilities.

“What would be wrong if I took my produce to the Armenian market?”

“The border should be opened, because there are no jobs in Turkey,” agreed Mehmet Broi, a local teacher. “Trade has shrunk too. Armenia is a profitable territory for us.”

The governor of the area, Mehmet Karahisarli, also sounded a note of optimism about the possible reopening of the border. “[This] would stimulate business activity in both Igdir and the entire district,” he told IWPR.

But Turkish nationalists continue to reiterate that they will only tolerate seeing the frontier unsealed if Armenia meets a series of conditions.

These start with Nagorny Karabakh.

“First of all, Armenia has to un-occupy the territories of Karabakh,” Erol said.

“Secondly, they should get the genocide demand out of their heads. Thirdly, they should stop asking Turkey for compensation. Fourthly, they should give up their territorial claims regarding Turkey. Fifthly, they should admit to the [February 1992] massacre [of Azeris] in Khojali.

“Once the Armenians have met all these conditions, Erdogan and Gul can even become related to [Armenian president Serzh] Sargsian for all we care.

“Until they do, we have nothing to talk about.”

Sabuhi Mammadli is a freelance journalist.

May 2, 2009
Karabakh Eyes Armenia-Turkey Thaw With Suspicion

The recent warming in the relations of the two estranged neighbours provokes ambiguous reactions in Nagorny Karabakh.

By Karine Ohanian in Stepanakert (CRS No. 491, 1-May-09)

In the Armenian enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, there is only one topic of discussion right now: the possible restoration of the ties between Armenia and Turkey, opening of the borders, and what it all means for people here.

With the Swiss playing the role of mediators, Armenia and Turkey on April 23 announced they had agreed on a so-called road map leading towards normalisation of relations, broken off by Turkey in 1993.

Political parties, NGOs and local authorities in Nagorny Karabakh have reacted by maintaining that the problem of Armenian-Turkish relations cannot be resolved aside from the Karabakh conflict.

They say the border issue, acknowledgement of the 1915 Armenian genocide and the problem of Nagorny Karabakh’s status must be solved in one package.

The unrecognised republic, which has a population of about 140,000, has been demanding independence from Azerbaijan since 1988.

At the beginning of the Karabakh conflict, Turkey – which hotly disputes the scale of the killings of 1915, as well as use of the term genocide – proclaimed itself Azerbaijan’s “elder brother” and in 1993 imposed a blockade on Armenia.

Many Armenians continue to regard Turks and Azerbaijanis as members of the same nation, associating both with the terrible events of 1915.

Therefore, political experts in Nagorny Karabakh view the problem of Armenia-Turkey relations and the Karabakh issue as elements of a single national issue.

“It’s a very tricky situation for Karabakh, since we place Armenia-Turkey and Armenia-Azerbaijan relations in one bracket,” Hrachia Arzumanian, a local expert on security issues, told IWPR.

Arzumanian says local people were surprised to hear that Armenia and Turkey had agreed on a road map towards better relations just before April 24, when Armenians traditionally commemorate the events of 1915.

They had been expecting to hear the word genocide in a speech by United States president Barack Obama that day. He had promised to use the term during his presidential campaign. In the event, Obama used the Armenian phrase mets yeghern instead, which means great massacre.

“Now this trump card gives them [the Americans] a good excuse to draw back from recognition of the genocide,” Arzumanian continued.

“Another strange thing here is whether Turkey has made this step forward towards warming relations without preconditions and whether Karabakh will pay the price for this.”

David Babaian, head of information for the Nagorny Karabakh president, Bako Sakahian, doubts the entity will be sacrificed on the altar of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.

On the contrary, “the thaw in Armenia-Turkey relations simply rules out the rhetoric of one-sided concessions to Azerbaijan”, he said.

“It’s in Turkey’s interests to emerge as the main geopolitical actor in the South Caucasus; but it must do so without setting any preconditions, because this undermines that whole process,” he went on.

The information chief noted that in the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, if the balance of power tilted too far against the entity, “this threatens not only us, but Armenia too. The Armenian authorities know this, so I think the [peace] process is for the sake of all Armenians and for Karabakh’s sovereignty as well”.

Not everyone is convinced that Nagorny Karabakh stands to benefit from a rapprochement between Yerevan and Ankara, however.

“I am against the border reopening right now, on the eve of anniversary of the genocide, and I’m afraid that in taking this step Armenian diplomacy is losing its advantage,” David Ishkhanian, a representative of Armenian Revolutionary Federation, ARF, in Artsakh (the Armenian name for Nagorny Karabakh), said.

Ishkhanian said Azerbaijan and Turkey remained united in pursuit of their anti-Armenian policy.

“It’s time to reopen a ‘Karabakh front’ in diplomacy and unite the efforts of the diaspora, Armenia and Karabakh towards reaching our common goals,” Ishkhanian said.

Meanwhile, April 24, the 94th anniversary of Armenian holocaust, was marked by extraordinarily active and crowded rallies in Nagorny Karabakh.

People lit candles all night long while youth organisations arranged a torch-lit procession, which ended with burning of the Turkish flag – notwithstanding the protests of law-enforcement agencies.

A large number of Nagorny Karabakh residents gathered at the memorial to the genocide victims in the capital Stepanakert in spite of rainy weather.

“This year, especially with regard to recent political developments, I was particularly eager to take part in the commemoration of the genocide and tell the whole world about the necessity of its recognition,” Anush Gavarian, of the Club of Young Political Analysts, said.

“It wasn’t Armenia that closed its borders with Turkey but vice-versa. Turkey acted against Armenia and still tries to speak set preconditions.”

No fan of the current reconciliation process, Gavarian said she feared a repeat of events in the 1920s, when Russia and Turkey “decided to sacrifice Armenians and possibly the whole of Karabakh for the sake of their own interests”.

Gavarian was referring to Stalin’s decision to place overwhelmingly Armenian populated Nagorny Karabakh within the borders of Azerbaijan.

Karen Ohanjanian, leader of the Social Justice Party, told IWPR that local people felt uninvolved and marginalised by much of the recent diplomatic activity.

“The public has no knowledge of the context of the road map or about the talks between Armenian and Russian presidents on the principles of Karabakh conflict resolution,” Ohanjanian said.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev recently met his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsian near Moscow to discuss energy cooperation and the Karabakh conflict.

“I hope no preconditions are set at our expense or, as leader of one of the most powerful parties in Nagorny Karabakh, I will take steps to mobilise the masses to prevent any alteration of the Karabakh security system,” Ohanjanian said.

“Karabakh can’t cede any territories to the detriment of national and physical security of its residents.”

All political parties in Nagorny Karabakh have released a common statement, urging the international community to acknowledge the genocide of 1915 and recognise the independence of the entity.

According to Vahram Atanesian, head of the Democracy faction in parliament, “recent processes show Russia and Turkey are trying to solve the problems in the South Caucasus in accordance with their own interests”.

He urged politicians from Nagorny Karabakh to “remind the international community and the mediators that a resolution of the Karabakh conflict in line with the concept of dividing the South Caucasus into spheres of influence is unacceptable.

“Any solution that doesn’t envisage our independence within fixed borders is inadmissible for us.”

But Masis Mailian, chair of Nagorny Karabakh’s Foreign Policy and Security Council, sounds a more cautious note.

He describes the joint statement of the foreign ministries of Armenia, Turkey and Switzerland on the road map as convenient for Turkey but not as necessarily detrimental to Armenians.

“If Turkey really claims a regional leadership role, it must no longer remain captive to the senseless ambitions of Azerbaijan,” he said.

Mailian said he hoped Ankara’s more “pragmatic attitude” towards Armenia might lead to the restoration of diplomatic ties and reopening of the borders.

“These moves might [then] prompt Azerbaijan to soften its position, leading to more constructive view of the resolution of the Karabakh conflict,” he added.

Ashot Gulian, speaker of the Nagorny Karabakh parliament, also supports Yerevan’s drive to heal relations with Turkey.

“The Armenian side is apparently more interested in reopening of the borders [than is Turkey],” he noted.

But the speaker still describes the thaw in relations as mutually beneficial, adding that it need not undermine moves to gain world recognition of the 1915 genocide.

“The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border is necessary for both sides,” he said.

“But since it was stated before that the reconciliation process must lack any preconditions, the efforts to achieve recognition of the Armenian genocide can’t have any influence on the normalisation of Armenia-Turkey relations.”

Meanwhile, the numerous traders who have been enjoying the more open border regime between Armenia and Turkey for some time – and who sell products brought from Turkey in Nagorny Karabakh – follow events with interest.

“I have been traveling to Turkey to buy goods for seven years, and frankly, I have never had any problems there,” Marta Arzumanian, a shopkeeper, told IWPR.

An acknowledged fan of the road map , Arzumanian added, “Personally, I think reopening the border will make our work much easier and will reduce taxes.”

Karine Ohanian is a freelance journalist in Stepanakert.

May 2, 2009
Turkey and Armenia’s Rapprochement Watched Carefully by Azerbaijan

Turkey and Armenia’s Rapprochement Watched Carefully by Azerbaijan

Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 82

April 29, 2009

By: Saban Kardas

On April 22, the Foreign Ministries of Turkey, Armenia and Switzerland issued a joint announcement saying that Ankara and Yerevan had agreed to work toward improving their relations within the framework of a roadmap under Swiss auspices. United States’ diplomats were also closely involved in the talks which preceded the deal. Although the decision appears as a breakthrough in resolving this long-term dispute, significant obstacles remain before the completion of the rapprochement.

The joint statement read as follows:

“The two parties have achieved tangible progress and mutual understanding in this process and they have agreed on a comprehensive framework for the normalization of their bilateral relations in a mutually satisfactory manner. In this context, a road-map has been identified” (www.mfa.gov.tr, April 22).

Subsequent statements from diplomatic sources clarified that no agreement has been signed and that the parties agreed to continue working toward fully normalizing their bilateral relations. Although the content of the ongoing talks were not disclosed officially, the deal is likely to include establishing diplomatic representations in their respective capitals, gradual re-opening of the border, Armenia’s recognition of Turkey’s international borders, and forming a joint committee of historians to examine the disputed events of 1915 (Sabah, April 24).

Many observers believe that if the process can be concluded successfully, it will not only end the long-standing enmity within the South Caucasus, but it also will redefine the geopolitical map of the region -helping to connect Armenia with Western interests in the region. Therefore, the decision was welcomed by the international community as a constructive step toward reconciliation. A statement from the U.S. State Department commended these efforts and called on the parties to proceed with the talks without any preconditions and within a reasonable time frame.

Initially this was anticipated against the background of the ongoing dialogue, which had accelerated over the past year. This was given a renewed impetus following Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s historic visit to Yerevan in September 2008. In addition to their various bilateral talks, the foreign ministers of both countries also met within the context of multilateral initiatives, raising expectations that a deal could be achieved. Earlier press reports speculated that the two capitals had agreed on a roadmap in late March, but they were debating the proper timing to announce this decision (EDM, March 27; Hurriyet Daily News, March 30). After Obama’s recent high profile trip to Turkey, Turkish-Armenian reconciliation was considered imminent.

However, following Obama’s visit, Ankara stepped back from its commitment to find a solution in an effort to allay concerns in Baku. The Turkish Prime Minister and other officials declared publicly that they would avoid steps which might damage Azerbaijan’s interests, and Turkey would not re-open its border with Armenia unless the latter ended its occupation of Azerbaijani territories (EDM, April 17). These developments rendered an agreement less likely.

The announcement that the parties had held secret talks and committed publicly to a roadmap represented a major breakthrough. Nonetheless, there have been conflicting accounts from each side as to whether concessions were made on preconditions to start the negotiations. The continued mystery surrounding the content of the talks may prove an obstacle to a final settlement. Nationalist forces and the opposition, both within Turkey and Armenia, remain opposed to the way in which the rapprochement is being conducted -in an absence of public scrutiny. Secret diplomacy is the key to achieving a breakthrough in such protracted disputes, and supporters of normalization on both sides insist that the governments should not bow to public pressure to abandon the process (www.ntvmsnbc.com, April 26). Nonetheless, the widening gap between the governments’ rhetoric and reality risks undermining this controversial foreign policy.

The Armenian government came under intense domestic criticism, and a minor coalition partner withdrew from the government. Similar problems within Turkey have further complicated these efforts. The AKP government proceeded with the normalization without first preparing public opinion for such a radical decision. It has also failed to keep the opposition informed. Turkish opposition parties are now calling on the government to stop conducting diplomacy behind closed doors, and inform parliament of the current standing of the talks (Ortadogu, April 28).

Moreover, the Turkish government is criticized for failing to give clear answers as to how the Turkish-Armenian roadmap might impact on Azerbaijan. Apparently, Turkey proceeded with the rapprochement without ensuring Armenia’s response to Azerbaijan’s demands, and this stance contradicted Ankara’s earlier statements that it would protect Baku’s interests. For some Turkish observers, this is an indication that the government did not have a genuine desire for reconciliation with Armenia, but it agreed the roadmap only to remove the word “genocide” from Obama’s April 24 message (Sabah, April 27). For others, Ankara’s zigzagging shows that it is acting opportunistically, which undermines the trust of its partners (Hurriyet Daily News, April 24).

President Gul ruled out any damage to relations with Baku due to the roadmap, and maintained that it will serve the interests of both Baku and Ankara. The Turkish government is attempting to convince Azeri politicians that its efforts toward resolving its problems with Yerevan also promote Azerbaijan’s interests within international forums (Zaman, April 24). Nonetheless, Azerbaijan’s discomfort with these developments is well known.

After noting that he was not in a position to tell Ankara how to handle its relations with Yerevan, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, said during a visit to Brussels, that Baku reserved the right to revise its policies according to the evolving realities in the region. Referring to the conflicting news about the content of the Turkish-Armenian roadmap deal, Aliyev added “The world, the region and the Azeris want to know whether the Karabakh issue was removed from the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement. This is a simple question and has a simple answer” (Cihan Haber Ajansi, April 28).

https://jamestown.org/program/turkey-and-armenias-rapprochement-watched-carefully-by-azerbaijan/

May 2, 2009
Reconciliation and Recriminations

by Barbara Frye
28 April 2009

As their government makes overtures to an old foe, many Armenians still wait for an apology.

YEREVAN | Standing in a threadbare tweed blazer on a sunny day in late April, Zohrab Shahbazyan brushed a tear from his cheek as he watched goose-stepping soldiers carry a large wreath across a plaza. Their destination was Yerevan’s hilltop memorial to 1.5 million Armenians killed or driven from their homes in Turkey nearly 100 years ago.

Shahbazyan, 75, had come here on 24 April, the day in 1915 that the Ottoman government arrested more than 200 Armenian intellectuals. Most were killed in the beginning of a campaign to drive Armenians out of eastern Turkey during World War I. Many who survived the massacres were marched into the deserts of Mesopotamia and Syria without food or water.

Like most Armenians in the homeland and throughout the country’s vast diaspora, Shahbazyan said he lost ancestors – 31 of 48 – in what his government and nearly two dozen others have termed a genocide. And like much of Yerevan, he had walked slowly up the hill today holding a single flower, which he would place on a ring around a flame at the center of the memorial.

President Serzh Sargsyan (left) and other dignitaries attend a commemoration ceremony on 24 April in Yerevan. Photo by Barbara Frye.

“Genocide is not just killing people. They exterminated the whole nation,” he said. “One and a half million Armenians were not buried on their land.”

In its rituals – prayers by golden-robed leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church, a visit from the president, an endless procession of flower-bearing pilgrims – the day was like nearly every 24 April since the memorial opened in 1967.

But it was also different. This year it took place days after the governments of Turkey and Armenia had announced plans to open the border between the two countries, which has been closed since 1993. It was the latest in a series of remarkable events over the past two years that have included an invitation from Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Turkish President Abdullah Gul to attend a soccer match between the two countries in Yerevan and a public apology from a group of Turkish intellectuals to the people of Armenia.

But Shahbazyan was ready to forgive only on condition that Turkey give up the territory that many Armenians (and Armenia’s now-superseded 1990 declaration of independence) refer to as “western Armenia.”

Michael Gulyar had also come to pay his respects. At 19, he is more than 50 years Shahbazyan’s junior. His grandfather escaped the pogroms in Turkey, and of his family, he said, “They don’t want to find terms with the Turks.”

But he has a different view. “Turkey has changed,” he said. “Many Turkish have a European mentality.”

And while he condemns the killings and expulsions, he said he understands how complicated the idea of apologizing can be for Turkey. “Now it is difficult because when Turkey recognizes the genocide, they must give back land.” The question of reparations lingers, despite many officials’ efforts to discourage such expectations. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a political party that just left the governing coalition over the deal with Turkey, still calls for land and property in Turkey to be returned to the descendants of its Armenian owners.

Outside Armenia, many analysts and diplomats have welcomed the Turkish-Armenian thaw, but inside the country, it’s clear that some are more ready than others.

“We’re coming to the stage when we must speak more openly to the public about their neighbors,” Edward Nalbandian, the Armenian foreign minister, said. “If you live somewhere and all your neighbors will not be [your] friends, how could you live?”

Armenia is largely isolated in its southern Caucasus neighborhood. In addition to the closed border with Turkey, movement and trade between it and its eastern neighbor, Azerbaijan, are frozen due to the conflict between the two countries over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave within Azerbaijan that is occupied by ethnic Armenians. The two sides fought a war over the land in the early 1990s and a sporadically broken cease fire is in place.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993, in solidarity with its ally Azerbaijan after an advance by Armenian troops into Azerbaijani territory.

For years, Armenian officials have insisted that the border closures have not hampered progress, and there is some evidence for that. For more than a decade before the financial crisis hit last year, the country’s economy grew annually by double digits and its poverty rate dropped. But, although Nalbandian said the diplomatic overtures began in May 2008, the August war between Georgia and Russia crimped Armenia’s trade flows and lent some urgency to a rapprochement with its western neighbor.

Public opinion on the issue is difficult to gauge comprehensively. Some Armenian analysts caution against relying on opinion polls, but they note that Rule of Law, the political party most strongly against reconciliation, took just 7 percent of the votes in the most recent parliamentary elections.

But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation took 13 percent of the vote. “Fifteen years of blockade have not produced the intended result,” said Kiro Manoyan, an ARF official, saying that there have been neither deaths from starvation nor economic disaster and that Armenia does not urgently need trade with Turkey. “It hasn’t been the end of us. We have managed to survive.”

Manoyan said his party favors an open border, but without preconditions. Turkey has long demanded the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Azerbaijani territories ringing Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenia deems a security zone for the enclave. Because Turkey has sent recent signals that it would not lift this condition, and because the governments have not released details of their agreement, Manoyan said he can only assume that the Armenian government is acceding to Istanbul’s demands.

Like Manoyan, Stepan Safaryan, a member of parliament from the opposition Heritage Party, said, “The point is not whether we open the border. The point is how and at what price.”WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

With deep-seated enmities, the passage of time and the emergence of a new generation typically helps to heal wounds. But in Yerevan, not all the signs point in one direction.

Adjacent to the genocide memorial sits a museum, opened in 1995. On commemoration day, parents led their children, some as young as 3 or 4, past old photos, enlarged to about 6 square meters, of Turkish soldiers posing proudly behind the decapitated heads of Armenian religious leaders, of an Armenian woman and her two young children who had starved to death and whose emaciated bodies had been left to bake in the desert sun, of white-coated Armenian doctors hanging from a gallows.

Suren Manukyan, the museum’s deputy director, said, “We understand that it is very difficult for Turks to accept that their grandfathers were murderers. This museum is part of Turkish history, too. The recognition of the Armenian genocide is not just a problem for Armenian society. It’s a problem for Turkish society, too.”

Manukyan said he sees a change in Turkey. “The first step is a discussion. I think in Turkey now we have this discussion.”

The 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul by a Turkish nationalist provoked an outcry in Turkey, with tens of thousands of Turks attending his funeral. In December a group of Turkish intellectuals posted an online apology for the events of 1915-1917 in the form of a petition. It has been signed by nearly 30,000 people around the world.

“Who could envision, just one year ago, two years ago, that 30,000 Turks could sign a petition to ask for [forgiveness] from the Armenian people?” Foreign Minister Nalbandian said.

Whether they will get it is an open question. Takoulte Moutoufian, 42, was among those parents bringing their children to the museum that day. Asked what she and her husband were teaching their two sons, ages 14 and 9, about Turks, she said, “That they are our enemy.”

Barbara Frye is an editor with TOL.

May 1, 2009
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE? COMMEMORATED IN TURKEY
From: Mihran Kalaydjian <[email protected]>
———————————-

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATED IN TURKEY

By Ayse Gunaysu • on April 27, 2009 •

ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)-On April 24, the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Organization of Turkey organized an event commemorating the Armenian Genocide in Istanbul. The commemoration was held in what was formerly the “tobacco warehouse,” now renovated and being used for exhibitions, events, and meetings.

The event opened with Armenian and Assyrian songs performed by the group “Kardes Turkuler” (Songs of Brotherhood).

Keskin and Zarakolu address the audience. A photograph of Taniel Varoujan is seen in the background.

Lawyer Eren Keskin greeted the audience, numbering around 150, and said: “Today is the 24th of April, the 94th anniversary of the arrests in Istanbul which started the Armenian Genocide in 1915.” She added, “The official history [in Turkey] denies the genocide, but we know what happened and we believe it’s important to tell people the truth. So, today we will commemorate the most brilliant intellectuals of the Ottoman Armenians: the poets, writers, physicians, lawyers, and members of parliament, who were taken away on the 24th of April, 1915 and murdered.”

The Bosphorus Performance Arts Group presented the life stories and poems of three great Armenian poets who perished during the genocide-Roupen Sevag, Siamanto, and Taniel Varoujan-as well as the life and work of writer, lawyer, and parliamentary member Krikor Zohrab, who was also killed during the genocide. The presentation was accompanied by photographs projected onto a screen and Armenian folk music played in the background.

Publisher Ragip Zarakolu talked about Teotig, the Armenian writer who was arrested together with the others but escaped miraculously, and his famous book Hushartzan Abril Dasnimegi, which will be published in Turkish soon by the Belge publishing house. An exhibition of pages from this book was held in conjunction with the event, with lit candles under each page. A brief Turkish translation of each page was also provided.

In turn, Eren Keskin talked about Gomidas, while songs performed by Gomidas himself (recorded in 1912 in Paris) were played in the background and his photographs projected on the screen. At the end, Eren Keskin said, “Let’s leave the last word to Gomidas Vartabed.” And Gomidas’ song “Karun a” was heard while images of the deportation of Armenians were projected on the screen.

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Comments

By Tanguy on April 27th, 2009 at 8:29 am

Congratulations to people having the courage to face truth despite the position of their state. Question to all readers : how do you know if what you are educated to is true or false ? US were taught about terrible communists while USSR was educated to hate capitalists … how could an american or russian know if this education was based on true facts ? How could it all now vanish (nobody in the States or USSR would bring such positions now …) … To all Turkish people against the idea that their ancestors may have done this, knowing from their education they are right, how can you take position without really going to see genocide museums and all the facts that made it so that so many neutral countries recognized this, knowing the ones that did not recognize did not because Turkey is a priviledged partner … Please – before reacting negatively to this – try to accept that what you know in Turkey about this genocide is only from your education, and that all could have been done to make you think the way the state wants … like USSR and US at the time …
Give back Armenians their dignity by recognizing the past … no solution can be found if problem is not identified .., don’t let them stare at Ararat, historical site of Armenia, and Ani, their former capital, behind your border … give them back this little territory, like Germans once did …

By Beemer on April 27th, 2009 at 12:55 pm

I am very touched by these commemoration in Turkey. A lot of Armenians died, but the truth will never die.

By Liz on April 27th, 2009 at 3:26 pm

I am an Armenian,born in Yerevan raised in the US. I must say that I have complete respect for every Turkish person that does their own research on the Armenian Genocide, and forms his own judgment on what really happened and not what their government told them what happened.And I must say, alot of Turks know the truth,but their pride will not allow them to accept the truth. Pride and dignity is accepting the truth and making mends, not denying it and giving the world the image that Turks are liers. I really wouldn’t feel proud being called a lier. The facts are out there do your own research, learn the truth. I did my own research even after my grandma told me that her dad died in the hands of Turks. I wanted to research both sides before I formed a judgment. And now I am convinced by my own research that there was an Armenian Genocide. Its really ok to say sorry, but to deny the truth is like condoning what your ancestors did.

By Aslan Bey on April 27th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

Ayse Gunaysu is an pro Armenian and sympathiser in the cause. Anything she writes should not be treated as trustworthy. The article is highly unlikely to be true…
I have a friend who grew up in Istanbul living in Yesilkoy, which is predominantly Armenian. He is a Turk. He went to school with Armenian kids, attended university with them, and some of these Armenian students went on to perform their military service. One is a dentist and even displays the Turkish flag and a foto of himself in his reception are of his dentist. They still catch up. One of his friends now resides in the US, and every couple of years, returns to Istanbul to visit. They meet and my friend collects the rent (in cash) from his tennant and gives it to him each visit (in cash)…
This is the trust they have in one another…
I am one person who spent the a considerable time in Turkey, and studied high school and Lise in Izmir, Turkey. I had friends of all sorts. Kurdish, Jewish etc. I travelled alot in Turkey over the years and prettymuch went everywhere.
Turks do not preach hatred of Armenians, (Can you say the same for yourselves?)I myself did not find out about the so called “Genocide” until 2002 when I came across some silly website. To be honest, I beleived it at first, then knowing my own countrymen, our history etc I started to do some research. Without being biassed I have learned what I have learned and am quite comfortable about it. It was a tragedy, yes, it was a dark terrible time in Anatolia… Armenians wanted their own lands and were tricked by Russians.. I can understand this and why you did what you did…
Why wont you open your archives for the historians to research? The Turkish government for decades have been inviting historians and scholars to investigate the archives of all those countries involved, Russia, Armenia, France, US and England. Recep Tayip Erdogan just in his comments on the Obama speach yesterday said “I have written a letter to the prime minister of Armenia in 2005 asking him to open his archives so a joint investigation can occur. The results should to to the international courts…. And Turkey is willing to accept its history, just show us unconditional, categorical, decisive truth in recorded (undocted) documents. Remember you are talking about rewriting history and the history of peoples who have been around as long as history itself.
By the way, Prime Minister Erdogan is yet to receive a reply. What is it Armenia is hiding???
Read the below// (Because you all speak and write Turkish fluently)
You can review this link :

“MEKTUBUMA CEVAP ALAMADIM”

– Ancak gösterdiğimiz bu hassasiyetin iyi algılanmadığını da zaman zaman görüyoruz. 1915 olaylarıyla ilgli önceki gün yapılan açıklamaları gerçeği yansıtmayan bir tarih yorumu olarak görüyorum. Açıklama metninin olayların bir bölümünün kaleme alındığını görüyorum. Tarihe ve tarih bilimcilerine bırakılması gereken böyle bir uzmanlık konusunun sürekli olarak kullanılması, her yıl lobilerin istismar meselesi haline getirilmesi, ülkeler arasındaki ilişkilerin normalleşmesini engelliyor.

– Türkiye olarak tarihçiler tarafından incelenmesi için her zaman samimi bir gayret içerisinde olduk. 2005′te bizzat yazdığım mektupla bu mektubun da cevabını almış değilim. İyi niyetli önerilerimiz karşılık bulmadık.

By Bernard Nazarian on April 27th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Thank you my dear Ragip. I have received your e-mails about this historic event organised by you and the Istanbul Shubasi of Insan Haklari. As before, once again I salute your (and Istanbul Human Rights Branch members’ and activists’ – Ayse Gunaysu and Ereen Keskin amongst others) courage, deepest decency, integrity, humanity and principled friendship.
I was moved to read your email announcements about this event but really touched and moved to tears reading this account (above) and imagining the poetry of Siamanto, Varoujan… and the music of Vartapet Komitas being performed in Turkish on such a day in such a venue (where it all started!) by such people… .
It makes me sick that our authorities in Yerevan are presenting their negotiations with the Nazis in Ankara in the context of De Gaul-Adenauer negotiations in post-war Europe, therefore dignifying the deeply undemocratic and aggressive regime in Ankara with respect which it clearly does not possess or deserve and perpetrating the fallacy/deceptive self fantasy (deliberately cultivated once again by Europe and the US) that the two parties (aggressive Genocide perpetrator/denier Turkey and weak little Genocide victim Armenia) are equals!!!
Long Live the Struggle for true democracy in Turkey
Down with the militarist/aggressive Nazi regime in Ankara
Best,
Bernard

By OCDevin on April 28th, 2009 at 4:52 pm

If you are truly interested in finding out exactly what happened you need to do a little unbiased research about it yourself. Armenia as a nation is a troubled one. They have been used and manipulated throughout the history by western nations and Russia. Most Armenians have a little in common and this makes it very difficult to unite and accomplish peace within their borders. They do NOT agree on any of the important issues that can better their future, but the only issue that unites the majority is their hatred towards TURKS and the Armenian leaders and the politicians know that and they use that extensively to their own personal benefits. Growing up in Turkey the most will tell you that they have no issues or hatred towards Armenia or Armenians, most are not even aware of the way Armenians feel about them. This will eventually change and more and more people will eventually find out about it if Armenians continue with their attitude towards Turkey and Turkish people. By doing that you are NOT accomplishing anything, but hurting yourselves and your country. Why involve International Community, spend all that money all over the world instead of feeding your people. How do you thing you are going to benefit, if this so called genocide gets recognized internationally. Everybody in the area put their past behind and investing in their futures including Azerbaijan, but because of this hatred Armenia is being left behind in a land lock position, being manipulated and used by Russia again. Armenians WAKE UP! Russia is not your friend or solution to your problems. Stop being used and manipulated by Russia for their National interest.
Because of Armenian attitude towards Turks, find out what they have done to people Azerbaijan recently, many mass graves of men, women and kids to prove that. Now explain, why would a nation who believes that they have been subject to a genocide would subject the others to a genocide like this. The fact remains that Armenia have betrayed, back stabbed and deceived Turks after 600 years of great relationship by joining Russian Forces and attacking Turks. They have burned the villages down and killed the Turks and the Muslims in the area without discriminating men, women and kids which nobody talks about. This 600 years with Turks were Armenia’s golden years in history if you take your time and study their history you will see that. Do you really think that after all these years Turks woke up one morning and said lets kill all the Armenians today, does this really make sense???

Here is the truth on so called Armenian Genocide!!!

http://www.ermenisorunu.gen.tr/english/intro/index.html

By arpi haroutunian on April 29th, 2009 at 10:22 am

Don’t you have anything better to do than spread your manure at an Armenian site?

By arpi haroutunian on April 29th, 2009 at 10:23 am

By the way, my comment was intended for OCDevin.

By Bernard Nazarian on April 29th, 2009 at 11:26 am

Can our Turkish fiends Aslan Bey and OCDevin please take their heads out of the deep sand that they are buried in and answer this one question: If all the propaganda that you are repeating parrot style is true then WHERE ARE THE 2.5 MILLION ARMENIANS WHO HAD LIVED ON THEIR “ARMANI AYALATI” FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS NOW? And even if you actually believe your government propaganda and, as you say, the Armenians did revolt and side with the Russians, etc. etc. why were the entire population (2.5 million or as your government propaganda says 600,000!) deported/destroyed/killed?
as for Erdoghan’s letter to Armenia’s President in 2005 it was answered same week. the Armenian government has used many international diplomatic opportunities to repeat that answer publicly but since the Turkish government does not like the answer it was given it lies about not having received a relpy; see here
and here
– 37k
and here
– 37k

By OCDevin on April 29th, 2009 at 2:22 pm

Mr. haroutunian, I understand you don’t like to hear opinion of others, I feel for you and your loss, least you could do is show me the same sympathy. A human life and a mind is a terrible think to waste, regardless of race, religion, Turk or Armenian. It must not happen, in any place or time, but why is it difficult for you to accept both Turks and Armenians slained at the collapse of the Empire.
Mr. Nazarian, I am sure you do truly believe the information about 2.5 Million Armenians being in the area, but I assure you it is an impossibility for that area to have a population of that size at the time. If there were 2.5 million Armenians in the area constituting lets say 20% of the population you are saying the area had 10 million people. Does it make sense for such a remote area having that kind of population.
The borders are opening, and the both sides have agreed to study the events and the truth is about the come out, we all have waited long time and I have no problem waiting a little longer. You will see, both the Armenians and the Turks will overcome this challenge regardless of the results within our time and we will have to learn how to live together, our ancestors managed it for over a thousand year why can’t we. Many Turks died at the same time, the Ottoman Empire collapsed into pretty much nothing, those responsible were charged and arrested, I don’t understand what else Armenians could ask for. Again like your family you don’t get to choose your neighbors. Most Turks have forgiving you for the betrayal during that time, also forgiven you for the killings of Turkish officials, their wives and children in 38 cities and 21 Countries why can’t you.

By Ankene Boyrazian on April 29th, 2009 at 7:21 pm

To OC Devin and all Turks – you believe what you believe to be true about the Armenina Genocide because your government has educated you so. They have re-written historical facts, re-written history books, destroyed whatever archives they could get their hands on in order to cover this sad and dark history of the Ottoman Turks. They made sure there was not one single piece of evidence in the entire country to show otherwise. Sit back and think – everything you know about the Armenian Genocide is what you have read and studied in your country, what your government told you to be “true” is this not so? Even your parents were so taught. How would you know anything otherwise if you do not do the research yourself! Armenians did not sit down one day and make all of this up. How absurd. This is a government conspiracy against all of it’s Turkish citizens. These killings and murders perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish “friends” at the time, against the entire Armenian population of Historical Eastern Anatolia in every Vilayet were documented by non-Armenian missionaries and ambassadors living and witnessing the fisrt Genocide of the Twentieth Century – right then and there.

It’s done! Now, not you, but your government needs to fess up.

I am curious, do any of your history books document the order from Constantinople from Talaat Pasha directing all Vilayets in how they were to execute this order and how they were to “exterminate” the Armeninas? This original document exists.

By Bernard Nazarian on April 29th, 2009 at 8:53 pm

Having read Mr/Mrs OCDevin’s last extremely patronising and ostrich style posting where he completely fails to answer my simple questions and instead goes on aggressive and automatic Turkish official history or parrot/ostrich mode, with his head buried deep in the sand, (i.e the Armenians were “good people” for 500 years of Ottoman Empire but when they suddenly decided to be “bad people…traitors…gaurs..” and sided with the Russians… etc. etc., instead of continuing to be like obedient sheep, we Turks had to ‘deport’ them to the desert, etc. etc. the usual kindergartenor official ‘history’ that most Turks are taught in their Kemalist schools which no one else in the world agrees or accepts) I have to agree with Mr Harutunian’s posting and say that it is pointless to try and reason with these guys in the same way that it would have been pointless to have tried to educate and enlighten any Germans away from racist nationalst thinking and resoning without the complete destruction of the Nazi state by the Allies and complete de-Nazification of German state, education and society at large. This task is simply too great to be accomplished through this sort of web-reasoning by individuals. Mr OCDevin and millions of others who ‘think’ and ‘reason’ like him are proof that Turkish society as a whole is sick to the point that it is incapable of reforming itself with civilised, democratic-liberal values. These values must be imposed on it from outside, just like it was in the case of Germany and Japan – note what happens to people like Hrant Dink and Orhan Pamuk and thousands of other enlightened people who do not accept the official version of history in Turkey: they get persecuted and prosecuted under article 301 and if that doesn’t work they get murdered or forced into exile abroad. And yet a society that is not allowed to freely debate its history and has laws to punish any of its own citizens – including through torture, murder and exile, etc. – who are intelligent enough not to believe the official-kindergarten version of Turkish history but want to find out the truth for themselves through independent research and study, has the cheeck to lecture others and invite Armenia to research into the Genocide!
In this sense it is highly unfair that the Armenians and the Armenian Republic (and to some extent the Assyrians, Greeks/Cypriots) should be shouldering this fight almost single-handedly – a task which is simply above their capacity or capability as they have already been at the receiving end of Ottoman-Turkish subjugation and oppression, and brutal Turkish racist nationalism for so often so long. Europe and the US who have created this nightmarish monster, both through deliberate policy due to self interest as well as sometimes neglect and naivity, have a duty to sort the problem out before it commits firther upheavals/crimes/genocide against Kurds, Armenians, Greeks, etc. Just as importantly, Turkey must be democratised/liberalised/civilised before it can be Europeanised (can be let into Europe/civilised international community) otherwise there is every danger that Europe will be barbarised/Turkified as the latest examples in Davos and the Danish Mohammed cartoons/Rasmussen-Nato shambles clearly demonstrate.
May 1, 2009

US Congresswoman: “1915 events are not genocide”

Washington – APA. Member of US House of Representative from Ohio Jean Schmidt will make an official complaint against the Armenian, who libeled her for non-recognition of false “Armenian genocide”. Schmidt decided to complain to the Ohio election committee against her former rival in November 4 2008 elections David Grigorian, APA reports quoting Milliyet newspaper. Grigorian accused Schmidt in receiving of blood money from Turks to deny the “genocide”. Schmidt said it was not correct to call the 1915 events as genocide. “I never voted for the “Armenian genocide” resolutions at the Congress. I always consider that it is not a problem of the Congress. I support the idea of establishing the independent international commission of the experts to resolve this issue once for all”.

Schmidt reminded that US influential scientists also confirmed that it wouldn’t be correct to use “genocide” word for the tragic events of 1915. Famous historian Bernard Lewis and Norman Itzkowitz of Princeton University, Stanford Shaw of the University of California, Justin McCarthy from Louisville University, Guenter Lewy and Brian Williams from the University of Massachusetts, David Fromkin, Boston University, Avigdor Levy, Brandeis University, Michael Gunter of Tennessee Tech University, Pierre Oberling, Hunter College, Roderick Davidson, George Washington University, Michael Radu, Foreign Policy Research Institute and military historian Edward J. Erickson are among them.

Schmidt said supporters of her election campaign had no relations with the government of Turkey and she had the documents confirming that. She said Grigorian violated election laws deliberately and she demanded the election committee to take penal sanctions against him.

000000000000000CEMAATDEN ZIYARET 0000000000000000

VISIT TO CONGRESSWOMAN JEAN SCHMIDT / April 1st, 2009

On April 1st, 2009 the Rumi Forum visited Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (OH) .

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US Congresswoman: “1915 events are not genocide”