Monday, 12 October 2009
For a brief time on Saturday, October 10, it was uncertain whether the historic protocols to be signed between Armenia and Turkey would include both Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Armenian foreign minister Edouard Nalbandian’s signatures. A last minute crisis ensued as disagreements broke out over the wording of statements that both sides wanted to read at the conclusion of the signing. As each minute ticked by, the likelihood of further diplomatic relations and the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border seemed to slip away; however, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton came to the rescue during the final moments, urging both to move forward and sign the documents which had been months in the making.
In an exchange of calls and meetings, Clinton was able to mediate the situation and encourage both sides to sign. In regards to the incident, she stated that her and Philip Gordon, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, continued making their points and reiterating that “This needed to be done.”
She added, “It is just what you sign up for,” and that, “When you are trying to help people resolve long-standing problems between themselves, it is a very challenging process.”
The establishment of healthy relations and the anticipated opening of the closed land border between Turkey and Armenia, which has been closed since 1993, is a protracted process that still faces many obstacles. The Armenian and Turkish Parliaments both have to ratify the protocols before the land border will be opened and Armenia has an active Diaspora fighting tooth and nail against further relations.
Ken Hachikian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America has blasted the signing. “The success of Turkey in pressuring Armenia into accepting these humiliating, one-sided protocols proves, sadly, that genocide pays.”
He added that, “President [Barack] Obama, rather than honoring his pledge to recognize the Armenian genocide, went in exactly the opposite direction, applying the full force of our nation’s diplomacy to twist the arm of a landlocked and blockaded Armenia-a nation still struggling with the brutal legacy of its near-destruction- into accepting a dangerous set of protocols that call into question this very crime against humanity.”
Dr. Ihsan Bal, Head of the Center for Security Studies at USAK, weighs in on the protocols and the Diaspora by saying, “The Turkish-Armenian protocol is firmly grounded in a scientific and realistic perspective that is not loaded with intensive emotions emanating from the history between the two nations. The reason why the Armenian Diaspora is furious over the protocols is due to the raison d’ętre of their existence, April 24, the day they claim that Armenian history begins, is being taken away from them in front of their eyes. Accepting that entrenched conviction almost as a religious dogma that cannot be investigated scientifically, The Armenian Diaspora flew into a fury because their ‘religion’ is being questioned and the very verse they thought to have been finitely true and irreversible is being repudiated by the very people once thought to be sharing that dogma. It has become incredibly clear in this process that new openings as this require courage, a new vision and new definitions. It is only hoped that the Yerevan and Ankara governments have that courage and wisdom to make that opening come true.”
Director of USAK, Dr. Sedat Laciner adds that “The Armenian Church and the political parties have used the problems between Turkey and Armenia for decades in cementing the non-homogenous Armenian society. Diaspora Armenians have abused the problems with Turks for their personal and institutional interest at the cost of Armenia. Their priority is not the State of Armenia, but the Diaspora. They know that the land-locked and relatively poor Armenia has to solve its disputes with Turkey in order to survive. The foremost priority for all Armenians must be to protect and ensure the survival of the young state of Armenia, instead of strengthening the Armenian Diaspora. Armenia should not be part of the adventurous games of its Diaspora and Russia.”
By Stacy Maruskin (JTW)
