10 October 2009 was a historical day for Armenia and Turkey. Both countries met in Zürich together with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana. Swiss diplomats have been leading the negotiations for the past two years and were also present. The purpose and end-result of the meeting was signing a protocol to restore diplomatic ties and reopen their borders. Armenia and Turkey have been living in hostility for decades since, as the Armenian Diaspora call it, the “Armenian Genocide” in 1915 where hundreds of thousands Armenians died. There has been many discussions on the amount of deaths on both sides. However, it cannot be denied that both countries suffered from the war.
The meeting didn’t go as planned. The two countries couldn’t agree on two important issues, bringing along a 3 hours delay. The first issue was brought up by Armenia regarding the ”Armenian Genocide” committed in 1915 by the Ottoman empire. Turkey doesn’t deny that Armenians got killed in this period, but clarifies that the killings were part of the fighting of the first World War.[1] The second issue is relatively recent . It concerns the war between Armenia and Azerdbedjan over the, mainly populated by Armenians, region Nagorno Karabakh. Since that war occurred in 1993 Turkey closed its border with Armenian. As a result Armenia suffered a deep recession.
There still hasn’t been an agreement made by both parties regarding these two issues. Adjacent to this many Armenians worldwide disagree with the signing of the protocol as they want Turkey to acknowledge the “Armenian Genocide”.
Nevertheless, the signing of the protocol has definitely brought the two countries closer to each other. After the meeting, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan invited the Armenian Prime Minister Serzj Sarkisian to Turkey for the World Cup qualification match on the 14th of October between Turkey and Armenia. This would have been the first time in years that an Armenian Minister would be visiting Turkey.
The article was well-presented and well-structured. It started with the actual news but it also gave some background information to the readers who don’t know much about the Armenian and Turkish history. The reason why I chose this article is because I’m Armenian myself and I’m interested in the history of Armenia.
I personally think that signing of the accord is a great step forward in normalizing the relations between Armenia and Turkey. I have heard a lot of stories from my family about the ”Armenian Genocide”. Concluding from these stories and articles related to this matter, I would say that a genocide did take place in 1915. Still I can’t really give my opinion neither discuss it as I don’t have enough knowledge concerning this matter. We must certainly not forget what happened in 1915, but perhaps it’s time to give it a place in the history of Armenia and Turkey and start working on peace and collaboration for the sake of the future generations. I’m afraid though that this is only possible if Turkey agrees with Armenia on the Armenian issue and if Armenia withdraws from Nagorno-Karabakh. For this to happen would take many years, although the countries are moving in the right direction.
I would like to refer to the following link for the discussed article: http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2009/10/armenia-and-turkey-sign-landmark-deal/66112.aspx .
[1] Ghattas, Kim. “Armenia and Turkey normalise ties.“ 10 October 2009. BBC News. 18 October 2009 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8299712.stm>.
