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After Centuries Of Hate, The Green Shoots Of Peace

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  • After Centuries Of Hate, The Green Shoots Of Peace

    AFTER CENTURIES OF HATE, THE GREEN SHOOTS OF PEACE
    by Chris Hennemeyer

    The National
    http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/a rticle?AID=/20091126/OPINION/711259947/1080/NATION AL
    Nov 26 2009
    UAE

    While much is made in some political and media circles of tensions
    between the cross and the crescent, a quiet rapprochement is occurring
    between two of the world's most hostile neighbours, who have long been
    glaring at one another over the Abrahamic fence. If stubborn domestic
    opposition can be overcome, the parliaments of Christian Armenia
    and Muslim Turkey will soon ratify protocols that will re-establish
    diplomatic relations and re-open their borders.

    The bad blood between these countries can hardly be overstated,
    stemming as it does from centuries of Ottoman abuses, followed by
    the 1915-16 genocide - there is no other word for it - inflicted
    on Turkey's Armenian population. According to the International
    Association of Genocide Scholars, more than a million people perished,
    and the scars of that crime are carried today by every Armenian,
    especially in the eight million strong diaspora.

    Outnumbering those in the home country by three to one, many Armenians
    abroad have made victimhood a cornerstone of their identity and are
    not about to concede anything to the Turks without a fight. As one
    homegrown Armenian put it to me: "For us the genocide is part of our
    make-up, but for them [the exiles] it's the centre of their being."

    It is for that reason that the president, Serzh Sargsyan, recently
    made a tour of Armenian communities in Lebanon, France, Russia and
    the United States. While many, like the noisy protesters who shouted
    "traitor" in Paris and Los Angeles, were deaf to his conciliatory
    message, others were willing to listen to the benefits of a resumption
    of relations with Turkey. Chief among these are economic, for Armenia
    is by any reckoning a poor country; per capita GDP is $6,300, about
    the same as El Salvador's and less than half that of Botswana.

    Further clouding the country's future is continued rapid migration.

    Since independence in 1991, the population has dropped from 4 million
    to at most 2.9 million, and may in fact be closer to 2.5 million.

    Astonishingly, tens of thousands of Armenians are even to be found
    working illegally in Turkey. This kind of human haemorrhaging is
    unsustainable. To make matters worse, with the Turkish border closed,
    the country's only legal trade goes through Russia, Georgia and Iran -
    hardly the kind of economic links an aspiring western democracy should
    be forced to have.

    While Turkey and Armenia are finally concluding that peace will serve
    their common interests, in neighbouring Azerbaijan the festering sore
    of Nagorno-Karabakh threatens to poison the entire process. Karabakh
    is Azeri territory, but long claimed by Armenia and occupied by Yerevan
    since 1994, after a bitter war that resulted in at least 20,000 deaths.

    Given the strong ethnic and religious links between Turks and Azeris,
    it's not surprising that the latter are appalled by talk of detente
    and the government has reacted with a worrying combination of panic
    and pugnacity. Only last week, for example, the Azeri president Ilham
    Aliyev held "peace" talks with his Armenian counterpart Sargsyan, but
    preceded the discussions with a threat to use war to liberate Karabakh.

    Commendably, Mr Sargsyan, who himself is originally from Karabakh,
    has not reacted to these provocations, and the Turks have avoided
    explicitly tying progress on the issue to ratification of their accords
    with Armenia. Nonetheless, all parties understand that there will be
    no permanent stability in the region until Karabakh is resolved.

    The US administration has thus far handled the Turkey-Armenia
    rapprochement dexterously, judiciously applying stick and carrot to
    encourage both sides. Unfortunately, some of Armenia's many supporters
    in the US Congress have been less than helpful, casting doubts on the
    Turkish deal and insisting that Ankara first recognize the genocide.

    Of course, such politicians have long been in the habit of taking
    their policy cues unquestioningly from some representatives of the
    Armenian-American community who tend to be long on sentimentality and
    short on reality. The eternal issue of recovering "lost Armenian lands"
    in eastern Turkey may, for example, strike a powerful emotional chord,
    but it is unlikely that the Armenian flag will soon fly again over
    Mount Ararat.

    Certainly the Armenians are at the very least entitled to a formal mea
    culpa from the Turkish state for the genocide, and it is probable that
    will happen within the next decade. However, acknowledging great crimes
    often takes a great amount of time. It wasn't until 2008 that the US
    Congress finally expressed regret for slavery, and what remains of the
    Herero and Nama people of Namibia are still waiting for compensation
    from the German government for their virtual extermination at the
    hands of the Kaiser's troops more than a century ago.

    In the meantime, Armenia has serious, pressing problems to resolve,
    including corruption, political intolerance, crime, migration and the
    economy. Re-engaging with its neighbour Turkey will present it with
    a new set of challenges, but it will also force Armenia to face its
    future rather than live in its sad, isolated past.

    Chris Hennemeyer is a vice president of Bridging the Divide,
    a development organisation for underprivileged communities in the
    Middle East and Africa www.bridging-the-divide.org
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