Armenian Reporter:

Editors in Armenia are split over the newly unveiled Armenia-Turkey protocols

Published: Thursday September 10, 2009

Hakob Avedikian . Photolure

Yerevan - Armine Ohanyan is the editor of the daily Hraparak. She is one of the few editors in Armenia who has consistently supported the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey - even when the simplistic formulation, "the Turk remains a Turk," was popular in Armenia's political culture and found official favor.

"Our newspaper has a positive attitude toward the protocols that have been initialed," she said. "In them I see possibilities for the development of the country and for progress. Having an open border with neighbors, trade, good-neighborly relations, and tourism in both directions is normal; the opposite is not normal. In the end, centuries of enmity cause greater harm than the nonrecognition of the Genocide causes," she added.

Ms. Ohanyan thinks that the recognition of the Genocide by Turkey too must be achieved by normalizing relations and overcoming enmity.

Asked whether Armenia was paying too steep a price for the improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations, Ms. Ohanyan said, "If you are talking about that infamous commission, then I see no great danger there." The protocols provide for a commission on the "historical dimension" that is expected to examine the veracity of the Armenian Genocide, a matter that specialists consider settled.

"If you are talking about returning the territories adjacent to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic," Ms. Ohanyan continued, "I think we will have to return them sooner of later, independently of Armenia-Turkey relations." She was referring to the repeated statements of Turkish officials that they would not agree to normalize relations with Armenia unless an Azerbaijan-favorable resolution to the Karabakh conflict is agreed to.

16 years of Turkish hostility

Most of the mass media in Armenia have kept pace with the government; whereas in the past they joined the administration of former President Robert Kocharian in being critical of Turkey and its hostile actions against Armenia, they are now joining the administration of President Serge Sargsian in advocating normal relations and praising the protocols that have been negotiated.

An exception is the Yerkir Media television station, which is focused on persuading viewers that the protocols strongly favor the interests of Turkey over those of Armenia and the Armenian people. Gegham Manukian, who heads the station's news and political programming, said Turkey is getting much more out of the bargain than it was reasonable to expect.

"For 16 years, Armenia drew the attention of the international community to Turkey's deliberate blockade; there were numerous calls by Armenia and its friends to end the blockade," he said. "Now the government signs on to the formulation that Armenia and Turkey ‘agree to open the common border.' But Armenia never closed the border. In one fell swoop, Turkey is absolved of 16 years of unilateral hostility, of being the blockader, of trying to strangle Armenia."

Mr. Manukian believes that if the protocols are ratified, Turkey will see all three of its longstanding preconditions met: first, the recognition of existing borders and their inviolability and, moreover, a confirmation of the Treaty of Kars; second, a blow to the Armenian side in the Karabakh conflict through the endorsement of the principle of the inviolability of borders - with no mention of the key right of self-determination of peoples; and third, the historical commission, which is supposed to engage in "an impartial scientific examination of the historical records and archives" - as if scholarly research hitherto has been biased.

A $12 ride in 1976

Hakob Avedikian, the editor of the daily Azg, does not think it's a time to panic or get excited. Rather, it's a time for cold, thoughtful approaches. It is a historic moment, he said, because Turkey is expressing "a willingness to enter diplomatic relations with Armenia, reopen the border with our country, and to end its blockade of Armenia, encouraging Azerbaijan to take a similar step."

Mr. Avedikian is one of the few Armenians who crossed the border in question back in 1976 on his way from Lebanon to the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic - a reminder that the border was open even during the Cold War. He said he paid $12 to take the Kars-Akhurian train. Mr. Avedikian said few Armenians took that train. It was mostly used by Turks going to Baku. If the border is opened, "Armenia will immediately receive a range of economic opportunities," he said.

Open borders will allow Armenia to take advantage of new routes for communications, energy, and cargo, Mr. Avedikian argued. The burden of the Russian military presence will be lightened, Armenia will become less dependent on the economic and political whims of Georgia, and broad possibilities for the diversification of the economy emerge, he added.

But the protocols in their present state, he said, also contain "strong risks, massive concessions, pregnant with fateful consequences.

"A strong psychological and practical blow is being delivered against the Armenian Cause - Hai Tahd. The protocols in effect force our people to give up on the Great Dream, and they undermine the solidarity of Armenia and the diaspora, as well as the solidarity of the people and the state," he said.

Mr. Avedikian concludes with a rhetorical question: "Do we want the great Armenia of our dreams, or the small but real Armenia we have?"

Send to a friend

Printer-Friendly