Turkey and Armenia to Establish Diplomatic Ties
On August 31st, 2009, Turkey and Armenia announced that they “have agreed to establish diplomatic relations,” as reported by Sebnem Arsu of the New York Times. This is a huge breakthrough, for Armenia and Turkey “have never had diplomatic relations.” The nation of Armenia was established in the aftermath of the 1915 to 1918 Armenian Genocide. The main disagreement between Armenia and Turkey today is whether the massacre of more than a million Armenians by the Ottoman Turk government was in fact a genocide—a topic “about which there is little dispute among historians.” Turkey continues to “resist” the label, “arguing that the Armenians were killed in warfare.”
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian said in an interview with the BBC Russian service that Armenia does “not regard a recognition of genocide as a preliminary condition for establishing relations.” In fact, Armenia insisted “that border and trade relations be normalized before any discussion of genocide began.” However, the official Protocol on Development of Relations Between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey does state that “at the latest 1 month after the first meeting of the intergovernmental commission,” a number of submissions will operate, including
"the sub-commission on the historical dimension to implement a dialogue with the aim to restore mutual confidence between the two nations, including an impartial scientific examination of the historical records and archives to define existing problems and formulate recommendations, in which Armenian, Turkish, as well as Swiss, and other international experts shall take part."
- How do nations move on after violent conflicts?
- What is genocide denial? Some scholars have argued that genocide denial is a form of hate speech or even the final stage of genocide. What is the impact of genocide denial?
- To what extent can nations have strong diplomatic relations if they hold on to different versions of history?
- Why do you think some people have wanted to separate this difficult history from the diplomatic process? Though Armenia insisted “that border and trade relations be normalized before any discussion of genocide began,” many in the Armenian diaspora maintain that recognition of the Armenian genocide should precede the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey. Why do you think many in the Armenian diaspora feel this way? Why do you think Armenia established diplomatic ties with Turkey when Turkey has not yet recognized the Armenian genocide?
- Arsu writes that “for Turkey, better relations with Armenia could improve its chances for admission to the European Union.” Should Turkey have to recognize the Armenian genocide before being admitted to the European Union?
