The future in a signature

The signature of a protocol between Turkey and Armenia, marking the normalization of their diplomatic relations, is due to take place in Zurich on 10 October. News of the breakthrough was given to the AFP by a minister of the government in Ankara, who asked to remain anonymous. So, after a century of hostility and silence, the two countries are due to mark their rapprochement with a signature that various papers have already described as “historic”, even if caution is obligatory, as explained to SIR Europe by the writer of Armenian origin, Antonia Arslan, author of such books as Skylark Farm and The Smyrna Road. “Unfortunately – she explains – it has already happened that the excellent Turkish diplomacy has taken steps apparently in the right direction which later turned out to be illusory”, without forgetting the fact that the normalization of relations between the two countries still does not mean Turkish recognition of the Armenian genocide. “On this front there is still a great deal of work to be done”, says the writer. Turkish persecution of the Armenians remains an unresolved issue. The first wave of persecution took place between 1894 and 1896, ordered by the Ottoman sultan Abdul-Hamid II, the second during the First World War, when the genocide of the Armenians was consummated between 1915 and 1916: a million and a half people were deported and eliminated by order of the Turkish government.How do you judge this rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey?“Personally I feel cautious, very cautious optimism. Unfortunately it has already happened that the excellent Turkish diplomacy has taken steps apparently in the right direction, which later turned out to be illusory. In this case I have the vague impression that the Republic of Armenia, so small and fragile, is seeking this rapprochement also in the light of her own domestic situation of crisis, which the population undoubtedly experiences more at first hand than do the Armenians of the diaspora. Turkey, on the other hand, has interests in the Caucasus, which would also be served by this normalization”.A rapprochement opposed both by Turkish nationalists and the Armenian diaspora… “The Armenian diaspora, as is quite clear from the various blogs, is anguished and irritated because it is in some way excluded from this process. It is quite possible, indeed, that this rapprochement, though approved by the two Governments, will not be ratified by the national parliaments. This is especially the case in Turkey where the military caste is very powerful and often in conflict with the Premier Erdogan and with the President Abdullah Gul, who, let’s not forget, was the one who started this process, by accepting the invitation of his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan, to go to the stadium in Yerevan to watch together the Armenia-Turkey football match, in a qualifying round for the World Soccer Championships in South Africa in 2010. These are things that we underestimate in the West, but which are extremely important in the East. The fact that Gul went to Armenia triggered a discussion in the Turkish media that lasted for three months. It was a highly symbolic and very powerful gesture”.Might not the resumption of diplomatic relations eventually lead to Turkish recognition of the Armenian genocide?“I would say that there’s still a lot of work to be done on this front. The entire framework of the Turkish State was founded on forgetting what happened in 1915. Ataturk, who founded the State, personally was not responsible for the genocide and said so in writing; he gave one or two interviews in which he stigmatized this impoverishment and weakening of the nation due to the fact that so many of his compatriots had been killed. But when it came to founding the State, he reinstalled in office many of those who had perpetrated the genocide. All this information is only now coming to light. Still to this day it is obligatory in Turkish state schools, and even in private Armenian schools in Istanbul, to teach the history of these events according to the dictates of those who see the Armenians as the guilty party. The whole affair needs to be placed in its right historical context. There is a kind of triumphalism that transpires from the headlines in the media on this event that I find mistaken and counter-productive”.Swiss mediation was needed to bring the two sides closer together. Don’t you think that’s odd given that the resumption of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia has always been sponsored by the USA and the EU?“It could be mere chance, given that Switzerland has always been a neutral zone where many international organizations meet through diplomatic channels. Many Armenians, besides, fled to Switzerland to study in the early twentieth century. In the oriental mind set, Switzerland is still a neutral zone”.By history and position, is Armenia a country that looks more to Europe or to Asia?“Armenia is a country that has always looked to Europe, rather than to Asia. Historically she has always been a bridge between East and West, but with her gaze turned to the latter and without forgetting her own roots”.