Author: Andres-Papazian

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Dec 23 2010

AMERICANS DID RIGHT THING, SAYS TURKISH LAWMAKER

ANKARA (A.A) -Turkish lawmaker Suat Kiniklioglu, who is also the
chairman of US-Turkish Interparliamentary Friendship Group, said
Thursday that American congressmen did the right thing as the House
decided not to debate and pass a resolution on Armenian allegations.

“We went through tough times but common sense prevailed at the end,”
Kiniklioglu said.

Outgoing US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who strongly supports the
Armenian cause, failed on Wednesday to schedule a vote on a resolution
labelling the incidents of 1915 as “genocide.” Obama administration
opposes it.

Kiniklioglu said that US lawmakers did not move the legislation as the
United States could not take the risk of damaging already fragile
relations.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to US
President Barack Obama, Turkish President Abdullah Gul phoned Obama,
and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu talked to US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton to avoid passage of the resolution.

“Although there was a heavy Armenian pressure on US lawmakers, the
resolution had not been put on the agenda of the House. This is
because of Turkey’s significance in the international arena. Americans
did the right thing and we welcome their decision,” Kiniklioglu said.

From: A. Papazian

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Dec 23 2010

Turkish president thanks Obama, Clinton over Armenian genocide resolution

Istanbul, 23 December: Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Thursday
thanked to stance of senior U.S. executives who prevented the
resolution on the Armenian allegations regarding the incidents of 1915
from being included in the official daily agenda of the U.S. House of
Representatives.

“The U.S. administration mainly President Barack Obama and State
Secretary Hillary Clinton did their best on the matter. We appreciate
them. Thus, they have prevented Turkish-U.S. relations from being
captured by a totally irrelative issue,” Gul told reporters.

Gul said, “it is very clear how much importance both we and U.S.
President Obama attach to Turkish-U.S. relations. We are in close
cooperation on important issues concerning the region and the world.”

The resolution “H. Res. 252” –labelling the 1915 incidents which took
place shortly before the fall of the Ottoman Empire as genocide– was
approved by the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. House of
Representatives by a vote of 23 against 22 last March.

The adoption of the resolution caused wide reaction in Turkey, which
recalled its ambassador, who returned to Washington, D.C. a month
later.

Turkey has long been facing a systematic campaign of defamation
carried out by Armenian lobbying groups. The Armenian diaspora has
lately increased its organized activities throughout the world for the
recognition of their unfounded allegations in regard to the events of
1915 as “genocide” by national and local parliaments.

Armenian groups living in various countries try to get the publication
of many books on their allegations concerning the events of 1915 and
articles written by authors close to Armenian views in well-known
magazines and newspapers. Armenian organizations also orchestrate many
meetings, conferences and symposia in order to garner support and to
give them as much publicity as possible.

Armenian groups make sure that researchers and authors close to the
Armenian views take part in these meetings so that the issue always
remains on the agenda. Armenian circles, similarly, sponsors the
making of documentary films that advocate Armenian claims. They also
encourage the broadcasting of these films in many television channels.
Public opinion especially in Western countries is affected by these
films, books and articles published every year and their Parliaments
are left under constant pressure to recognize the Armenian allegations
as “undeniable historical truth”.

The activities of diaspora organizations are also supported by the
Armenian state. It is known that Armenian diplomatic missions abroad
carry out certain activities so that their allegations are recognized
in national legislatures.

Until today the parliaments of Argentina, Belgium, France,
Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Lebanon, the Russian
Federation, Slovakia, Uruguay, Greece, the Greek Cypriot
Administration, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Chile, Venezuela and the
European Parliament passed either resolutions or issued statements.

In addition, some local parliaments in the USA, Canada, Britain,
Australia, Argentina and Switzerland passed similar resolutions.

Turkey is of the view that parliaments and other political
institutions are not the appropriate fora to debate and pass judgments
on disputed periods of history. Past events and controversial periods
of history should be left to the historians for their dispassionate
study and evaluation.

In order to shed light on such a disputed historical issue, the
Turkish Government has opened all its archives, including military
records to all researchers. Furthermore, Turkey encourages historians,
scholars and researchers to freely examine and discuss this historical
issue in every platform. In order to have an objective and complete
analysis of the Turkish-Armenian relations, the Armenian archives
should also be opened and made available to the public and
researchers. For reaching the truth, historians must have access to
all related archives.

In this respect, in 2005, Turkey has officially proposed to the
Government of Armenia the establishment of a joint commission of
history composed of historians and other experts from both sides to
study together the events of 1915 not only in the archives of Turkey
and Armenia but also in the archives of all relevant third countries
and to share their findings with the public. Unfortunately, Armenia
has not responded positively to this initiative, yet. Turkey’s
proposal is still on the table.

If accepted by Armenia, Turkey’s proposal for setting up a Joint
Commission of History would also serve as a confidence-building
measure paving the way for a dialogue towards normalization of
relations between the two countries.

From: A. Papazian

Russian Financial Control Monitor(RFCM): Business News (English)
December 23, 2010 Thursday 12:28 PM GMT +3

Armenia to set up free trade zone for developing Russian business

ST PETERSBURG. Armenia intends to create a free trade zone that will
become a basis for development of Russian business, Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart,
Vladimir Putin.

Creating attractive conditions for Russian business is one of the
Armenian government’s priorities, Sargsyan said, expressing hope that
a new impetus will be given to Russian-Armenian relations next year.

The free trade zone comprising an industrial park and an innovations
fund is to be set up on the premises of the Mars plant in Yerevan,
capital of Armenia. The relevant bill has been prepared and will be
considered in Armenian parliament in 1q11.

Russia-Armenia trade, which dropped by approximately 20% during the
economic downturn, has resumed growth and increased 16% in
January-September, Putin said.

From: A. Papazian

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
December 23, 2010 Thursday 7:26 PM GMT +4

Turkish president: Azerbaijan’s occupied lands must be liberated (UPDATE)

Editor’s note: updated after first paragraph

Azerbaijan’s lands must be liberated from the Armenian occupation,
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said at the press conference in
Istanbul, the CNN Turk TV channel reported.

“Firstly Azerbaijan’s lands must be liberated from the occupation and
Azerbaijani refugees must return to their mother lands in order to
resolve the problems in Caucasus,” Gul said.

Gul also said that Turkey wants relations to be good with all neighbors.

“Armenia is also Turkey’s neighbor, and therefore, significant steps
have been taken to normalize relations with Armenia,” the President
said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

From: A. Papazian

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
December 23, 2010 Thursday 6:12 PM GMT +4

MEP tends to understand situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani FM
doubts on impartiality of his position

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 23 /Trend, E.Ostapenko/

European Parliament’s rapporteur on Armenia Tomasz Poreba traveled to
Nagorno-Karabakh on his own initiative to review the situation on the
ground and preparation of a report. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry
insists on the need for consultation with the Azerbaijani side in
organizing visits to the occupied territory.

“As a Standing Rapporteur for Armenia I felt that getting to know
something more about the region is crucial in order to prepare an
objective and comprehensive report. The goal [of non-official visit to
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh] was to get the feeling of the situation
on the ground,” Poreba told Trend on Thursday.

MEP, the keynote speaker on Armenia Tomasz Poreba,visited
Nagorno-Karabakh during his recent trip to Armenia. There he held
meetings with the leadership of the unrecognized republic and
discussing issues concerning the resolution of the Karabakh conflict,
the situation in the region and bilateral relations, the Armenian
media outlets reported earlier.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry insists on the need for consultations
with the Azerbaijani side when visiting the occupied territories.
“If Poreba would tend to make an impartial report, before his visit to
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, he had to discuss this issue with
official circles of Azerbaijan, to know our position and our attitude
towards his visit,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told
Trend.

Even for a temporary visit to the occupied Azerbaijani territories, it
needs to obtain permission from the Azerbaijani side, he said.

In the light of illigal entry to the territories of Nagorno Karabakh,
the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on Tuesday presented a protest note
to the head of the EU delegation in Azerbaijan Roland Kobia and Polish
ambassador Mikhal Labenda.

The opposite side was informed that this incident caused serious
protest of the Azerbaijani side. It was reported that it was
undesirable for foreign citizens to pay illegal visits to the
Azerbaijani occupied lands because they show disrespect to sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The EU mission in Baku said earlier that the response on behalf of the
European Union will be sent to the Foreign Ministry.

According to Poreba, during his visit both to Armenia and to NK, he
continuously stressed that his goal as a rapporteur is not solving the
NK conflict. Conflict resolution will only be mentioned in 1-2 points
of the report, he said.

However the report would never be objective and complete without
visiting the region, Poreba supposes.

“During the visit I also repeated that the only platform to solve the
conflict is through negotiations via the OSCE Minsk Group, Poreba
said. I fully support the Madrid Principles and hope that the conflict
will be solved by good cooperation of all sides within its framework.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

MEP Poreba told Trend that he would be happy to meet with the
authorities of Azerbaijansoon in order to get to know their point of
view on the whole situation.

“I amgoing toto prepare a very objective report, which would not favor
any side, but truth,” he said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced MEP Tomasz Poreba persona non
grata. According to Elkhan Polukhov, naming in the blacklist is the
result of actions of Poreba himself that casts doubt on the
impartiality of his position.

Poreba himself sincerely hopes that putting him on the Azerbaijan’s
‘Black List’ will not be confirmed, and that he will have “the
opportunity to freely speak to the other side of the conflict”.

From: A. Papazian

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
December 23, 2010 Thursday 5:39 PM GMT +4

Deputy PM accuses several countries of absence of interest in
resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.23 / Trend M. Aliyev /

Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, head of the State Refugees and IDP
Committee Ali Hasanov accused the international organizations and
several countries of the absence of interest in resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“International organizations and several countries are not interested
in resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Ali
Hasanov said on Thursday.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the United
States – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding
regions.

The presence of a conflict in this region meets several countries’
interests, as countries that received the sovereignty after the
collapse of the Soviet Union became dependent on them, Hasanov said.
According to him, thus the international organizations and some
countries were able to rule the region with a view to using natural
resources.

The past 20 years, he said, showed that international organizations
are at times interested in the unresolved conflict more than Armenia.

“Today the Azerbaijani people, including refugees and internally
displaced persons set all the hopes associated with the resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh on the Azerbaijani President’s policy,” Hasanov
said.

From: A. Papazian

Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 23 2010

First deputy speaker: Day of Azerbaijani occupied territories’
liberation is not far

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.23 / Trend T. Hajiyev /

The day of the liberation of the Azerbaijani occupied territories is
not far away, Parliamentary First Deputy Speaker Ziyafet Askerov said.

“We have repeatedly stated and continue to state that the day of the
liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is not far away,”
he said. “Today’s political situation in the world is changing in
favor of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and you will
witness it.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the United
States- are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

From: A. Papazian

Interfax, Russia
Dec 23 2010

Azerbaijan “can see no progress” in Nagorno-Karabakh talks

BAKU. Dec 23

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday complained that talks to
settle the two-decade conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over
Azerbaijan’s disputed Armenian-speaking enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
have not been marked by any progress but promised that his country
would bring the region back under its control.

“In practice we can see no progress, and Azerbaijan has been suffering
from occupation [the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenian
forces] for a long time,” Aliyev said at the 11th summit in Istanbul
of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), a Tehran-headquartered
intergovernmental organization whose 10 member states are chiefly
Asian.

Aliyev accused Armenia of ignoring decisions on the conflict by the
United Nations Security Council and other international organizations
that are “a very solid basis” for settlement.

“We will not put up with this situation, of course. We will restore
our territorial integrity. We are trying to do this in a peaceful way,
through negotiations,” he said.

Aliyev said Nagorno-Karabakh is generally recognized worldwide as part
of Azerbaijan and that Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity “is not and
never will be up for any negotiations.”

as mj

From: A. Papazian

DON’T BLAME KOBE FOR TURKEY’S ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By earl ofari hutchinson

OpEd News

Dec 23 2010

Who would have thought that Kim Kardashian would take off on Kobe
Bryant for anything other than their shared sports and celebrity
status? Kardashian in addition has carved out a growth industry in
flesh baring, body ogling and sex titillation. But there’s Kardashian
lambasting Bryant for his two year deal pitching the glories of riding
the skies on Turk Hava Yollari AO, Turkish Airlines, the country’s
state-run airlines.

Kardashian and a legion of Armenian organizations and leaders are
ticked at Bryant for the deal which they say is tantamount to Bryant
endorsing Turkey’s slaughter of 1 to 2 million Armenians in 1915. They
want Bryant to do two things, scrub the deal and speak out against
Turkey for its dogged refusal to admit its murderous crime against
the Armenians.

Bryant does not put a PR sheen on that crime, and knocking him for the
airlines deal does nothing to bring Turkey to heel for the genocide.

It’s simply the pure symbolism on the protestor’s part in using
Bryant as the foil for their legitimate campaign to get Turkey to
admit the slaughter. The slaughter has been well-documented. Turkey’s
near century refusal to admit, apologize, and atone for it for nearly
a century is a galling blight on history, morality, and human rights.

Armenian organizations are right to press the case against the
Turkish government for the massacres. But that’s where it should
begin and end. The fault and the blame for Turkey’s refusal to
admit the killings lay with the Turkish government, the United
Nations, Congress. Armenians have pushed for years the various world
organizations and Congress to brand the massacres as genocide. T he
House Foreign Affairs Committee resolution was introduced in 2007. It
stalled. The Obama administration has come under fire for refusing to
support Congressional action on the genocide resolution. The resolution
specifically calls on Obama to reflect “understanding and sensitivity”
to Armenian genocide. The resolution puts the Obama administration in
a virtual no win situation. If it endorses it, it risks a major breach
with the Turkish government. The country is just too vital as an ally
that provides crucial intelligence, military and logistical support
for its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a counterbalance to l Iran
and counter and radical Islamic groups in the region. Though France
passed a resolution recognizing the genocide in 2001 and it had no
effect on trade between the countries. France is not waging war in
Afghanistan and does not need Turkey aid in protecting its regional
interests. The Congressional resolution bumps up hard against Middle
East geopolitics and security interests.

Bryant’s airline deal will have absolutely no effect in influencing
US and Turkish relations.

Then there’s the genocide. It is compared with the Nazi Holocaust
against the Jews and Armenian activists say that German companies,
and the German government were held accountable, apologized and paid
reparations. There also the comparison to the US government’s apology
and payments to Japanese-Americans for the seizure of their property,
businesses, and internment during World War II, the US governments
apologies and land concession to American Indians for the theft of
their land. In each case, the actions were government sanctioned,
condoned and encouraged. It was not the act of one individual doing
business with a company decades after the historic crime. That’s the
case with Bryant and Turkish Airlines.

In the past celebrities have been hammered by activist groups
for shilling for controversial products or companies such as the
Kruggerand sales during the Apartheid era or Nike accuse of sweat
shop labor practices in Asia. The offending companies or products
directly affected the lives of workers, and propped up a government
that grossly violated human rights. In each case, the celebrity was
lending their name to that exploitation and human rights abuses.

Bryant’s deal doesn’t fit that category. A spokesman for Turkish
Airlines got it right in the statement defending the airlines deal
with Bryant, ” Kobe Bryant is a cultural figure, not a historian,
and is in no way related to a sensitive and complex controversy over
highly contested history.” Still, Armenian leaders hector Kobe as a
hypocrite for denouncing the genocide in Darfur. But that is not a
fair comparison. The genocide in Darfur did not happen a century ago.

It’s recent and by some accounts still ongoing. That genocide has
been universally condemned.

Kobe for his part has remained tight lipped about the deal. There
is little reason to think or expect that he will cancel it. It is a
straight business proposition made by a major corporation with one
of the world’s best most recognizable celebrities. Armenian groups
are right to press Congress and the Obama administration to press the
issue of Turkey’s responsibility for its historic crime. Just don’t
blame Kobe for it.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He hosts
nationally broadcast political affairs radio talk shows on Pacifica
and KTYM Radio Los Angeles.

From: A. Papazian

THE SAME FILM, OVER AND OVER AGAIN

Hurriyet

Dec 23 2010
Turkey

The Armenian community of North America is disappointed again. This
time the object of its ire is outgoing U.S. House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi. Armenian-Americans clearly feel a “golden opportunity” was
allowed to slip by, thus preventing them once more from “catching
Turkey.”

Put briefly, the anti-Turkish mood in the U.S. Congress over Ankara’s
Iran and Israel policies was expected to swing the balance against
Turkey this time. The fact that Pelosi has always fervently supported
the Armenian cause clearly fuelled expectations further.

Once more it was seen, however, that U.S. national interests carry
more weight than constituency considerations, even if there is anger
in Congress directed at Turkey. The Turkish media also reported that
incoming House Speaker John Boehner was influential in ensuring the
Armenian resolution was not passed.

If true, this would mean Boehner did not want U.S.-Turkish relations
to sustain any further blows given that the present state of ties
is not so great anyway. He probably also felt that a serious blow
to these ties would undermine what little chance there may be for a
rapprochement between Turkey and Israel.

It is certain, however, that none of this will deter the highly
motivated Armenian lobby in the United States – especially in the
lead-up to the 100th anniversary of the events of 1915. Put another
way, we can expect a similar “Armenian genocide resolution” to come
up in the U.S. Congress as early as next spring.

But whether the Armenian community’s hand will be any stronger
than it is today remains an open question. There is also a new and
increasingly significant phenomenon that has to be factored in by
Armenian-Americans.

The Turkish-American community has started displaying much more
solidarity and strength, and has been acting much more in unison,
and with a clearer focus on its target, than it did a decade or so ago.

Many members of this community are professional and influential U.S.
citizens who are endowed with the capacity to make themselves listened
to, and understood.

Gunay Evinch, the president of the Assembly of Turkish-American
Associations, and Kaya Boztepe, the president of the Federation of
Turkish-American Associations, both expressed their gratitude for
this in a joint statement they issued to the Turkish community after
Pelosi failed to bring the resolution recognizing Armenian claims of
genocide to a vote.

But they also cautioned Turkish-Americans that “the years ahead will
continue to be a challenge” in this respect. In other words, there is
still much to be done by Turkish-Americans as they rally and organize
in order to counter the anti-Turkish initiatives of the Armenian lobby.

Put briefly, after the suspense of the earlier part of this week,
we are again at the “I’ve seen this film before” stage as far as this
bout of the “genocide resolution” fight is concerned. Neither is there
much to indicate that this vicious circle will be broken anytime soon.

Turkey has gained too much critical mass both politically and
economically in the international arena, thus making it harder – even
for Congressmen or Congresswomen who hate Turkey – to be lackadaisical
about the state of Turkish-American ties.

There are, of course, the many lawsuits by Armenians in California
against Turkey, Turkish institutions and companies that did business
in the Ottoman Empire, as Evinch and Boztepe pointed out in their
joint statement.

One of these goes so far as to lay claim to the land occupied by
the Ä°ncirlik Airbase near Adana, while another lays claim to the
Presidential Palace in Ankara. But few legal experts expect these
cases to get anywhere in real terms, regardless of what publicity
they may ultimately provide Armenians for their cause.

Not withstanding the “I’ve seen this film before” stage, we are also
at the “It can’t go on like this” stage as far as sensible people
on both sides are concerned. But it is clear that these are not the
most popular people among the diehards on both sides of the seemingly
unbridgeable divide between Turks and Armenians.

It was these hard-line elements that eventually scuttled the Zurich
Protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia, which proposed normalized
relations among the two nations. The hardliners on both sides hated
these protocols from the start, indicating in so many words that they
are prepared to continue with what a Turkish nationalist historian
calls “the blood feud of the century,” for another 100 years if
need be.

This is why there is a need for more logical and sensible people to
try and do their bit in an effort to build bridges between the two
peoples that will help chip away at the ossified paradigms of hatred
that have been allowed to develop on both sides.

There is a need, in this context, to increase contacts between ordinary
Turks and Armenians, a prospect that is not as impossible as it may
sound to some people. This is, in fact, already happening silently
between Turks from Turkey and Armenians from Armenia. Despite the
failure to implement the Zurich Protocols, cultural contacts are
increasing.

The fact that the Armenian Surp Hac Church on Akdamar Island in
eastern Turkey, near the city of Van, will be open to prayer on holy
days will also make a contribution in this respect, especially now
that the cross of the church has been put in its rightful place as
demanded by Armenian religious leaders.

Van is, of course, central to the bloody Turkish-Armenian experience
and any healing process that might start there will have great
significance. There is also a need for the Turkish and Armenian
communities in the West, and especially in the United States, to
try and reach out to each other. The battle lines between the two
communities appear so set that there seems little hope for this at
first glance.

But there are still sensible people in both communities that realize
the present state of affairs between the two peoples can not go on
like this forever. Neither is calling for bridges to be built between
these estranged people as “utopian” as the hot-heads on both sides
would like to make it out to be.

If Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian are doing such a wonderful job
(and I would strongly recommend to everyone)
there seems little reason why other Turks and Armenians cannot work
out their differences, and learn to work together just like these
two young people.

It all comes down to whether we want “an eye for an eye,” or whether we
want to try to and understand each other’s pain by exercising strong,
and “cathartic,” empathy. Maintaining enmity is always easy.

Empathy and understanding is the hard part.

While the odds are stacked to the advantage of the radicals and
hot-heads on both sides, there nevertheless exists the possibility
for sensible Turks and Armenians to try and chip away at what appears
to be a hatred of monolithic proportions.

The only alternative to this seems to be that we will continue to see
a repeat of a film that we have seen over and over again for the past
30 odd years.

From: A. Papazian