More and more academic journals call the incidents of 1915 a genocide, and 17 countries have done the same. Obama also contributed to this rising tide of academic and political pressure on Turkey. He said everything but that one word! This isn`t just about our moral and historical stature. There are also Armenian nationalists` political calculations behind the allegations! Even if certain intellectuals and politicians think they`re acting out of `humanitarian` feelings, in the end they become a tool for such spiteful calculations. As this tide has been rising worldwide for tow decades, what should we do? There`s no ready or easy prescription, but there are two paths:
Develop our relations with Armenia and decrease the tension which feeds the `genocide` claims. The Armenian nationalists realize this, and so are fighting the latest `consensus` reached by Ankara and Yerevan.
Work to set up a joint historical commission to make people realize that not only Armenians, but also Muslims, suffered terribly, and thus the genocide allegations are both one-sided and wrong. That`s why the diaspora and Armenian nationalists from Armenia oppose such a commission. So Hrant Markarian, leader of coalition party the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, said that if the consensus includes a commission, moves on Nagorno-Karabakh and recognition of Turkey`s territorial integrity and its current borders, Armenia should break off the talks. Markarian even mentioned eastern Anatolian in the context of `saving western Armenia.` But if the consensus process continues, it would help spur Armenia`s economy.
Turkey`s interests require developing relations with Armenia, but Azerbaijan has long kept a distance from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Turkey on the Cyprus issue for its own interests. It would be wrong to provoke things by raising these issues. Azeri President Ilham Aliyev is bowing to domestic politics by closing down a Turkish mosque; maybe he wants to dispel the impression that Azerbaijan hasn`t registered a protest. He might be even planning to raise the price of natural gas. I don`t think that he would go so far as to cut off the Shahdeniz gas or sabotage the Nabucco project and thus oppose Turkey and the entire West. When positive developments on the Karabakh issue come from the Minsk Group in a few months, I hope Aliyev will be better able to see what a positive role Turkey has played. Turkey should be very careful on the Azerbaijan issue and avoid getting drawn into a debate.
TAHA AKYOL - MILLIYET
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