CALLING 1915 INHUMANE HELPS TURKEY, ARMENIA
13:41 27.12.2013
Samson Ozararat, a key figure behind the scenes on reconciliation
efforts between Turkey and Armenia, said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu's statement calling 1915 deportation of Armenians inhumane
was very important. But he argued Armenia has lost confidence in
Turkey, following the failure to approve the protocols that would lead
to normalization, due to what he said was a change in Ankara's policy.
An Armenian from Turkey's central Anatolian province of Konya,
Ozararat has been one of the key figures in every effort to move
Turkey and Armenia closer in the last 20 years.
Born as a Turkish Armenian, he was expelled from Turkish citizenship.
Thereafter, he became Armenia's representative in the Organization
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation's (BSEC) Istanbul headquarters.
Ozararat, who is now a French citizen and lives in the French city of
Nice, received a call from the Turkish Foreign Ministry two weeks ago.
He was invited to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's plane
to accompany him on a trip to Yerevan. The official reason for
Davutoglu's visit was to attend the BSEC summit. However, Ankara was
actually trying to test the ground to see whether there was room for
maneuvers to re-generate a new process to normalize ties with Armenia.
Ozararat said he tried to initiate occasions for dialogue between the
two countries in the past. "When there are no relations between two
countries, people like me become helpful in providing back channels of
communication. Actually no one or country has given me a duty. I have
friends and a good network in both countries that I try to mobilize
my relations with them in a positive manner to start up dialogue. I
believe every opportunity has to be seized to bring people together.
And I try to initiate such occasions," he said.
He emphasized four milestones in bringing the countries together. "We
have come a long way in discussing the conflict. However, the barriers
that put us apart tend to shift as the world changes. In the past,
there was this nationalist approach that was dominating the political
arena due to fabricated fears from Communism. Then came the time when
fears around 'Armenia will claim land (from Turkey)' were pumped.
Despite all these, there have been milestones in bringing the two
countries together.
The first one is the meeting between the Turkish far-right nationalist
leader Alparslan TurkeÅ~_ and the then Armenian President Levon
Ter-Petrosyan. Another is the conference that was planned, but could
not be held at Bogazici University. Another is the apology campaign.
Another is the football diplomacy.
(Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Turkish President Abdullah Gul
exchanging visits.) These were all steps that melted the ice somehow."
Ozararat said Davutoglu's statements on the way to Yerevan were
very important. Davutoglu said the forced deportation of Armenians
during Ottoman rule was unacceptable and inhumane. "Maybe it sounds
quite normal to hear this today. I knew Davutoglu's views on 1915
before from our personal conversations. However, we have never heard
similar things from an official until this day. The fact that he stated
these views publicly as the Turkish foreign minister is a huge step,
I believe. It is a part of history now," he said.
Ozararat said Armenia lost confidence in Turkey since 2009. "In the
past, the nationalist rhetoric was the barrier. Today, it is the
economic and diplomatic balances. Azerbaijan is one of the major
sources of Turkish energy needs. Moreover, Turkey understandably
has to consider the interests of Turkish businessmen who invest in
Azerbaijan. These are the reasons why Prime Minister Erdogan had to
change the policy on May 13, 2009 which he declared during his speech
at the Azerbaijan Parliament.
Since that day, Armenia's trust in Turkey was broken. Honestly, prior
to Davutoglu's trip to Yerevan this time I could not find a single
person in Armenia who favored a new start for bilateral talks. Not
a single person from the government or opposition parties. Trust is
gone," Ozararat said, adding the most important thing still is to keep
the communication channels open. "First and foremost, one has to stop
saying 'nothing happened in the past.' Thank god, this approach has
been somehow left behind in Turkey. Getting rid of this rhetoric is
part of the cure. Now we can look for ways and occasions to create
empathy from both sides. If one day, the memorial in Yerevan could
be visited...In the end, that monument is the symbolic grave for one
and a half million Ottoman Armenians. Why would a Turkish official
not visit that monument one day? Turkey's top officials have been
offering to give me my Turkish citizenship back," he said. "My dream
is to get the citizenship of both Turkey and Armenia on the same
day after normalization of relations between two countries. Maybe it
sounds like a fantasy today. But I say what if it happens..."
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