{"id":14801,"date":"2009-09-18T20:42:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-18T18:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=14801"},"modified":"2023-04-06T09:38:57","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T06:38:57","slug":"nationalists-launch-hunger-strikes-against-turkey-reconciliation-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/09\/18\/nationalists-launch-hunger-strikes-against-turkey-reconciliation-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Nationalists Launch Hunger Strikes Against Turkey Reconciliation Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Marianna Grigoryan<\/span>
\n17\u00a0September\u00a02009<\/p>\n

Nagorno-Karabakh and genocide claims could divide Armenian public opinion on the diplomatic breakthrough. From EurasiaNet.<\/em><\/p>\n

The tentative Armenian-Turkish plan for diplomatic normalization has sparked Armenia\u2019s oldest political party, the nationalist-oriented Armenian Revolutionary Federation, to take to the streets with sit-down protests and hunger strikes. Public support for the party\u2019s criticism that the Armenian government risks selling out Armenia\u2019s national security interests appears to be spreading, even though it remains far from uniform.<\/p>\n

Bearing red party flags and banners proclaiming \u201cDon\u2019t forget, don\u2019t surrender, let\u2019s rebel!\u201d 74 party activists, including 24 hunger strikers, kicked off their campaign in front of the Foreign Ministry and the prime minister\u2019s office in downtown Yerevan on 15 September. The protests will continue until the end of the six-week period envisaged for discussion of the protocols within Armenia and Turkey before the documents\u2019 ratification, the party\u2019s TV ads state.<\/p>\n

President Serzh Sargsyan plans to start consultations on the protocols on 17 September with the leaders of Armenia\u2019s major political parties.<\/p>\n

Supporters claim that the 31 August protocols imply that Armenia should recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, accept the current Armenian-Turkish state border, and, by agreeing to \u201cimplement a dialogue on the historical dimension,\u201d potentially backtrack on the country\u2019s longstanding demand for international recognition of Ottoman Turkey\u2019s 1915 mass slaughter of ethnic Armenians as genocide.<\/p>\n

The documents, however, make no such specifications on these topics. Written in broad language, they commit the two sides to opening their joint border within two months of the protocols\u2019 ratification and to establishing bilateral government commissions to work on expanding cooperation in fields ranging from education to energy. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has emphasized in media interviews that border recognition is the first step in the reconciliation process, but the protocols do not mention border recognition.<\/p>\n

That, however, does nothing to reassure many Armenians. \u201cWe will fight until the end since [the protocols signed with Turkey] contradict our national interests,\u201d one male protestor in his late 20s told EurasiaNet. \u201cWe will do everything that promotes our national interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statements from Turkish government officials that the border will not open until Armenia and Azerbaijan make progress in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict suggest that attention on the Karabakh issue will increase in the coming months, opined political analyst Yervand Bozoian. \u201cThat\u2019s the most dangerous thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The governing Republican Party of Armenia counters that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation is using the protest to score self-interested political points. The 119-year-old party left Armenia\u2019s coalition government in April in protest at President Sargsyan\u2019s Turkey policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Armenian Revolutionary Federation and other political forces have the right to choose what way to fight,\u201d commented Republican Party parliamentarian Eduard Sharmazanov, the party\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cAny preconditions from Turkey are unacceptable for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other members of the governing coalition have echoed those comments. \u201cI think we just need good will and courage. We see it in the actions of this president [Sargsyan]. We\u2019ll help the president to settle this issue,\u201d declared Heghine Bisharian, head of the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) parliamentary faction.<\/p>\n

But many Armenians do not see any manifestation of \u201cgood will\u201d in the protocols\u2019 provisions. \u201cTurks are so cunning, they will do everything to serve their interests. We know it perfectly well,\u201d asserted 70-year-old Anzhela Garanian, whose parents survived the 1915 slaughter. \u201cHow can I believe in their sincerity when I have heard all these stories from my father?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Tsitsernakaberd memorial in Yerevan to the Armenian victims
\nof Ottoman Turkish violence.
\n<\/em>
\nPhilologist Mkrtich Hambardzumian similarly equates the Turkey of the Ottoman past with the Turkey of the present. He takes issue with Turkish assertions that Turkey\u2019s border with Armenia cannot be reopened until Armenian forces withdraw from Azerbaijani territory surrounding Karabakh. \u201cWhat are we talking about? Turkey forgetting its bloody history now tries to interfere with the Karabakh issue,\u201d he fumed. \u201cI\u2019m not a political scientist, but the protocol is worrying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suspicion in Yerevan about Turkey\u2019s motives is far from universal, however. Some passers-by at the protest commented on the irony of a former government coalition member now staging hunger strikes to block a government policy. Other Yerevan residents said protestors should consider the future. \u201cI don\u2019t say we need to forget the past,\u201d said 25-year-old designer Emma Babaian. \u201cBut two neighbors cannot live with closed borders forever. Bilateral relations will help Armenia economically and will offer an alternative route to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protests are not limited to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. The Heritage Party, the only opposition party represented in parliament, has written Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian about holding a referendum on the protocols. Earlier, Heritage Party leaders proposed a vote of confidence in the president, and a petition to the Constitutional Court. On 15 September, the party called on all members of parliament to appeal for \u201cradical\u201d changes in the protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe development of Armenian-Turkish relations cannot directly or indirectly be linked to the establishment of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,\u201d asserted the Heritage Party\u2019s parliamentary faction secretary, Larisa Alaverdian.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Suren Surenyants, a senior supporter of ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosian, the head of Armenia\u2019s main opposition coalition, argues that Turkey wants to take on a leadership role in the South Caucasus, and will, therefore, try to play the role of an impartial mediator on Karabakh. The documents pose no danger to Armenia, he continued. Those casting doubt on Turkey perhaps are trying to conceal their own private agenda, he hinted. \u201cPolitical groups should be sincere,\u201d he said. \u201cEither we want [to establish] diplomatic relations [with Turkey], which means we need these protocols, or we do not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marianna Grigoryan<\/em><\/strong> is a freelance reporter in Yerevan. A partner post from EurasiaNet.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Marianna Grigoryan 17\u00a0September\u00a02009 Nagorno-Karabakh and genocide claims could divide Armenian public opinion on the diplomatic breakthrough. From EurasiaNet. The tentative Armenian-Turkish plan for diplomatic normalization has sparked Armenia\u2019s oldest political party, the nationalist-oriented Armenian Revolutionary Federation, to take to the streets with sit-down protests and hunger strikes. Public support for the party\u2019s criticism that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":26515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,7],"tags":[2129],"class_list":["post-14801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenia","category-armenian-question","tag-turkey-and-armenia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}