Migman
11-29-2008, 10:26 AM
In-depth analysis on the Turkey-Armenia reconciliation process.
By Sarah Rainsford
BBC News, Kars, northeastern Turkey
High on a hill overlooking the city of Kars, there is a vast column of concrete obscured by wooden scaffolding.
The hand of friendship has yet to be proffered, let alone accepted
What is inside was meant as a 32m (100ft) peace gesture from Turkey to Armenia.
"It's an image of two human figures, facing one another with a hand of friendship held out between them," explains the security guard, emerging from the portable building at the statue's feet.
But on the day the finished project should have been unveiled its giant hand stands severed on the hillside.
This friendship statue has enemies, and they have forced construction to stop.
Kars is in Turkey's far north-east, within sight of the Armenian border.
But that border has been closed since 1993. Turkey broke off diplomatic ties with Armenia then, backing Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The relationship deteriorated further after Armenians stepped up pressure for international recognition that the 1915 deportation and massacre of hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians was genocide. That is something Turkey vigorously denies.
Now there are signs of a thaw in relations.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul broke the ice in September, when he became the first Turkish head of state to visit Armenia - invited to watch his own national side take on Armenia in a football match.
Since then, the two countries' foreign ministers have held three meetings in as many months. Diplomats on both sides say they are "cautiously optimistic" for the future.
"I see no serious obstacle to the normalisation of relations very soon," Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said this week, on a visit to Istanbul.
So it seems the mayor of Kars was ahead of the game when he commissioned his enormous friendship statue.
Naif Alibeyoglu had already collected 50,000 signatures in favour of reopening the Armenian border - almost 70% support.
Activists argue increased contact between Turks and Armenians is crucial to fostering mutual understanding and tolerance.
Most locals simply hope opening the border would pull their remote region out of its poverty.
"We'd love to do business. Kars can develop as a result," says Mehmet, a trader, scooping huge handfuls of stringy white cheese from a barrel at the local market.
"I think the border should open," another stall-holder agrees.
"Kars hasn't got much. Our farming and cattle sectors are almost finished. If there's demand for our cheese in Armenia we could double our income," Soner says.
Continued (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7754218.stm)
By Sarah Rainsford
BBC News, Kars, northeastern Turkey
High on a hill overlooking the city of Kars, there is a vast column of concrete obscured by wooden scaffolding.
The hand of friendship has yet to be proffered, let alone accepted
What is inside was meant as a 32m (100ft) peace gesture from Turkey to Armenia.
"It's an image of two human figures, facing one another with a hand of friendship held out between them," explains the security guard, emerging from the portable building at the statue's feet.
But on the day the finished project should have been unveiled its giant hand stands severed on the hillside.
This friendship statue has enemies, and they have forced construction to stop.
Kars is in Turkey's far north-east, within sight of the Armenian border.
But that border has been closed since 1993. Turkey broke off diplomatic ties with Armenia then, backing Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The relationship deteriorated further after Armenians stepped up pressure for international recognition that the 1915 deportation and massacre of hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians was genocide. That is something Turkey vigorously denies.
Now there are signs of a thaw in relations.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul broke the ice in September, when he became the first Turkish head of state to visit Armenia - invited to watch his own national side take on Armenia in a football match.
Since then, the two countries' foreign ministers have held three meetings in as many months. Diplomats on both sides say they are "cautiously optimistic" for the future.
"I see no serious obstacle to the normalisation of relations very soon," Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said this week, on a visit to Istanbul.
So it seems the mayor of Kars was ahead of the game when he commissioned his enormous friendship statue.
Naif Alibeyoglu had already collected 50,000 signatures in favour of reopening the Armenian border - almost 70% support.
Activists argue increased contact between Turks and Armenians is crucial to fostering mutual understanding and tolerance.
Most locals simply hope opening the border would pull their remote region out of its poverty.
"We'd love to do business. Kars can develop as a result," says Mehmet, a trader, scooping huge handfuls of stringy white cheese from a barrel at the local market.
"I think the border should open," another stall-holder agrees.
"Kars hasn't got much. Our farming and cattle sectors are almost finished. If there's demand for our cheese in Armenia we could double our income," Soner says.
Continued (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7754218.stm)