Thursday, April 23, 2009

April 24 - Armenian Martyrs' Day



I don't know what will come of this but I will take it as hopeful news. I pray that it is.
ISTANBUL — Turkey and Armenia have agreed to a framework for improving their strained relations, the two countries said in a statement this week, apparently in the first breakthrough in diplomacy in more than a decade.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 to support its ally, Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. But relations have long been tense: Turkey does not recognize the mass killings of more than a million Ottoman Armenians in 1915 as genocide, something Armenia has long campaigned for.

The agreement, which was issued by Turkey’s Foreign Ministry in a short statement late Wednesday, came on the eve of the Armenians’ annual commemoration of the genocide. It provided no details on how the two countries would move forward, stating simply that they “had achieved tangible progress and mutual understanding” and that “a road map has been identified.”

--New York Times

My personal roots, growing up among genocide survivors and their descendants, is well known at this blog.

Yertak parov
--the BB

3 comments:

The Cunning Runt said...

This is a huge step in one of the most tenacious disputes in Eastern Europe - the animosity between Turks and Armenians is bone-deep.

This is a cause well worth praying for. Thanks for bringing it to the fore.

Unknown said...

This is really hopeful. CR and I both know just how bone-deep that conflict went, having worked with two men, colleagues at the same college, who couldn't stand to be in the same room with one-another. One's mother was Armenian and the other was a Turk. It was really very sad to see in action, in this country.

Thanks, Paul. These are important things. Little steps toward a peaceful and more just world.

And your kind comment on my blog. I do need those reminders to love myself. I do and don't, you know?

All the love,
Gina

Paul said...

Gina, we all the need the reminders; I know I do. So I figured you could use a nudge too, especially if you are going into a new and potentially stressful situation. Wishing you the best on it.