Turkey and Armenia playing nice?
Turkey and Armenia signed an historic accord this weekend, under the watchful eye (and with some prodding from) Sec. of State Hillary Clinton. The deal is relatively simple - establishing normal relations and opening borders - but is a big step forward for two countries with a lot of animosity (and a lot of good reason for it: a long-lived debate over the G word).
The NYTimes story largely recounts Mrs. Clinton's diplomatic wrangling in Zurich, from the backseat of a black BMW and immediately before the signing ceremony:
But there's still a long way to go for the two countries. As if the last-minute disagreement wasn't enough, the next day the Turkish Prime Minister said they would not ratify the treaty until Armenia pulled its troops back from Nagorno-Karabakh, a region disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Will it be possible for these two countries to resolve their intractable differences? They've got a lot of ground to cover, but it certainly seems like a good first step.
If you have a personal connection to Turkish-Armenian relations, or just have an opinion you want to share, comment over here on Current News.
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The NYTimes story largely recounts Mrs. Clinton's diplomatic wrangling in Zurich, from the backseat of a black BMW and immediately before the signing ceremony:
Sitting in a parked, black BMW sedan at a hilltop hotel here, with aides thrusting papers at her, Mrs. Clinton worked two cellphones at once as she tried to resolve differences between the Armenian foreign minister, Eduard Nalbandian, and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.
Mrs. Clinton continued her efforts inside with Mr. Nalbandian and then gave him a ride to the University of Zurich, where the ceremony was to be held. By her own account, she did most of the talking on the brief trip — appealing to him not to let months of talks go up in smoke.
“There were several times I said to all the parties involved, ‘This is too important, this has to be seen through, we have come too far,’ ” she recalled. Mrs. Clinton declined to describe the differences between the two sides.
But there's still a long way to go for the two countries. As if the last-minute disagreement wasn't enough, the next day the Turkish Prime Minister said they would not ratify the treaty until Armenia pulled its troops back from Nagorno-Karabakh, a region disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Will it be possible for these two countries to resolve their intractable differences? They've got a lot of ground to cover, but it certainly seems like a good first step.
If you have a personal connection to Turkish-Armenian relations, or just have an opinion you want to share, comment over here on Current News.
Also from the Current News Blog:
- Police corruption in Mexico – Bad news, dance moves or no
- America’s Drug Problem – It’s not what you think
- Obama’s Nobel Reactions: An albatross of expectation?
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- tags:
- Diplomacy, Hillary Clinton, Turkey, Switzerland, 4 more
