Turkey ’s authorities have their own version of events. They call the deportation of Armenians “a forced migration”, since Armenians were against the Turkish government during the attack of Russian troops. Turkish historians argue that the operation claimed 300,000 Armenians at most.
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Yerevan and Ankara have been at the state of cold war for almost 100 years. They did not break the ice even in the post-Soviet years. Although Turkey was the first country to acknowledge Armenia’s independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the borders between the countries has remained closed. Turkey did not acknowledge the genocide, but it also argued that all charges of the genocide should be dismissed. Moreover, it backed up Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The more Europe insists on acknowledgement of the genocide, the stronger Ankara denies the fact.
Weak steps towards better relations yielded no results. Ankara offered Armenia to participate in the mixed committee that would have ready access to archives to investigate mass murders. No further steps followed. Armenia agreed to take part in a project of building the Kars-Akhalkalaki railroad; however, the issue is still up in the air.
After France acknowledged the Armenian genocide in 2001, Turkey witnessed large-scale boycotts of French commodities, and French companies were not allowed to take part in lucrative projects. As a result, the turnover between Paris and Ankara decreased by over one billion dollars in a year.
So why does the Armenian genocide of the past century excite comment and cause a standoff between Ankara and the West? The issue of the Armenian genocide is not as simple as that. There is really a growing confrontation between Europe and Muslim countries, as well as the important geopolitical aspect of the problem in the strained struggle for energy resources.
Acknowledgement of the genocide entails consequences like in the case with Germany and Austria that acknowledged the genocide of the Jewish people during the Second World War and the derision of Slavs and other peoples. Both countries pay compensation to sufferers.
In the case of Turkey Armenia may claim material and territorial compensation, for Mount Ararat, the symbol of Armenian people, is situated in Turkey. The former president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, stated that even if Turkey acknowledged the genocide, that would not mean that Armenia would claim territorial and material compensation from Turkey. Nevertheless, Turkey is afraid of that, for Turkey’s economy will not endure it.
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