Turkey and Armenia establish diplomatic relations - Turkish Kurds still have many concerns

October 10, 8:12 PMWorld History ExaminerDev Meyers

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Armenian patriarch Aram Kashashian speaks during a protest by Armenian Lebanese outside the Armenian patriarchate in Antelias, north of Beirut, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 against Armenia's plans to establish ties with Turkey. The Turks and Armenians are to sign an accord establishing diplomatic ties in hopes of reopening their border and ending a century of acrimony over their bloody past. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Bloomberg reports that "Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations and open their border within two months of ratification by both parliaments, in a Zurich ceremony attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton."

"It is a good sign for the Kurds that the Turkish government is trying to pursue peace with it's neighbors," said Hisyar Ozsoy. "Before Turkey can be accepted as a member of the European Union the country must satisfactorily resolve 3 questions on the mind of the member nations.  The Armenian Genocide, Cyprus, and Turkey's Kurdish population."

"But it is of utmost importance that the start of diplomatic negotiations with Armenia should not be used as a tool of political bargaining to cover up the atrocities that Armenians have suffered in 1914-1915 and before and after that."

Hisyar is a PhD candidate at UT Austin/Anthropology.  He is currently writing his dissertation on the Kurdish issue and focusing primarily on the themes of nationalism, state formation, sovereignty, death, political violence, civil society and cultural and political rights within the larger processes of Turkey's accession to the European Union and the changing status of Iraqi Kurds since 2003 -- and many other less central themes that relate to the dynamics of the ongoing conflict in the Kurdish geography. Between 2005 and 2008.  He also worked for the mayor of Diyarbakir, the informal capital of Kurds in Turkey, as political and foreign relations adviser.

What is Hisyar's favorite source of news on the issue?  He recommends The Kurdish Herald.

Is todays' news an indication that the climate is changing in Turkey?  They certainly have a motive to work out these ethnic problems.

The Kurdish people gained visibility during the first Gulf War.  After 2003 people started talking about them.  Kurds became part of the larger Global security concerns of Syria, Iran and Turkey.

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