On the occasion of the Turkish publication of Civilitas analyst Tatul Hakobyan’s historical retrospective, GREEN AND BLACK, NEITHER WAR NOR PEACE, A history of the Karabakh conflict, the Civilitas Foundation held a public forum on Tuesday, January 22, in Yerevan.
Together with Tatul Hakobyan, Civilitas had invited Turkish publisher, head of the Belge Publishing House, to talk about the perception of the Karabakh issue in Turkey. Hakobyan’s book is the first book to be published in Turkey, in Turkish, about the Karabakh conflict – its roots, the human toll and the parallel military and political processes.
Zarakolu was quick to point out that Turkish society is generally unaware and uninformed about Armenia and Armenians generally. He said that is even more true of the Karabakh issue, which is something that is part of the nationalist discourse, which is clearly advocating Azerbaijan’s side. Zarakolu also blamed successive Turkish governments for so blatantly taking Baku’s side in the conflict, and thus contributing to the stalemate.
Tatul Hakobyan described the century-long connection between Turkey and Azerbaijan, whose first republic in 1918-1920 was supported by Turkey’s Kemalist forces. He said that solidarity would continue and Turkey would continue to use Azerbaijan as a reason to delay normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations. He also said that underlying all Turkish statements since Armenia’s independence are Turkish expectations that Armenia will step away from international efforts at genocide recognition, and also recognize the present Turkey-Armenia borders.
The Civilitas Foundation will continue to pursue public discussions on the Armenia-Turkey relationship.