Pennington: there is willingness among many people in Turkey to talk more honestly about the past
Reconciliation is an extremely important issue in my view for both Turkey and Armenia for the future of both countries and for the stability in the region, according to Mr Joseph Pennington, the U.S. Charge d'Affairs in Armenia.
"I've worked now for many years of my career in both of those places and so I have a real personal interest in this issue. And we, you know the United States for a long time has supported increased cultural, social ties, the ties we call people-to-people contacts between Turks and Armenians," Mr. Pennington said in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.
"And just as an example, tomorrow night I am going to open a performance at Komitas Hall of the Bosporus Quartet of Istanbul. The Komitas Quartet performed in Istanbul last week. And it is one example. There are many projects like that that we support and will continue to support. We think that those kinds of contacts - conferences, exchanges, academic debates and so on, they help to break down barriers and ultimately help to push the political process forward. And we also continue to work at the levels of governments to try to encourage the two sides to take steps to overcome their differences. And we certainly hope that in the not-too-distant future there will be some progress at that level as well," he said.
Asked to comment how Turks treat Armenians and what's their attitude toward the 1915 events, Mr. Pennington said, "I first worked in Turkey from 1995-1998, so back 10-13 years ago, and I can say that the difference between those years and now in terms of this debate is very clear. I think there is a much greater willingness among many people in Turkey to talk more honestly about the past and look at those events more openly. And if you look in the Turkish media, you see a quite lively debate about Armenia and about Turkey and Armenia. And it's part of an overall opening in Turkey in terms of activating civil society and democratization. Of course, there are also problems, and we saw the convictions under article 301 in Turkey for a number of years and certainly there are still people who don't want to have this discussion and people who tragically were willing to resort to violence against Hrant Dink when he spoke about it. But I can tell you that I met with Hrant in the last week that I worked in Turkey back in 2006 and Hrant's approach was that the most important thing that we - all of us - Armenians, Turks and international community...Hrant was convinced that by improving that relationship, that would encourage a greater and more honest look at the past. And so that's the direction that we try to work in."
Full text of the interview
"I've worked now for many years of my career in both of those places and so I have a real personal interest in this issue. And we, you know the United States for a long time has supported increased cultural, social ties, the ties we call people-to-people contacts between Turks and Armenians," Mr. Pennington said in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.
"And just as an example, tomorrow night I am going to open a performance at Komitas Hall of the Bosporus Quartet of Istanbul. The Komitas Quartet performed in Istanbul last week. And it is one example. There are many projects like that that we support and will continue to support. We think that those kinds of contacts - conferences, exchanges, academic debates and so on, they help to break down barriers and ultimately help to push the political process forward. And we also continue to work at the levels of governments to try to encourage the two sides to take steps to overcome their differences. And we certainly hope that in the not-too-distant future there will be some progress at that level as well," he said.
Asked to comment how Turks treat Armenians and what's their attitude toward the 1915 events, Mr. Pennington said, "I first worked in Turkey from 1995-1998, so back 10-13 years ago, and I can say that the difference between those years and now in terms of this debate is very clear. I think there is a much greater willingness among many people in Turkey to talk more honestly about the past and look at those events more openly. And if you look in the Turkish media, you see a quite lively debate about Armenia and about Turkey and Armenia. And it's part of an overall opening in Turkey in terms of activating civil society and democratization. Of course, there are also problems, and we saw the convictions under article 301 in Turkey for a number of years and certainly there are still people who don't want to have this discussion and people who tragically were willing to resort to violence against Hrant Dink when he spoke about it. But I can tell you that I met with Hrant in the last week that I worked in Turkey back in 2006 and Hrant's approach was that the most important thing that we - all of us - Armenians, Turks and international community...Hrant was convinced that by improving that relationship, that would encourage a greater and more honest look at the past. And so that's the direction that we try to work in."
