3713) Last Closed Border of the Cold War: Turkey–Armenia by Vicken Cheterian

The Last Closed Border of the Cold War: Turkey–Armenia by Vicken Cheterian

ABSTRACT
In the post-Soviet Caucasus, a number of borders remain blocked as a result of ethno-territorial conflicts that emerged in the early 1990s. Yet, there is one closed border that does not fit the pattern: the Turkish – Armenian border. This border has not been the site of any conflict in that period, and belongs to an entirely different geopolitical space: the border that previously separated the Soviet Union from Turkey, as well as independent Armenia from the Republic of Turkey. To understand the nature of the conflict that keeps the Turkish – Armenian border closed, therefore, one has to look for historic references that go beyond the Soviet legacy and bring in Ottoman history, and specifically the Genocide of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 – 1916. This analysis sheds new light on understanding the modern conflicts of the Caucasus, which have previously been studied mostly within the context of the Soviet experience. . . .

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1362) Censorship, Indifference, Oblivion The Armenian Genocide And Its Denial By Vicken Cheterian

The genocide of the Armenians is one of the major areas of twentieth-century world history that remains understudied. In spite of its importance as the first modern genocide, which altered the demographic composition of the Middle East, put an end to the Ottoman Empire, and constituted precedence to future genocidal projects, its scholarly research started only recently. The explanation of this major omission is a difficult task. It is pos -sible to trace Turkish policies of censoring any debate or reference toward the fate of the Armenians, even the collaboration of certain Turkish and international institutions whether voluntarily or out of material interest in this effort. Yet the silence is broader and more complex: it nearly suc -ceeded in eliminating the genocide and its victims from living memory even in spaces outside the control of the post-Ottoman Turkish rulers. The aim of this chapter is to reflect on the long oblivion to which the history of the Armenians was condemned, and on the silence before the debate on denialism emerged. This silence sheds light on the workings of political institutions, as well as intellectual and academic power centers, and poses existential questions that have long been ignored.

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