“The major role-players are changing”
The joint efforts of Armenian and Turkish journalists contribute to the normalization of relations and the quality of coverage of those relations. This is what President of Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardyan told "A1+" during the three-day discussion on "Armenia-Turkey: Politics and Media".
The USAID-funded event is organized by the Consortium, which brings together the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, Yerevan Press Club, the International Center for Human Development and the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia.
Today's roundtable discussion was devoted to press coverage on the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations with studies and the results of some joint programs.
Boris Navasardyan says the current stage of Armenian-Turkish relations is not promising.
"There is some hope for an attempt to establish diplomatic relations and open the border after the Turkish parliamentary elections in June, but realistically, there are no objective preconditions for that," said Navasardyan.
"It seems to me that there will be an opportunity and the institutes that wish to solve this issue must work in advance because the issue is very complicated. Civil societies and the media are perceived as the major role-players."
Mr. Navasardyan says Turkey views Armenian-Turkish relations in the context of domestic policy.
"The ruling political elite pushes efforts to normalize relations whenever it sees that touching upon the issues concerning Armenians and Turks and promoting the process of normalization contributes to successful elections. They stop pushing efforts whenever they see that it is risky and they are losing their electorate. In a way, we could say that the issue related to Armenian-Turkish relations is held hostage to Turkey's domestic policy and it is reflected in the media as well," says Boris Navasardyan.
Navasardyan says the situation is different in Armenia where the media and experts find that the normalization of relations is one of the most important issues facing the country.
Mr. Navasardyan says another issue is that those expressing views on the Armenian-Turkish issue in Turkish media are not residents of Armenia.
"They cite the negative views expressed by the U.S. and Azerbaijan. They cite the views of Diaspora Armenians and corroborate that the Armenians actually don't want to normalize relations because in Turkey, the Diaspora is presented as a force that is against any progress in Armenian-Turkish relations," said the President of Yerevan Press Club.
