Diyarbakir welcomes Armenians: “Welcome home!” (PHOTO) October 22, 2011 | 10:01 VAN. – The Armenians, who arrived in Diyarbakir, Turkey, to attend the reopening of, and first Holy Mass at, the city’s St. Giragos Armenian church, were surprised by the posters placed in Diyarbakir streets. Diyarbakir City Hall had placed posters that read “Welcome to Your Home,” in Armenian, together with the image of St. Gir ...

September 2, 2011 - 4:16am, by Marianna Grigoryan and Anahit Hayrapetyan Narrow, winding stairs lead up to 60-year-old housecleaner Ophelia Hakobian’s poorly furnished room on the second floor of an apartment building in the Istanbul district of Kumkapi. The tiny room, barely 1.5 square meters in area, contains hanging laundry, a table and chairs and photographs of Hakobian’s son and grandchildren. “Is this ...

Davutoğlu’s gesture raises hopes for track-two diplomacy with Armenia 24 July 2011, Sunday / EMINE KART, İSTANBUL “Armenians are our diaspora.” This was probably the most impressive remark that remained in the hearts and minds of representatives of Armenian civil society organizations (CSO) who met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu earlier this week. The Foreign Ministry was the venue for a rema ...

  Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion   By George Friedman On Sunday, Israeli naval forces intercepted the ships of a Turkish nongovernmental organization (NGO) delivering humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Israel had demanded that the vessels not go directly to Gaza but instead dock in Israeli ports, where the supplies would be offloaded and delivered to Gaza. The Turkish NGO refused, insisting on going d ...

ZURICH — Turkey and Armenia signed a historic agreement to establish normal diplomatic relations and reopen their borders on Saturday, after a last-minute dispute over wording sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other diplomats into frantic efforts to salvage the deal. For Turkey and Armenia, neighbors sundered by a century of bitterness over the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, th ...