The Importance Of Public Diplomacy In The Normalization Of The Relations Between Turkey And Armenia

There are various problems in the relations between Turkey and Armenia such asgenocide allegations, terrorist activities of the ASALA terror organization in the pastyears, occupation of Nagorno— Karabakh, and activities of the Diaspora and variousother problems of similar nature and there is very little reason to think that theseproblems will be solved in the near future. As matter of fact, serious steps weretaken through the protocols signed in 2009 for the sake of normalization of therelations; however, the reaction of the public opinion in both countries and of theAzerbaijani side did not allow these protocols to be implemented after being adoptedby both countries' parliaments. The situation encountered revealed the necessity ofconvincing the public opinion of the countries involved, including of theAzerbaijanis' for the success of the efforts of both governments in seeking politicalsolutions.Serious prejudices in negative sense mutually exist between the Turkish andArmenian societies and these prejudices prevent steps from being taken for the sakeof normalization of the relations. For this reason, efforts should be made in the firstplace to eliminate these prejudices in the context of normalization of the relations.The results of the two surveys conducted by two different organizations amongTurkish and Armenian citizens in 2005 and 2012 help to capture important detailsand ideas on this subject. When looked at the data obtained from these surveysstudies it is seen that increase of communication and interaction between the Turkishand Armenian societies helps decrease the deep seated prejudice and hate betweenthese two societies. Under the circumstances, the first steps to be taken in thecontext of normalization of the relations should be directed at increasing mutualcommunication and interaction between these two societies. Public diplomacy iskey tool to achieve this goal. In this regard, it seems possible to achieve successfulresults with this goal by efficient use of media resources primarily televisionbroadcasting by also involving the Armenians living in Turkey and tourism policiesand other tools of public diplomacy.