Armenia and Turkey have been on uneasy terms for almost one hundred years. During World War I The Ottoman Empire forces killed up to 1.5 million Armenians- which is an incredible number. I was struck by the fact that I don’t even know what Turkey and Armenia were doing in WWI, whose side they were on, or what role they played in the conflict at all.

This stark reflection of a gaping hole in my own education about the happenings during WWI left me nodding to myself on the couch- thinking how dependent I am on what information is available to me- as in, everything I know about WWI is from textbooks and teachers, and they told the story from the U.S. point of view. Everything I know about world diplomacy comes from the Reuters news feed, which normally doesn’t say much about what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is doing in Turkey- but today they gave a play by play.

It’s important to know that international foreign relations are not all about the middle east and arguing over who will make what commitments for the COP15 summit- there are longstanding conflicts and hard feelings that don’t make the U.S.’s version of international news.

The border between Turkey and Armenia has been closed since WWI, and animosity between the two countries has been fierce among nationalist groups. This weeks signing is a landmark first step toward opening the border and creating more peaceful relations between the two states.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met in Zurich to work out the deal, which was mediated by the Swiss and heavily facilitated by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The ceremony itself was also attended by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
There was a last minute disagreement over language that Clinton handled through personal visits at a hotel and long phone calls, showing that she deserves her diplomat stripes. It’s cool to hear that she is making things happen around the world that I didn’t even know were issues.

All that’s left now is for the two parliaments to approve the deal- which could prove a challenge because of all the opposition to the deal from nationalist groups and the Armenian diaspora.

One of the biggest challenges to getting the deal signed in the first place was the demand of the Armenian diaspora that Turkey acknowledge that the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians was genocide. Turkey has refused to use the word genocide to describe the killings, viewing it as a result of Armenian alliance with the invading Russian troops- those who were killed were killed as part of wartime battles.

It comes down to how do you tell that story? Which perspective has the stronger voice, right? Because for a country that was part of a big empire like Turkey to kill lots of Armenians who were fighting them along with the Russians, well, that would seem like a war to Turkey and just more of the same bullying killing to Armenia.

Perspective wins again.