Lauren DiCiaccio
April 3, 2009
4:26pm
The potential for tension has grown near the Caucasus region. Azerbaijan, a former member of the Soviet Union, has become nervous about the possibility of the border opening with Turkey and Armenia. The government of Azerbaijan is nervous about the potential border reopening because the situation with borders between Turkey and Armenia have historically been unfriendly. Turkey opted to close the border in agreement with Azerbaijan because of threats from Armenian separatist groups. Historically, there have been conflicts between Muslim Turkey and Armenia over centuries. The current border thaw resulted from accusations that Turkey killed hundreds of thousands of Armenians during the Ottoman period during World War One. President Obama will visit the region soon and talks about "normalizing" the situation will occur.
The events that happened during World War One can be considered ethnic violence. Even though war was occurring, the murder of hundreds of thousands of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks is significant in terms of ethnic violence and divisions. The past violence and present border separation shows another representation of ethnic division based on religious differences seen between the Muslim and Christian worlds. While heavy prejudices against Muslims may have increased significantly in the United States in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, it is clear that this is a trend that has been occurring in other parts of the world for centuries. It is quite sad that as societies, we have not made as much progress as we may have thought to see that situations such as these are finally "normalizing".
http://www.financialmirror.com/News/Cyprus_and_World_News/14707
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