Armenians and Turkey - Erdogan's latest attempt to defuse the coming 2015 Crisis

Interior of an Armenian Church in Istanbul

One of the longest standing debates in the Middle East regards the treatment of Armenians by Turks. Armenians claim that up to 1,500,000 were killed. The key date is April 24, 1915. In addition, Armenian historians will point out that tens of thousands were displaced and died previous to that date.

Turkish governments have pointed out that (a) hundreds of thousands of Turks were killed in World War I (many more than a million); (b) Armenians made up part of the population siding with Russia and so Turks 'were at war with them'; and (c) that about 350,000 Armenians died as the result of April 24, 1915.

Turks generally look down on the land-locked country of Armenia and on Armenians in general. Refusing to call that series of events a "genocide" is a matter of national pride for Turks.

The diaspora of the Armenian call those events a "genocide", as do the parliaments of more than a dozen nations. The Armenian diaspora in the USA want the US president to use the word "genocide". This debate divides politicians and citizens across dozens of countries.

This year Prime Minister Erdogan surprised Turks, Armenians and others with his condolence speech when referring to the Armenians

His speech was unprecedented in the history of the Turkish Republic

The statement of "shared pain" was received differently in the West than by Armenians

In the USA, President Obama did not use the word "genocide"

Reactions from Armenians in Turkey and Armenia could not have been more different