Armenia and Turkey are burdened by a long history of painful disagreement. The two countries have made a series of attempts over the last twenty years to set aside their differences and establish ties, but thus far these efforts have not resulted in diplomatic relations being established. There have been at least three major “waves” of dialogue with Turkey since Armenia’s independence. While all these “waves” had limited success in fostering political rapprochement, a lesson learned from the “third wave” was that the combined efforts of governments, civil society and the international community can affect public attitudes in a positive way.
With that in mind, the project supports a “fourth wave” of rapprochement by leading civil society, business and informal state-level dialogue to a point where Armenia and Turkey will be able to establish relations and open the border with ease. The project is implemented by EPF in a consortium with three Armenian partners: Yerevan Press Club (YPC), International Center for Human Development (ICHD), and Union of Manufacturers and Businesspeople of Armenia (UMBA). These four organizations have been in the forefront of the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement process for many years and have played a major role in civil society, media, cultural dialogue, and track two and people’s diplomacy efforts between Armenia and Turkey. The consortium also has strong partnerships with leading organizations in Turkey.
The project activities focus on three priority areas: business partnerships, civil society, and inter-governmental dialogue. The program will also support all three areas with research. The term of the project is from October 1, 2010 through October 1, 2012. The project will contribute to the formation of cross-border networks, will increase confidence and decrease stereotypes among the two societies, will create conditions for state actors to develop informal relations, and, in the long term, will help to address more controversial issues.
USAID and the Consortium Members support Armenia-Turkey rapprochement by facilitating engagement between civil society groups, establishment and development of business partnerships and regional professional networks, and enhanced understanding between the people, for peace and economic integration in the region.
Arm-Turk Rapprochement_Brief Quarterly Overview_Oct-Dec 2010 (107.7 KBytes)In April 2011, EPF began researching ideas that could bring about a small- or mid-scale change and could be implemented even in the absence of diplomatic relations. Over the whole month of April 2011, the researcher Sven Behrendt conducted interviews with key stakeholders in Yerevan, Armenia and Istanbul, Turkey. The researcher presented the preliminary results of the research at the Policy and Media Discussions in Yerevan on May 16-18, 2011.
The research was completed in June 2011, with the research findings being presented to major stakeholders in Armenia and Turkey. Some of the key recommendations that the researcher came to include the following: a) acknowledge geopolitical imbalances between Turkey and Armenia and innovatively develop the instruments that enable dialogue beyond these imbalances; b) deepen and widen the dialogue: begin to move it beyond Istanbul and Yerevan and develop outreach strategies in particular to engage younger generations; c) acknowledge societal fragmentations and internal political conflict within Turkey and Armenia: do not exploit these for tactical gain, but use them to develop a more differentiated perspective of the dialogue partner; d) develop a notion for the economic opportunity costs of closed borders and wherever possible create business linkages between communities.
Please download the paper from here.
Getting to Yes (156.96 KBytes)The Request for Application (RFA) is part of the ‘Support to Armenia-Turkey Rapprochement’ project supported by USAID. The Project is jointly implemented by a consortium of four organizations: Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia (UMBA), International Center for Human Development (ICHD), and Yerevan Press Club (YPC).
USAID and the Consortium Members support Armenia-Turkey rapprochement by facilitating engagement between civil society groups, establishment and development of business partnerships and regional professional networks, and enhanced understanding between the people, for peace and economic integration in the region.
The Open-door Grants Pool serves as the Project’s mechanism to a) flexibly adapt to changes in the operating environment between the two countries; b) foster innovation and promote new faces or groups; and c) to test new ideas and approaches. The Open-door Grants pool will create the conditions favorable for a variety of innovative and/or pilot ideas to flourish and succeed. Through the open-door grant mechanism, new and younger NGOs, media organizations, and businesses will acquire opportunities to engage in cross-border dialogue and interaction. The Open-door concept specifically refers to a process whereby any issue and innovative approach in the area of improving and contributing to Armenia-Turkey interaction will be considered.
Please download detailed RFA and inquiry form from here:
rfa_arm-turk_open_door_final.pdf (175.17 KBytes)
inquiry_form_new_1.doc (73 KBytes)
On April 8, 2011, EPF organized a first-ever discussion in Armenia that convened about 50 Armenian stakeholders with experience in Armenia-Turkey project implementation. The event presented an experiment to enhance the cooperation among varied civil society organizations of Armenia while they work on Armenia-Turkey dialogue. The participants included civil society organizations, academia, representatives of the business community and the media, as well as those of the donor organizations. More than 20 organizations attended the discussion.
brief_overview_-_partner_meeting_in_yerevan_on_april_8_2011.pdf (130.38 KBytes)
Please downlowad One pager on Armenia-Turkey program which is a part of EPF’s 2010 Annual Report !
One pager on Armenia-Turkey program (1.73 MBytes)
05 February 2012
Please watch an interview conducted by CivilNet with Dafina Gercheva, UN Resident Coordinator on Social Cohesion Survey done by EPF/CRRC
05 February 2012
Turkish and Armenian NGOs and civil society groups continue to pursue «second track diplomacy» to maintain momentum.
23 January 2012
Eurasia Partnership Foundation announces the annual open competition entitled New Content and New Technologies as part of the “Alternative Resources in Media” program. More informataion on proposal requirements and selection criteria can be found below.
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