The Caucasus Triangle and Taksim Square

In early 2012, three developments involving Armenia and Azerbaijan revealed the entanglement of Turkish identity divides and strategic calculations.The citizens of Turkey were then engaged in an intense questioning of the past state action against different ethnic, religious, and ideological communities. While Western politicians played into genocide diplomacy with parliamentary resolutions and the like, they also pressured Turkey to open its border with Armenia. The political leadership in Ankara could either frame the challenges posed from East and West as an opportunity for progress or as an attack on Turkish honor and Muslim dignity. But Western democracies needed to caution against perpetuating the self-defeating paradigms of vengeance.