Irish Examiner view: Ambiguity can stymie progress

Von der Leyen's snub shows how how deep the cultural divide between the West and Turkey remains

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, centre, and EU Council President Charles Michel arrive for a joint news conference after talks with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara, Turkey, on Tuesday. AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici

As the past is as incendiary a force in Turkey as it is in Ireland, then it is unsurprising that US president Joe Biden’s remarks last weekend — when he recognised the 1915/1916 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide — stretched the frayed relationship between the Nato allies. The gesture, more symbolic than concrete, recognised that around one million Armenians were killed by Turkish Ottoman troops during those years. 

One of the atrocities occurred less than two years after Cork was burned. The port of Smyrna — holidaymakers today know it as İzmir — was razed in September 1922. The death toll is disputed, but it may be as high as 100,000. One detail of the sack remains unforgettable.