THE QUESTION
"Today is "Genocide Remembrance Day "in the Armenian community, a particularly strained time of year for Turkey and Armenia. What's a realistic first step forward toward reconciliation for each of these countries?"

So where is Obama or the U.S. mentioned in the question for discussion? How crudely prejudiced can one be? Cheap shots make for shoddy and ineffective communication, very easily recognized by honest people. :)

So Turkey should not be part of the E.U. because of sins committed by the Ottoman Empire hundreds of years ago? And I thought one motivation for the E.U. was to help countries that had abused each other for centuries work together for a future world of peace. I guess it's actually just a club to keep the "wrong" sinners out. :)

Ettefagh says:

"And what can Mr. Obama, the hyper-advertised Zeus but really a beleaguered Messiah, do about an age-old conflict in far and away places as part of his charm offensive in Islamic lands? Precious little in all probabilities, for the true and fundamental reason that such steps do not yield votes in Kansas for an American politician.”

I live in Kansas and would want President Obama know that neither I nor anyone I know would like to see Turkey in the European Union. Turkey has done more than massacre a million Armenians. It devastated Eastern Europe and pushed the Middle East, North and Central Africa, into the Dark Ages, when it subjugated, oppressed and taxed them back into the Stone Age. This happened during the 500 years period when most of the rest of the worlld marched from the Dark Ages into the Industrial Age.

@ TOMMILLER1

It seems you cannot hide your prejudice, because the writer is from the region, writing from a country that neighbours both countries and has a large Armenian minority that live in Iran. The question to the panel is what can Obama do to help, as it is shown on the main page.

But I have a question for you: do you think the attack of USA on Iraq is one of the regional atrocities? or Bosnia where USA and NATO are engaged and have done nothing for the last 15 years to find a sustainable settlement?

Dredging up the past with respect to wars is not conducive to the necessary measures facing the whole world with respect to dwinling resources in all classes [fish, ores, oil, etc] lack of cheap energy sources for the near future, agricultural degradation of land and waters, and the global warming issue. The whole world needs extreme cooperation to assure that human beings' number will not be reduced by the blowback of all these dwindling necessities for modern civilization.

It especially behooves the USA to keep quiet on issues of genocide, for the USA has done little to fight against such, see Rwanda, Congo, etc, while perpetrated through wars of choice losses of approx 4 million in Vietnam, with other losses in LAos and Cambodia [see: http://vietnamresearch.com/history/stats.html ] with other major losses in IRaq, and various ME countries via the USA armed proxie: Israel. This does not include the effective genocide of the native population within the USA's territories, dependencies, colonial wars, etc.
Conclusion: the USA press, think tanks and most certainly the politiicans should resolve to concentrate on the USA's sorry history, and leave other peopple to resolve their own problemns in far away lands.

Turks and Armenians living in Armenia should decide their future? They have been too many atrocities in the area to live in the past. Of course.

Where in the question, however, does Obama as Messiah come into question? The question for the post was not "how can you irrelevantly attack Obama as a Messiah because you are paranoid" but what should Turkey and Armenia do. Talk about hidden agendas!

Dr. Ali Ettefagh,
I fully agree with You!. In the whole post-Soviet space we witnessed how Armenia is still occupied and is still occupying an Azeri land known as Mountainous Karabakh. Until Armenia frees and gets the hell of out Karabach in Azerbaijan, Turkey and Azerbaijan and even Turkic-speaking Central Asian Republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and maybe even Farsi-speaking Tajikistan and Iran should stay firm against the claims of so-called Armenian lobby living in the USA. I am sure ordinary Armenian citizens living in Armenia do not want to participate in this political propaganda.

Dr. Ali Ettefagh,
I fully agree with You!. In the whole post-Soviet space we witnessed how Armenia occupied and is still occupying an Azeri land known as Mountainous Karabakh. Until Armenia frees and gets the hell of out Karabach in Azerbaijan, Turkey and Azerbaijan and even Turkic-speaking Central Asian Republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and maybe even Farsi-speaking Tajikistan and Iran should stay firm against the claims of so called Armenian ethnic lobby living in the USA. I am sure ordinary Armenian citizens living in Armenia do not want to participate in this political propaganda.

Correct. I might add that heavy pressure should be put on Turkey to make and unconditional apology to Armenians and provide restitutions, including restitutions for people driven out in 1960s and 1970s during the civil war.

The killing of 1.5 million Armenians in early 20th century equates to a bigger blood bath than the Holocaust and 6 million Jews in mid-20th Century.

If Turkey does not do such a thing and make realistic steps in 12 months, the world must unite and impose tough, heavy sanctions and economic limitations until they change their mind.