Great Hatred, Little Room

A guest blog by Peter Spoor, Head of Press and Projects Team at the British Embassy in Ankara, Turkey

On a recent visit to Diyarbakir in Turkey’s south east, I was struck by how much the violence and terrorism of the past thirty years has blighted the region’s development. Business leaders I met spoke of the enormous potential that could be unlocked if a political settlement could bring peace to the region.

Like them, the UK hopes that the Turkish Government’s courageous step to hold discussions with the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, will bring both an end to terrorism, kick-starting growth and economic and social development across the region.

Many people in the south east of Turkey and in Ankara ask me about the parallels with Northern Ireland. I’m convinced that each case is unique. There is no one size fits all model. In our case, the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, played an important role in negotiating a peace settlement in Northern Ireland.

The so-called Good Friday Agreement signed in April 1998 was an historic breakthrough. As with all classic examples of great diplomacy, the Agreement committed all sides to compromise while granting enough concessions for all sides to justify the agreement to their constituencies.

At the same time, there are common factors.  In a riveting book, “Great Hatred, Little Room”, Jonathan Powell (who worked with Tony Blair throughout his decade in No.10) brings to life the highs and lows of a remarkable period in modern British history. I’d recommend the book to anyone with an interest in conflict resolution. Much of the content is unique to Northern Ireland. But the broader themes – courage, compromise and the ability to lead through a period of tumultuous change – are surely universal.