Armenia and Turkey took important steps toward overcoming a long bitter history this month. The two governments' agreement to establish diplomatic ties will help reduce the enmity that has dominated their relationship for nearly a century. It could also help transform relations in southeastern Europe as well as improve Turkey's relations with the European Union.

That is, of course, only the potential. The ill will that prevails in relations between Armenia and Turkey will take generations to erase, and could be rekindled without much effort.

Armenia and Turkey disagree bitterly over events that began in 1915. A wave of violence swept across Turkey, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians. The Armenian community, along with many historians, believe the deaths were the result of genocide — a deliberate policy of the Ankara government to cleanse the Ottoman Empire of minorities. The Turkish government has long maintained that it was not at fault. It has insisted that people died either as a result of deportation or relocation, or because of the civil war that was being waged against the Ottoman Empire.