Romano-Turkish Peace Talks: BC Hotseat IC thread

[phonicsmonkey]

**Please do not post in this thread unless you are invited by the Caliph to participate in the peace talks.**

War has been raging in Anatolia between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Turkish Sultanate since the Romans attacked the Kingdom of Armenia, triggering a mutual defence treaty signed between the Turks and the Armenians.

Since that fateful day many brave souls have died on the field of battle, including the Turkish Sultan Kilij Arslan, and some Anatolian cities have changed hands more than once, leaving their populations bereft and destitute.

Sensing that fatigue has set in on both sides, and in the knowledge that initial (and so far fruitless) peace talks have been held between the warring factions, the Abbasid Caliph An-Nasir (known as the Peacemaker due to his success in brokering peace deals between the Seljuks and Georgians, and later between the Ghorids and the Solanki Rajputs) has invited the representatives of Basileos Manuel and the new Sultan Kaikosru to an anteroom off the main Court chamber at his palace in Baghdad.

Here he will attempt to mediate between the two sides with the aim of securing a peace treaty that will bring an end to the suffering of the peoples of Anatolia.

Since the Armenians have been restored to their holdings in Cilicia, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem has publicly forsworn any interest in the region, the representatives of those two nations have not been invited to the talks at this time.

The Georgians, having only entered the war very recently at the behest of the Turkish Sultan, and without any deployment so far, have similarly been excluded.

At the request and with the consent of the primary parties, those nations (and any others whose views are deemed to be relevant) may be invited to join in the talks at a later time.

The Caliph enters the chamber and finds the Turkish and Roman delegations present, scowling at one another across the inlaid mosaic table.

Brothers and friends, I thank you for heeding my call to meet here and begin on the long road towards peace.

I understand that initial negotiations have already begun in private with an offer from the Romans, and a counter-offer by the Turks.

For the benefit of the public record, would it suit the two delegations to repeat those offers in their essentials, each in turn (Romans first) and without further comment for the time being, so that we might understand our starting point?