It is late evening at a wine bar in Tallahassee, Florida, and two journalists are asking questions of an important local politician.

While this is a scene that could have played out anywhere in the world, this was different on a lot of levels. To begin with, the questions were very personal, about the official’s family, and about the generations who have lived away from their Armenian homeland.

Mark T. Mustian, a Tallahassee, Florida, attorney and city commissioner, is among nearly a half million Americans of Armenian heritage, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The discussion was about his book, his first novel, "The Gendarme" (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam September 2010), which is beginning to attract worldwide notice. It is a riveting tale with an inspirational message: nothing – not even genocide – can defeat man’s humanity.

Neither Turkey nor its strong ally, the United States, have recognized the removal of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians living in Turkey – including the killing of at least 500,000 and as many a 1 million by some accounts – beginning in 1915 as genocide. Nearly a century later, Turkey and Armenia have no official diplomatic relations, land along the border remains in dispute and their borders remain closed to each other.

During his campaign, President Obama suggested he would push for recognition of the events of 1915 as genocide, but he has not.

More than anything else, it is those facts that made this night so extraordinary. The journalists were Ofelya Kamavosyan, an Armenian, and Mehmet Fatih Öztarsu, a Turk. They were partners in the International Center for Journalists’ program, “New Media, New Challenges: Turkish-Armenian-American Journalist Exchange Program.”

The program is aimed at fostering new professional skills and understanding across these troubled borders. The hope is that by doing so the journalists could help further understanding, communication and collaboration among their countries. It provided training on the skills necessary to effectively report the truth across one of the world’s hotspots. In a column in the Tallahassee Democrat, I called it finding peace through journalism: It is just that noble a mission and that high a calling.

A lot would come of this program, but it would not be easy. The participants had been selected carefully. The success of the program depended on these journalists. And no two people could be more different than Kamavosyan and Öztarsu, and yet they had so much in common, too.

They were among six such teams. Participants spent five weeks in an online training course in January and February, followed by a week of orientation in Washington, D.C. in April. Then they would do a three-week internship at U.S. news outlets in the middle segment of the program, followed by a week of conferences in Ankara and Yerevan and an online course that would end in August.

They would go places and do things that few – if anyone – from their countries have done, at least since 1915, perhaps ever. It was the combination of all aspects of the program that would make a difference and produce amazing outcomes.

Kamavosyan and Öztarsu were placed at my newspaper, so I saw the program best through them and watched most closely their impact on others.

Kamavosyan, 30, was at times single-minded and always passionate. She wanted to be more open, but struggled mightily when it comes to anything – and everyone – Turkish. She has been raised in a culture of people who have survived genocide; the events of 1915 are never far from her thoughts. Her family was not convinced she should even take part in this program and travel in America with Öztarsu, who is a Turk, and thus should never be fully trusted, in their mind.

Öztarsu, 25, on the other hand, is as much an academic as a journalist, a deep thinker who rarely volunteers an opinion outside of his professional work and is the last to enter an argument or even a dinner debate. He is of a new generation of Turks: a Muslim who does not drink alcohol or consume forbidden foods, but is also very global in his interests and outlook. He is living, working and studying in Yerevan, the only Turkish journalist reporting from the Armenian capital. When he completes his master’s degree in Armenia, he wants to pursue a doctorate, perhaps in America.

In Ankara and Yerevan, the teams would be reunited with each other, their American hosts, and ICFJ trainers, Sherry Ricchiardi and Hoda Osman, and Senior Program Director Johanna Carrillo.

For a week, the journalists would live, work and play together, learning each other’s culture, by climbing a very large hill to the Ankara Castle, for instance, and dancing together to traditional Armenian music. They visited the largest mosque in Turkey and an ancient Catholic monastery in Yerevan. Little time was allowed for sleep, or needed. Why sleep when there are mountains to conquer? I was struck by the view of Mount Ararat, across the disputed border territory in Turkey from Yerevan. These are people who look alike, eat many of the same foods and share much of the same culture and lands, yet are divided by history and bigotry.

During the week, there would be more training on use of multimedia, social media and discussion of truth-telling. The teams would present their cross-border projects, as well, which they had been working on together since the program began.

Kamavosyan and Öztarsu’s project proved to be the most controversial – and created the best discussion about the value of journalism. On the surface, the project looked at Armenian architecture in Turkey, primarily in the former Armenian homelands, and what has become of it over the last century. The focal point was Armenian churches, and how their stone crosses that symbolize the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to Christians have disappeared.

Kamavosyan suggested the crosses were stolen or wiped clean, but presented no evidence except the obvious fact that the crosses have uniformly disappeared. She said “they” did it – an implication that it was the work of Turks and Kurds. That drew a strong reaction from the Turkish and Kurdish journalists listening.

What became obvious was that the typical American editorial process and debate – in which diverse viewpoints are presented in the story development stage – was missing. It became a learning moment, where the value of listening to each other’s viewpoints was more clearly understood. What was also obvious was that at least for this group a bonding born of their common interest in journalism was well under way.

To some extent, disagreement had replaced distrust, an important development step.

Erdinc Ergenc, a freelance journalist from Istanbul, had challenged Kamavosyan the hardest, telling her pointedly that she must “fix your attitude.” Whatever had happened to the crosses, he said, he knew that he had not stolen the crosses, nor had anyone in the room.

Later, he would say that he felt free to challenge Kamavosyan because, “We are a family now.” It struck me as an enormous accomplishment.

The American, Turkish and Armenian journalists would not reserve their questions or challenges only for each other. In meetings with high-level government officials, the journalists would ask tough questions on why the border between Turkey and Armenia remains closed, why dozens of Turkish journalists are in jail and what can be done to normalize relations.

In an email, Deborah Guido, spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, which funded the program, said the questions were heard clearly by government officials.

“The exchange program in both capitals actually stoked government thinking on the subject or rapprochement – and who knows, perhaps Turkey and Armenia will get down to real business someday soon,” she said.

Program outcomes will not rely simply on the work of others. The journalists are working together on additional programs, including a project called reportswithoutborders.com, a website that will give journalists an opportunity to share articles, videos and other multimedia projects without interference or censorship. It will give journalists a showcase for their work across borders and continue to build on the progress made toward better journalism and understanding.