IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF OTTOMAN TURKS BEING ARMENIAN IS SHAMEFUL
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.03.2009 GMT+04:00
The fact that Young Turks did not finish the started destruction of
the Christian population in the Empire can have only one explanation –
the mentality of a nomad, who is used to thinking only for the present
moment and not a minute forward.
April of 2009 may turn to be the most strained month for Turkey in
the last a few dozen years. Moreover, on March 29 the country is to
hold municipal elections that may finally consolidate the power of
Islamists. At least, Prime-Minister Recep Erdogan counts on that. After
the elections US President Barack Obama is to visit Turkey, and then
– April 24… There is indeed a reason for anxiety. But now let us
analyze the events in turn.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ People’s Republican Party (CHP) deputy Canan Aritman,
who was sued by a lawyer protecting the rights of the Head of State,
will have to pay moral compensation for his statement regarding
President Gul’s mother’s Armenian origin. The court of Ankara passed
a judgment saying Aritman has to compensate the moral damage done to
the President by paying 1 lira for an attempt to discredit a state
officer through spreading untruthful information on the ethnic roots
of Gul’s mother, Anatolian News Agency reports.
But let us set aside Gul’s ethic motives for appealing to
court. Naturally, he was offended because of his alleged Armenian
origin. Per se, in the consciousness of Ottoman Turks being Armenian
is still shameful, though, whoever might speak of Â"racial purityÂ",
today’s Turks ought not to. Not to mention the Armenian roots of
blood-shedding sultan Abdul-Hamid II. Let us also not forget that
majority of the Young Turks were denme (Jews that accepted Islam). But
all this is already well known among the Turks and it does not any
more arouse negative reaction in the Turkish society. But it was the
first time that the current president was blamed for Â"impureÂ"
descent. At the end of the previous year a group of Turkish
intellectuals, obviously of not purely Turkish origin, launched a
campaign "Armenians, we apologize", which did not meet the sharp
criticism of the President of Turkey. According to Canan Aritman,
the President supports the campaign.
""Look at his ethnic origins from his mother side and you will see
why he supports the Armenians."
In response to the spread rumours about his alleged Armenian origin,
President Gul stated that his offspring both from mother’s and father’s
side were pure-bred Turks and Muslims. The Turkish leader considered
it an insult and decided to appeal to court. However, the EU instantly
blamed Gul for the indiscreet reaction to the Â"insultÂ". It should
be mentioned, though, that the conduct of the President in this
situation easily fits into the characteristic features, described by
the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau in the years
of the World War I. "The offspring of the ottoman Turks will hardly
resemble any of the people I have ever known. They don’t hate, they
don’t love, they feel neither hostility nor affection for anyone. They
only fear. And it is quite natural that they attribute the motives
of their behavior to others."
It is nearly impossible to give a more precise description to the
Turks. They fear the recognition of the Genocide, they fear the
Greeks, the Assyrians, they fear their own history and the Kurds. And
on this basis one the manifestation of the animal instinct to rob,
override and murder all those they are unable to understand can
be justified. The fact that Young Turks did not finish the started
destruction of the Christian population in the Empire can have only
one explanation – the mentality of a nomad, who is used to thinking
only for the present moment and not a minute forward. They were not
even able to establish the really new Turkish nation that Ataturk
tried to create. In the long run, the instincts of a nomad prevail
over all the other reasons, and … we have what we have: 70-million
hostile people for whom the words Â"ArmenianÂ" and Â"enemyÂ" will
always remain identical in meaning. All the remaining steps of the
Turkish diplomacy to be taken in April will proceed from this fact,
and Armenia ought to remember this always.
Barack Obama’s visit means much more to Turkey than just a usual
visit to the country to which the USA is linked only through strategic
partnership and NATO. With the help of Obama, Ankara wants to highlight
her role in the hard job of withdrawing American troops from Iraq. The
consent to give the military base "Incirlik" stands as a proof for it,
if we take into account the fact that in 2003 the Turkish Parliament
forbade American troops to pass to Iraq through Turkey. However,
the Turks are always trying to bargain and even blackmail. The most
interesting scene in all this story is going to be the reaction of
the new US Administration to the old and tested methods of Turkish
diplomacy.
Calls of various Turkish organizations remind of letters of
the Â"collective farmers and workersÂ", who Â"have not read the
story but consider it their duty to state that…Â". Chairwoman
of Turkey’s leading business association, Turkish Industrialists’
and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag sent
a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama urging him to consider the
possible implications of recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The
letter particularly says: "The US and Turkey are determined to move
forward for a more intensified cooperation on several key issues under
the vision of the new American leadership. In an era when a strong
US-Turkey alliance is needed more than ever to address the challenges
of the world’s most troubled regions such as the Middle East and the
Caucasus, straining bilateral relations through such initiatives will
have negative consequences beyond Turkey-US relations.", Hurriyet
Daily News reports. And what we can do is to wait until Turkish
Foreign Minister arrives at the BSEC summit in Yerevan.