WE DEAL WITH NATION HAVING NO QUALMS IN KILLING CITIZENS: GIBRAHAYER
news.am
Nov 19 2009
Armenia
Armenia-Turkey Protocols raised "the issue of identity and the
means of identifying one s self in society as an individual and as
a group", reads the article by Jean Ipdjian published in Gibrahayer
magazine. NEWS.am posts the passages from the article.
"It has always been hard for Armenians in the Diaspora to keep their
national identity while at the same time being able to identify
themselves as citizens and as part of the countries, they happen to
live in.
It has always been the endeavour of Armenian individuals and
Organizations to create such conditions that will help keep their
Armenianism . The object of not being swept by the currents of
assimilation which are so strong specially in friendlier societies,
where the physical threats to their wellbeing is less and where there
are no easily definable social and religious boundaries between them
and the local population.
The Diaspora, which is mostly a direct result of the persecutions of
Armenians in the late 19th century Ottoman Empire and more so of the
Genocide of more than a million Armenians living in their homeland
in Ancient Armenia, present day Eastern Turkey and also Istanbul and
other cities, has used this fact as a means of identification. We
are children of the Genocide and it is practically impossible to find
a family or individual whose ancestors have not been victims of the
Genocide in one way or the other.
Therefore, it is inconceivable for us, the children of the Genocide
to accept any form of denial or questioning of the existence of the
Genocide, because in that way we will be actually denying ourselves and
robbing ourselves from our own identity. This mean of identification
is so strong that it was only recently that compatriotic organizations
were dissolved in our communities. And this fact is one of the core
problems that the Protocols have created.
It is, to say the least, extreme naivety to believe that this wound in
our history can heal with unilateral acts of forgiveness and forward
looking on our part. The key, which will untangle this quagmire of
existence, which is the Diaspora, is firmly in Turkey s hands. We
can live with the consequences of the Genocide and the heirs of the
organizers and executers of the Genocide, provided that they stop
their denial, provided that they accept it. Only then can the real
healing process start.
And if we look at the chain of events, we will see that unless
our resolve in standing up for and defending our National issues
is unwavering and steadfast, their will continuously be attempts
at nibbling on our resolve and eventually defeating it. Because we
are dealing with a nation which has had no qualms in the killing of
its citizens in the past or present, we are dealing with a nation
whose arrogance has allowed it to have laws which make it illegal to
question the Turkishness of its history, and who has complete and
utter disregard for public opinion, and for whom human rights is
something alien."