IS TURKEY LOSING POLITICAL WAR AGAINST ARMENIANS?
By Appo Jabarian
USA Armenian Life Magazine
April 13, 2012
During recent years Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s much
fanfared foreign policy of “Zero problems with neighbors” has turned
into “Zero neighbors without problems.”
After Turkey’s posturing as a mediator between Israel and Arabs has
backfired both in Tel Aviv and the Arab street, Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned against his longtime ally President
Bashar Assad of Syria. Compounding the situation, The Economist
magazine reported that Mr Erdogan’s secular critics argued that
“his behaviour points to another troubling impulse: to lead an arc
of Sunni Muslim countries spanning Africa, Asia, the Balkans and the
Middle East. As evidence they point to Turkey’s coddling of Syria’s
Muslim Brotherhood.”
The Economist underlined: “These days, when Mr Erdogan attacks Kemal
Kilicdaroglu, the CHP leader, he draws attention to his membership of
the minority Alevi faith. He has even suggested that Mr Kilicdaroglu
opposes intervention in Syria out of a sense of kinship with Mr Assad,
who belongs to the Alawite sect, often seen as a close cousin to
Turkey’s 15m-20m Alevis. The Alevis practise a liberal form of Shia
Islam and have long faced discrimination. Although their rituals
differ from the Alawites in Syria, they feel some solidarity with
them. Mr Van Dam warns that any war against Syria could ‘further
polarise Sunnis and Alevis within Turkey.'”
Making matters worse for Mr. Erdogan, The Economist continued:
“The Syrian crisis has exposed another long-running Turkish sore:
its Kurdish minority. Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey’s mainly
Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), insists that Turkey is seeking
regime change in Syria ‘to ensure that the Syrian Kurds don’t get any
more rights than Turkey is prepared to grant its own Kurds, which is
hardly any at all.'”
It is against this backdrop of numerous explosive internal problems
with about 25-30 million Kurds, and 15-20 million Alevis; intensifying
problems with neighbors such as Iraq, and Syria; lingering problems
with Greece and Cyprus; Armenian advances in the international arena,
Turkey desperately seeks to find solace in Diasporan ‘soft’ Armenians.
Disheartened by its own failed efforts to derail Armenian quest for
justice; and by its fruitless attempts to make the facts of Armenian
Genocide debatable on the world stage, Turkey is becoming more and
more desperate in scoring a political victory against Armenians with
the help of ‘soft’ Armenians.
Harut Sassounian, Publisher of The California Courier has captured
the essence of the moment in his most recent article: “Realizing that
Turkey had to deal with the Diaspora, not just Armenia to resolve
genocide related issues, Davutoglu once again turned his attention
to Armenian communities worldwide. During a March 24, 2010 CNN-Turk
interview, he announced that Turkish authorities would initiate a
dialog with ‘sensible’ Diaspora Armenians. To pursue this stratagem,
in April 2010 Davutoglu met in Washington with Turkey’s ambassadors
to the United States and Canada, and Consul Generals in Chicago,
Houston, Los Angeles, and Toronto. He instructed them to contact
Armenians who are open to dialog, and to avoid ‘hard-line groups,’
according to the Turkish ‘Today’s Zaman’ newspaper.”
“Dissatisfied with the efforts of his diplomats, Davutoglu decided
to take matters into his own hands. Last month, he spent several
hours in Washington meeting privately with several Armenians and
non-Armenians from the Los Angeles area to discuss ‘Armenian-Turkish
reconciliation.’ The Turkish Foreign Minister also invited the
attendees to come to Ankara and bring along other ‘prominent’
Armenians. Since then, Davutoglu has held similar meetings elsewhere,”
Sassounian pointed out.
Jirair Tutunjian, a well-known Armenian activist ridiculed Turkey’s
attempts to woo ‘Soft’ Armenians: “As of this morning, I will wait
with bated breath for the postman to deliver the buff envelope with
the crescent-and-star insignia of the Turkish Embassy on the top
left corner. In it I expect to find an invitation for a two-week
familiarization trip to Turkey, featuring a whirlwind visit to Turkish
government archives which would prove there was no genocide, followed
by a visit to the Great Mustapha’s mausoleum to place a wreath. … To
wrap up the trip, I expect to be regaled …. I will return from the
junket with several kilograms of Turkish bumph about ‘Turkey: bridge
between East and West’, ‘Turkey: Model Muslim Democracy’, ‘Turks: the
Origin of the Human Race’, ‘Armenian Terrorists Allies of El-Qaida’,
‘1,000 Turks Who Changed the World.’ I would expect that the man
from Turkish foreign ministry insist that he pay the airline for
the extra weight. … Upon my return, I will tell every one I know
that Turks are our bosom cousins, that some Armenians were killed by
Kurdish and Circassian bandits in 1915, that some treacherous Armenian
revolutionaries had wanted to tear apart Turkey and eventually rule
it with Russian help, and mention the benefits of Armenia becoming
a Turkish vassal state…discount-price canned imam bayildi, ….I
think I just heard the postman ring the bell.”
Echoing the concerns expressed by Sassounian, Joseph wrote on
armenianweekly.com: “‘Reconciliation’ has nothing to do with
rapprochement with Armenians. Just like TARC, the Turkish state wants
to utilize ‘reconciliation’ to deflect genocide recognition full-stop.
That is the only purpose and it’s so disgusting but then again,
what more can you expect from them?”
Avery commented: “Why bother? What ‘dialogue’? There is nothing to
‘dialogue’ about. If and when the State of Turkey unconditionally
recognizes the Armenian Genocide, then we can ‘dialogue’ about the
depth and breadth of reparations. Other than that, there is nothing
to talk about with representatives of the Turkish State (private or
official). Just don’t open the door when FM Davutoglu knocks. Ignore
them and they’ll go away.”
Sella added: “I agree with Avery, that we have to keep our doors
closed when Mr. Dovlotoghlu and ‘his friends’ knock, but the problem
here is that if we close our doors they are going to enter from the
windows. So, Armenians, please keep your doors and windows shut. Never
forget that 75%, (if not more) of our people were killed by Turks.
And, that 7 million Armenian Diaspora is created by Turks. … Devil
did not do us as much harm as Turks did.”
Add to this mix, the positive political developments in France.
Whether a modified French law criminalizing the denial of Genocide
gets instituted next year or in coming years, it is secondary. What’s
important is the creation of a defacto political firewall around the
veracity of Armenian Genocide. The noble attempts to legislate that
law, by the French people and the parties in power and the opposition,
as well as the Executive and Legislative branches of French state
have further solidified the Armenian Cause. It doesn’t matter how
these political efforts are fueled!
Whether incumbent French President Nicolas Sarkozy is seeking votes to
get re-elected; or he is leading a pan-European movement to keep Turkey
– “The Sick Man of Europe” out of the European Union, is subordinate to
another factor – the reinforcement of the notion that the international
community is not debating the factuality of Armenian Genocide. And
that spells trouble for Turkey in the coming years and decades.
Turkish courageous Publisher and an outspoken critic of Ankara’s
denialist policy, Ragip Zarakolu’s April 10 release Turkish prison
undoudtedly will empower many more Turkish activists to come forward
with their public acknowledgement of the Genocide.
“Arab Spring” has engendered “Turkish Spring!” Hardly a day goes by
without the members of the Turkish Deep State seeing the world around
them collapse. An increasing number of Turkish youth refuses to be
duped by their denialist leaders into “buying” the Turkish state’s
false propaganda against Armenian genocide and Armenians.
As anti-genocide activitsts get further organized, and are joined by
an increasing number of righteous Turks, the noose around the Turkish
denialism will surely become tighter. The exodus from the Turkish
denialist is expected to intensify as Turkish righteous activists
become bolder.
And why is Turkey losing the political war against Armenians?
Undeniably, the latters are well-armed with truth, and have ablsolutely
no qualms about discharging their political guns at every step of
the way.