Please find below a link to the Message of the Prime Minister of The
Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, on the “Events of 1915,”
issued on April 23, 2014. This is followed by the text of the response
to that message by the Zoryan Institute.
hed-a-message-on-the-events-of-1915.en.mfa
ZORYAN INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INC.
255 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, Canada M3B 3H9
Tel: 416-250-9807 Fax: 416-512-1736 E-mail:
[email protected]
May 5, 2014
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan
Ankara, Turkey
[email protected]
Prime Minister Erdoðan:
Your official statement on April 23 acknowledging how “The 24th of
April carries a particular significance for our [Turkey’s] Armenian
citizens and for all Armenians around the world” and your message of
condolence, “… we wish that the Armenians who lost their lives in
the context of the early twentieth century rest in peace, and we
convey our condolences to their grandchildren” constitute an
unprecedented step from the Turkish Government and must be recognized
as such.
But, Mr. Prime Minister, we can’t stop there, for the sincerity of
your condolence is undermined by the calculated presentation in the
rest of the letter. Allow me to point out a few examples.
1. You begin by saying this occasion “provides a valuable opportunity
to share opinions freely on a historical matter.” There can be
legitimate differences of opinion on historical matters, but opinions
must be grounded on facts. When there is incontestable evidence of
genocidal intent in the events of 1915-including from the Turkish
Archives-it undermines belief in your sincerity when you refer
euphemistically to “relocations,” instead of the painful death marches
they were. It was the killing, planned and executed by the state
apparatus, of about 1.5 million and the deportation of the rest of the
2.5 million Armenian citizens of Ottoman Turkey, with the intent to
exterminate the entire race. This is not a matter of historical
opinion; it is the reality that we must share. Presumably, this is the
reason for your letter of condolence in the first place.
2. You state that “In Turkey, expressing different opinions and
thoughts freely on the events of 1915 is the requirement of a
pluralistic perspective as well as of a culture of democracy and
modernity.” This lofty sentiment creates the impression that you are
open and caring about truth, when, in fact, you are using it as a
Trojan horse and a blatant political stratagem to play with the minds
of the general public. During your tenure, many scholars, journalists
and intellectuals have been persecuted, jailed, and even murdered for
holding opinions on 1915 that differ from your official state
narrative.
3. It is true that “It is indisputable that the last years of the
Ottoman Empire were a difficult period, full of suffering for millions
of Ottoman citizens, regardless of their religion or ethnic origin.”
Indeed, your Foreign Minister, His Excellency Ahmet Davutoglu, refers
to this in his op-ed piece in The Guardian expressing support for your
letter of condolence:
A series of ethnic cleansings in the Balkans pushed millions
eastward, transforming the demographic structure of
Anatolia….. Approximately 5 million Ottoman citizens were driven
away from their ancestral homes in the Balkans, the Caucasus and
Anatolia. While much of western history tells of the suffering of the
dispossessed and dead Ottoman Christians, the colossal suffering of
Ottoman Muslims remains largely unknown outside of Turkey.
We can understand and share with compassion the pain of all those
Muslims who were forcibly expelled from the Balkans, the Caucuses and
Crimea. We know firsthand that pain. I am the son of two Armenians
orphaned in 1915 from Urfa, Anatolia, and who were deported after
losing their entire families, and others at the Zoryan Institute, as
well as most other Armenians, also have this personal experience. We
know well the pain of being uprooted from your ancestral homeland and
of being a refugee growing up in several countries, none of which
replace what home once was, or allow you to maintain continuity with
your cherished history and culture.
But, Mr. Erdoðan, you talk about suffering while ignoring how the
suffering was inflicted. You lump all of the millions of deaths
together without making the critical distinction between the causes of
death, those who were targeted for extermination, and those who died
from the war. More Germans died in WWII than did Jews, for example,
but the deaths had very different causes and different meanings, as
did the deaths of the Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. We agree
that no one should try to construct hierarchies of pain. However, the
pain of those Ottoman Muslims was not inflicted by our Armenian
fathers or grandfathers, whereas the pain of the planned destruction
of the 2.5 million Armenians in 1915 was caused by yours.
Genocide denial involves four dimensions: denial of the facts,
responsibility, calling the events something else, and relativization.
Your letter engages in all four. Until you and the Turkish State
demonstrate a sincere and apologetic expression about the consequences
of your ancestors’ actions, your condolences to the Armenians will be
perceived as insincere and a cleverly contrived trick for gaining an
end.
No Turk living today can be held responsible for the crime of the
genocide committed by the Ottoman regime. Yet, your country and your
government are responsible for the aggressive and ongoing denial,
which exacerbates and perpetuates the pain of the Armenians and itself
is considered the continuation of the crime. We believe that the
Armenian people worldwide would embrace the whole people of Turkey, if
the Turkish Government acknowledges the responsibility of its
predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, in the planned annihilation of its
Armenian citizens, expresses a sincere apology, and makes appropriate
efforts at atonement. That would build trust between the parties and
allow the healing and forgiving process leading to a true liberation
for all concerned. In this respect, we take this opportunity to
express our deepest sympathy to the families of all those righteous
Muslims-Turks, Kurds, and Arabs-who risked their lives to save
Armenians during that period.
Your call for a joint historical commission to study the events of
1915 is only a public relations stratagem. Please recall that in 2003,
the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission requested The
International Center for Transitional Justice to examine the Armenian
Genocide issue. The ICTJ issued its finding that “the Events, viewed
collectively, can thus be said to include all of the elements of the
crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and legal scholars as
well as historians, politicians, journalists and other people would be
justified in continuing to so describe them.” The Turkish members of
the Commission rejected this finding and TARC broke apart. Why would
you now propose another joint commission, when you have already
rejected an independent, third-party finding from an organization
headed by the renowned Elie Wiesel? You, yourself, have repeatedly
stated publicly that you would never accept that Turkey committed
genocide. It is difficult to reconcile this with your statement that
“Turkey has always supported scholarly and comprehensive studies for
an accurate understanding of history.”
Mr. Prime Minister, if you really would like to see “that the peoples
of an ancient and unique geography, who share similar customs and
manners will be able to talk to each other about the past with
maturity and to remember together their losses in a decent manner,”
then perhaps you could take a few very simple steps to show your
commitment, by establishing diplomatic relations with Armenia, with no
preconditions, and opening the borders between the two countries
(closed only from the Turkish side), as a first step to commencing
dialogue. This would demonstrate in a tangible way the sincerity of
your letter of condolence and be a first step towards reconciliation.
Yours sincerely,
K.M. Greg Sarkissian, President