FIGHTING FOR HONOR: TURKISH SCHOLAR PUBLISHES ACCOUNTS BY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SURVIVORS
GENOCIDE | 03.07.14 | 10:51
Photolure
Rageb Zarakolu
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
A Turkish version of “The Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey.
Testimonies of Survivors”, a three-volume collection of archival
documents covering the 1916-1917 period, has been published in one
volume, in 500 copies in Turkey by intellectual, human rights champion
Rageb Zarakolu. The publication contains a large amount of research
material of historical, political and legal significance.
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“This book is the result of efficient work that was done in the
immediate aftermath of the Genocide. It contains evidence gathered
immediately and raises numerous questions. This book is the second most
important one after “The Blue Book”, as it also includes testimonies
related to 1916,” says Zarakolu, noting that the Turkish version will
be presented to the entire world.
Speaking about Turkey’s denial of the historical events, Zarakolu
explains the essence of this denial. “When they falsify something,
it becomes continuous, they have to falsify everything, invent new
‘evidence’, erase Armenian names from wherever it is possible. All
this reminds me of George Orwell’s novel “1984” that tells about
professionals whose job is to destroy documents and create new ones
consistent with the new situation.”
Zarakolu began his campaign for the truth together with his late
wife still in the 1990s. He campaigned for the truth about the 1915
Armenian genocide by presenting the reality of the events.
“When we began our work, we were alone in the Turkish society, our
cause was not accepted even by the more educated public. We published
the first book in 1993, only two elderly Armenians had the courage to
enter our door. Our book was immediately banned. After that we managed
to publish it again illegally. The third Armenian who inquired about
it was Hrant Dink from Constantinople. He undertook to disseminate
1,000 copies, of course, not legally,” the Turkish publisher remembers.
Zarakolu thinks his job is to fight for honor.
“If I don’t continue this fight, it will mean I am giving up the
struggle of conscience that my wife started. We have faced pressures
in Turkey still during our childhood. If a genocidal state goes
unpunished, it will start pressures over again against different
ethnic or political groups. I was arrested by the army in 1971. In
the cell next to mine was my Armenian friend, Masis. Both of us were
tortured, they hit us in the feet. But since he was an Armenian, they
tortured him twice as hard. It was perhaps then that for the first
time a question arose in my mind – why do they subject Armenians to
torture harder than ours?” the scholar remembers.
According to Van NGO Honorable President Ruben Galchyan, in 2012
they published the three-volume collection “The Armenian Genocide in
Ottoman Turkey. Testimonies of Survivors” that included as many as 602
eyewitness accounts by Genocide survivors from the provinces of Van,
Bitlis, Erzurum, Kharberd, Diyarbakir, Trabzon as well as Parskahayk.
Galchyan said that those are very important documents that can serve
as evidence of international value.
Zarakolu said that Turkey knows all too well what implications the
admission of the Armenian Genocide and the restoration of historical
justice will have for his country, it knows that admission will have
to be followed by other stages, and that’s why Turkey wants to keep
the issue where it is now.
“But it is not only Turkey, but also large states that have
responsibility here. The case against insurance companies in the
United States was neutralized, and the reason was that the U.S. does
not officially recognize the Genocide. All governors, leaders,
including Obama, Pelosi speak about the Genocide, accept it, but when
it becomes a concrete issue, when it starts concerning the State,
everyone forgets about it,” said Zarakolu.
Van NGO gathered from the Armenian archives accounts of genocide
survivors related to the period of 1916-17. They were included in
Armenia’s National Archives.
“We first undertook to publish these testimonies in Armenian. In 2012,
600 accounts were published in three volumes. In 2013, about 150
accounts were published in one book in English. This year with the
support of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon they were translated
into Turkish and published,” said Galchyan.
The book’s Russian, Spanish and French translations are also expected
in the near future.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://armenianow.com/genocide/55761/armenia_genocide_book_translation_turkish