DETAILED REPORT: HOW TURKEY MARKED THE 96TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GENOCIDE
Tue, May 10 2011
ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)-This year, for the first time since the
genocide, April 24 coincided with Easter in the Armenian Church
calendar. As the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian people
observed the 96th year of the Armenian Genocide, the World Council
of Churches and the Conference of Churches in Europe appealed to all
member churches to remember the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian
Genocide during their prayers and messages on Easter Day.
A scene from the commemoration organized by the Istanbul Human Rights
Association.
However, in Turkey, where a community of 60,000 Armenians live in
Istanbul and uncounted numbers of Armenian origin are spread all over
the country, it is still problematic to address this Genocide, even
as it has been commemorated throughout the world for decades. The
Armenian churches in Istanbul could only say that prayers would
be made for “all those who found the mercy of our Lord” in their
Easter announcements, while several other events were held on April
24 under different, roundabout titles. This isn’t surprising since 74
percent of people in Turkey have negative feelings toward Armenians,
according to a recent poll published in the Radikal Turkish daily
newspaper that surveyed 3,040 Turkish citizens.
After the collapse of the Swiss-brokered conciliation process between
Armenia and Turkey in 2009, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan didn’t miss a chance to exacerbate Turkey’s poor treatment
of its Armenian population, which shrank to a minority 96 years ago,
by using them as a bargaining chip in Armenia-Turkey relations. The
latest of such moves was the demolition of a statue designed to promote
conciliation with Armenia near the Turkish-Armenian border on April
26. This was followed by an earlier visit to the site by Erdogan
in January, when he described the monument as a “monstrosity” that
overshadowed a nearby Islamic shrine. The demolition has prompted
strong criticism from some opponents of Erdogan’s government and
prominent Turkish artists. One of them, Bedri Baykam, was stabbed
and hospitalized in April immediately after attending a meeting about
supporting the statue.
Opposition figures don’t seem to be interested in changing much
either. In mid-April, the leader of the Republican People’s Party,
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, sued writer Suleyman Yesilyurt for “accusing”
him of having Armenian ancestry. Kilicdaroglu denied the claims by
saying that “they want to destroy his image with false accusations
ahead of the coming elections,” once more framing any Armenian linkage
as an insult in Turkey.
Trying to cope more with European Union standards and taking domestic
politics into account in their calculations, at least five Turkish
political parties, including the Justice and Development Party in
power and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, announced they
would put Armenian candidates on their lists during the upcoming
elections on June 12. However, all of them later dropped that decision,
leaving politics as a spectators-only sport for the Armenian community
of Turkey.
It was in this atmosphere that Armenians in Turkey marked the 96th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In spite of this, there is a
growing interest and understanding towards Armenians and their problems
in Turkey. Several academic conferences and discussions about 1915 have
taken place over the last few years. The Human Rights Association of
Istanbul has been organizing Armenian Genocide commemoration events
since 2005, and silent public sit-ins were held in five cities in
Turkey for the second year in a row.
Writer and journalist Ahmet Insel said that holding these
commemorations is very important. “Especially the one organized by
the Human Rights Association of Istanbul in front of the place where
it used to be a prison,” he said. “It was also important doing the
commemoration event in Taksim Square for the second time and with
more people signing under their declaration. But I was expecting
more participants this year, perhaps 2 or 3 times more people. But
it wasn’t, and I feel sad for that. It seems that we should discuss,
present, and campaign for this in a different way. Obviously, the
commemoration in Taksim will become a tradition, and this is very
important, but making more people attend this commemoration seems
also very important to me.”
“This year there was no increase in the number of participants in
Taksim. Instead there was an increase in the number of the cities
where commemorations were held,” said journalist Ali Bayramoglu.
“These events have a symbolic meaning. This means that some Turks
are confronting their past and they have reached the level to make an
apology. If one day Armenians and Turks establish a friendship, or if
Armenia and Turkey make reconciliation, or if Turkey recognizes the
Armenian Genocide, it will be obviously through these kinds of public
exercises. As it is in other countries, the state is hard to convince.
This could happen only if the society changes and starts to push the
state for that. That would be more honest and real. I regard these
commemorations as firm steps in this direction,” he added.
Human rights lawyer Fethiye Cetin pointed out that these commemorations
are coming very late. “Nearly 100 years passed on these events
and we have just started to remember them,” she said. “But better
late than never. It wasn’t easy to break the policy of denial and
the taboo stamped on this issue in this country, and the state is
still continuing its policy of denial. They even responded to the
annual speech of President Obama about the Armenian Genocide. This
is embarrassing for Turkey, because if we want justice to prevail,
we should start by confronting our past first. After that we need to
apologize. And the apology must come from the leaders of this country,
not from the bottom of the society. After this apology, every step
should be taken to restore justice,” she said.
Few Armenians also participated in the commemorations this year.
Armenian American Anoush Suni, who is following an exchange program
on Middle Eastern studies in Istanbul, was one of them. “I went
to the Armenian Genocide commemorations in Sultanahmet and Taksim
out of curiosity,” she said. “Some Armenian community members have
said that we have no business with them, that they’re the ones who
should apologize. We already know what happened. I was very impressed,
especially by the commemoration in Sultanahmet. There the declaration
said that what happened in 1915 is genocide and we should recognize
that. I think that those are very powerful words.”
“The people who spoke were very clear and open,” she continued. “They
said everything as it was in simple terms that everyone could
understand. They showed pictures of those who’ve been deported and
killed. They presented things that can drive people to try to think.
Unfortunately there was a small crowd, and hopefully there will be more
next year. The commemoration in Taksim Square was quite different. The
main slogan there, which read ‘This pain is our pain,’ should be
discussed, because some might argue that such a slogan distorts the
experience that Armenians had and makes it more general, less specific,
less historicized. But at the same time, I think that what happened
there is a great effort-the fact that hundreds of people can gather
in Turkey and express their view that history must be recognized.”
The first of these events was a conference on April 19 organized
by the Surp Khach School and titled “They were journalists, too,”
dedicated to the Armenian journalists who were killed in 1915. The
chief editor of Agos newspaper, Rober Koptas, along with journalist
Bullent Tellan, publisher Ragip Zarakolu, and Bayramoglu were among the
speakers who demanded adding the names of those journalists killed in
1915 to the list of “Killed Journalists” in Turkey. The president of
the Modern Journalists Association of Turkey, Ahmet Abakay, said they
were very late to organize such an event because they were unaware
and ignorant of the facts. He said he hoped this would serve as an
example for other professional associations.
Discussion panels were also organized separately by various leftist
organizations and association, like “Guney” Cultural Center’s
event in the Esenyurt District of Istanbul, or the conference in
Bilgi University organized by the “Confrontation” association. Also
significant was the conference organized by the “Say Stop to Racism
and Nationalism” initiative in the Taxim Hill Hotel. Titled “What
happened in April 24, 1915?” it featured nearly one dozen speakers
who highlighted the importance of educating and acknowledging the
events of 1915.
At that conference, Prof. Selim Deringil stated that the majority of
citizens of the Republic of Turkey believe that Armenians deserved what
they suffered in 1915. Another speaker, Istanbul-Armenian activist
Hayko Bagdat, said in his speech that the solution to the “Armenian
problem” is not related to the 60,000 Armenians left in Turkey, nor
with Armenians living in other parts of the world; instead, it is
related to Turkey’s future. “If you could say ‘This was a bad thing,’
you will have a different life,” he said. “And if you would ask me,
as one of those who lived after the genocide on our lands, I think
we should be able to say to the dominant forces here that they stole
our ability to grieve our friends’ deaths, they did the most evil
thing that someone can do,” said Bagdat. “From now on, this is not
my issue, but it’s your issue. We can live a better way on these
lands. Our cinema, theater, even the way we touch our loved ones,
all that would change if we could face these problems. April 24 is
not an occasion to ask me about the past, it is an occasion for you
to tell me about your future, and I am watching with big interest
and curiosity how the people of these lands are going to tell their
children about their past. April 24 is what you will pass on to your
children. Thus, please do not ask this to an Armenian. From now on
let it be your story,” he said.
A few days later, on April 27, the Revolutionary Socialist Workers
Party (DSIP) organized a conference titled “From 1915 to Hrant Dink:
The Importance of Facing the Armenian Genocide.” There, Agos’s Koptas
explained that saying “This is our mutual pain” isn’t fair, because
there are still steps to be taken to reach that level. Koptas warned
that April 24 commemorations shouldn’t become like other regular
events. He stated that a new language must be constructed to deal
with the issue.
On Sat., April 23, a group of protesters-comprised mostly women
whose husbands, sons, or relatives have either been arrested or
have disappeared-gathered in Galatasaray Square on Istiklal Street
in Istanbul for the 317th week in a row. The protest, which is being
organized every Saturday by the Human Rights Association of Istanbul,
was also dedicated to the memory of the Armenian intellectuals who were
also arrested and killed or disappeared 96 years ago. The protesters
held pictures of Siamanto, Daniel Varujan, and Krikor Zohrab alongside
pictures of their relatives. The protest’s declaration read: “We are
saying this again on the occasion of the disappearance of our Armenian
intellectuals 96 years ago: You can run away from the truth. If not
today, then tomorrow you are going to admit your lies. You are going
to face your dark past.”
On April 24, the Human Rights Association organized another
commemorative event in the Sultanahmet Area in front of the Turkish
Islamic Arts Museum. Formerly called the Ibrahim Pasha Palace,
the museum served as a prison for a long time. It was also where
the Armenian leaders and intellectuals were arrested on April 24,
before being taken to the Haydarpasha train station and sent to the
interior of the country, where most were killed.
Nearly 50 people attended the event, most of them journalists, writers,
publishers, and activists. A statement issued by the association-titled
“1915 is genocide, genocide is a crime against humanity”-was read
aloud by human rights lawyer Eren Keskin, the editor in chief of
the Ozgur Gundem daily newspaper that focuses on Kurdish issues, and
an Armenian Weekly columnist. “This civilization was destroyed and
erased from its thousands-years-old motherland,” read the statement.
A few hours later, another commemoration took place in the Armenian
cemetery of Balikli. This became a tradition to commemorate Hrant
Dink’s by his family, friends, and community members. Prayers were said
and roses were left in front of Dink’s memorial statue and in front
of another dedicated to the victims of the 1896-97 Hamidian Massacres.
On the afternoon of April 24, the largest commemoration event took
place in Taksim Square with nearly 500 participants. The event was
organized by “Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism Initiative,” which
made a declaration titled, “This pain belongs to all of us.” In it,
expressions like “a crime against humanity,” “the devastating act,”
and “the great guilt” were used, in place of the word “genocide,”
which is still a debated and taboo term among even many of those who
acknowledge the guilt associated with April 24. This move, however,
allowed for a larger number of writers, journalists, intellectuals,
and activists from various walks of Turkish society to more readily
show their support and sign their names under the declaration. Similar
silent sit-ins took place on the same day in Ankara, Izmir, Bodrum,
and Diyarbekir.
Hauntingly, however, on the other side of the same square, a
counter-protest was held by a group of so-called “leftists” called the
People’s Liberation Party. They carried signs that read, “Long live
our new liberation war against the second Sevres Treaty.” Numbering
nearly 50, the group stayed 30 meters away from the commemoration
because of a heavy police and security presence. An hour after the
commemoration in Taksim, another counter-protest broke out on nearby
Istiklal Street by members of the ultra nationalist “Bozkurt” group,
the youth wing of the Nationalist Movement Party. The protesters
carried the flags of Azerbaijan in an attempt to provoke anti-Armenian
sentiment. They also chanted slogans condemning the “imperialist lies
about the genocide” and marched down the street making threats and
other hate-filled remarks.
“The most important thing is that the people in Turkey started to
acknowledge that in 1915 on these lands, their neighbors, friends,
and fellows, who were the ancestral owners of these lands, were
subjected to a very big and planned ethnic cleansing campaign, and
they started feeling and sharing its pain,” said writer and journalist
Ahmet Insel, one of the signatories of the declaration. “After that
some people will call it a genocide, some a disaster, others will call
it deportations. This is a very long debate. But the most important
thing is that a very awful, unacceptable, and heavy crime against
humanity was perpetrated here on our fellow citizens. I think that it
is more important, to keep the discussion about what really happened,
rather than focusing on the exact word,” he added.
On the same issue, Bayramoglu said, “This event constitutes genocide,
and not using the word might seem like not admitting the fact. There
are serious criticisms about that from Armenia, the diaspora,
and others. But there is this point when we say that Nazis killed
the Jews, and not Germans. In this case, we are saying that Turks
killed Armenians. This way, Turks are having hard time confronting
themselves and accepting what happened. The important thing is to
feel and understand what happened, whether you call it a genocide,
massacre, tragedy, or whatever.”
“As an individual I think that it must be said at some point, because
it is important to take this responsibility,” said Gokce Percinoglu, a
researcher in a leading Turkish think tank. “We should also be careful
from accepting some things and denying others. But I don’t know when
the right time will be for it because most people in Turkey are just
learning about this and trying to confront their past. Sometimes the
word genocide is scaring them. There are even former diplomats who
are now in this learning process. Those people, for example, spent
years defending the official version of this issue. They had a very
nationalistic approach on that. These people are now admitting the
responsibility of Turkey about what happened in 1915, but they are
still reluctant about saying genocide.”
Publisher and human right activist Osman Koker said that there’s
no Armenian problem in Turkey, but that there’s a Turkish problem
in Turkey, which is about killings and denial. “I see the solution
of this problem right here,” he said. “This problem will be solved
within Turkey. Many years ago, people were killed and it still weights
heavy on us. Whenever Turkey realizes this pain and makes an apology,
whenever it drops its policy of denial, this problem will be solved.
Outside of Turkey, there might be parliament resolutions, protests, and
so on, and they are free to do that, but if all countries recognized
the Armenian Genocide, while Turkey didn’t, this problem would still
exist. In that sense, any little event or commemoration done in Turkey
is very important to me.”
Whether they call it genocide, massacre, catastrophe, or disaster, said
Fethiye Cetin, it’s crucial for intellectuals in Turkey to recognize
these events and confront their past. “The only criterion to naming
these events is the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, according to which
they constitute genocide,” she said. “But even if these people are
not saying genocide, it is very important to see these people to
face this pain and responsibility, because a very big segment in
the society doesn’t know what happened in 1915. To understand what
happened, we need to discuss it at least, even without naming it from
the beginning.”
In her book My Grandmother, Cetin tells the story of her Armenian
grandmother-a powerful, effective, and moving story, even without any
discussion or debate about the word genocide. It reached many people,
and many of those started to study what happened in 1915 and to accept
it as genocide themselves.
“In legal terms, I can name it genocide,” she said. “But what happened
in 1915 can only be named by its victims. If they are naming it a
great catastrophe, then it is such. If they are calling it genocide,
then it is genocide.”
From: A. Papazian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2011/05/10/detailed-report-how-turkey-marked-the-96th-anniversary-of-the-genocide/