Davutoglu’s ‘New Beginning’ at a Dead End
Editorial 2-7 Feb 2015
By Edmond Y. Azadian
The literacy rate is not high in Egypt, but the people there are
endowed with an innate sense of humor. Sometimes, they can encapsulate
major political developments in simple anecdotes. One such anecdote
began circulating when Anwar Sadat succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser
as president. The story goes that on the first day that the new
president is driven to his office, the presidential limousine comes to
a crossroad and the driver asks the new president which way he prefers
to be driven, since Nasser preferred to go to the left. Sadat answers:
“Signal left and turn right.”
Today, we are confronted with the same kind of politics with Turkey.
While blockading Armenia, helping the murderous Azeri regime to
continue its bellicose posture and denying the Armenian Genocide,
Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu calls for “a new beginning
with Armenia.”
Mr. Davutoglu himself orchestrated the charade of organizing the
centennial celebrations marking the Gallipoli campaign, specifically
stating that the purpose of it was to counter the centennial
commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
Adding insult to injury, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a cynical
invitation to President Serge Sargisian to attend the Gallipoli
celebration, creating a theater of the absurd in his foreign policy.
President Sargisian sent a powerfully-worded response outlining the
hypocrisy of Turkish policy toward Armenia.
Many critical commentaries were published in the world press and some
even in the Turkish press. But one article which appeared on January 19
in the Independent newspaper published in England hit the nail on the
head. It was written by the most erudite Middle East correspondent of
the paper, Robert Fisk. Any Armenian group that is interested in acting
in a significant way to counter the Turkish propaganda machine must
deliver Fisk’s article to all 102 heads of states who have been invited
by the Turkish government to attend this fictitious celebration.
Besides being an awkward attempt by Turkey to silence the centennial
commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, it is an insult to the forces
of the invited guests, because Turkey lost the entire war in 1918.
What is the significance of one battle? It is more significant to
celebrate the little known Battle of Arara, in Palestine, on September
19, 1918, when the Allies crushed the Ottoman and German forces,
causing them to retreat to their ultimate defeat. In that one battle,
5,000 Armenian volunteers from the US and elsewhere fought in the
Armenian Legion.
Returning to Mr. Fisk’s article, the headline tells all: “Gallipoli
Centenary Is a Shameful Attempt to Hide the Armenian Holocaust.”
“This is not just diplomatic mischief. The Turks are well aware
that the Allied landings at Gallipoli began on April 25 — the day
after Armenians mark the start of their genocide, which was ordered
by the Turkish government of the time — and that Australia and New
Zealand mark Anzac Day on April 25. Only two years ago, then-president
Abdullah Gul of Turkey marked the 98th anniversary of the Great War
battle on March 2013 — the day on which the British naval bombardment
of the Dardanelles Peninsula began on the instructions of British
First Lord of Admiralty Winston Churchill. At the time, no one in
Turkey suggested that Gallipoli — Canakkale in Turkish — should be
remembered on April 24. The Turks, of course, are fearful that 1915
should be remembered as the anniversary of their country’s frightful
crimes against humanity committed during the Armenian extermination.”
Gallipoli being marked as a battle in a lost war has its own
mysteries yet to be uncovered. While fighting the Ottoman Army,
the British government was overly concerned that its erstwhile
enemy-turned-war-ally Russia was moving closer to the warm waters
of the Mediterranean, having already occupied some territory on the
eastern border of the Ottoman Empire. Previously, the British policy
was to deny that access to the Russians and now they were delivering
the Russian dream on a silver platter. Therefore, at the expense of
intimidating Churchill they “lost” the Gallipoli campaign after a
face-saving effort vis-a-vis their Russian allies.
The other anomaly is that Australians and New Zealanders converge
every year in Istanbul to celebrate the Gallipoli campaign as if
thanking the murderers of their grandparents. This is the perverse
reading of history.
Turkey’s “magnanimous” leaders, in celebrating the centennial of the
Gallipoli campaign, have refused to extend an invitation to Australia’s
New South Wales legislature, which has passed a resolution to recognize
the Armenian Genocide, injecting a drama within another drama.
After orchestrating the Gallipoli carnival, Mr. Davutoglu turns to the
Armenians and, with a straight face, offers a “new beginning.” Here is
what he states: “Having already underscored the inhumane consequence
of the relocation policies essentially enforced under wartime
circumstances, including that of 1915, Turkey shares the suffering
of Armenians and with patience, and resolve, is endeavoring to
reestablish empathy between the two peoples. Our April 23, 2014
message of condolences, which included elements of how, primarily
through dialog, we may together bring an end to the enmity that has
kept our relations captive, was a testament to this determination.
Only by breaking taboos, can we hope to begin addressing the great
trauma that froze time in 1915. For its part, Turkey has transcended
this critical threshold and relinquished the generalizations and
stereotypical assertions of the past.”
Of course, there is tremendous improvement in the veneer of the Turkish
message to the Armenians. It is a message very different that the
one delivered by former Turkish President Turgut Ozal, who threatened
Yerevan with a few bombs, because “they had not learned their lesson
in 1915.” It is a much more positive one that the one delivered
by the dictator Kenan Evran who challenged Armenians by saying,
“If you want land, come and take it. Land can only be taken by blood.”
But in essence, the Turkish message does not change much. Rather than
admitting the undeniable fact of the premeditated genocide, Mr.
Davutoglu plants a time bomb in his message when he characterizes the
genocide as “relocation policies enforced under wartime circumstances.”
Far from being rejectionists, Armenians have to give some credit to
the AK Party’s policies, which introduced a measure of tolerance in the
country. After being embarrassed and ridiculed worldwide, the Turkish
government stopped enforcing Article 310 in the penal code against
“insulting Turkishness.” Then prime minister, Mr. Erdogan apologized to
the Kurds for the Dersim massacres and began to negotiate with Kurdish
separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan to resolve the Kurdish issue. During
the presidential election, he was able to lull the restive Kurdish
minority and may continue that way, until the parliamentary elections,
when the Kurds can contribute to his success.
This may lead to changes in the constitution to extend his presidential
powers. But the patience of the Kurds is running out, because most
of the promises have not been delivered yet.
Armenians can embarrass Turkey, at best, in its foreign policy, but
the Kurds have a knife at the throat of the Turkish government. Any
insurrection may lead to Turkey’s territorial disintegration, and we
know that Kurdistan is thriving in Iraq and Kurds are fighting for
their turf in Kobani, Syria.
In modern history, Turkish policy has suffered relapses and another
return to the days of September 6 remains a possibility.
When the Protocols collapsed, Mr. Davutoglu blamed Armenian
intransigence. He stated that had Armenia taken a symbolic step by
returning one or two regions in Karabagh, an agreement could have been
reached. However, the Armenian leadership knew that at that moment,
it was as if Talaat in his heinous mind was brooding to devour an
entire nation.
Devoid of any concrete action, Mr. Davutoglu’s message contains a drop
of Talaat’s tears. Talaat Pasha is still alive in Turkey with his
remains reverently resting in Hurriyet-i Ebediye Tepesi, Istanbul,
with 15 other streets and boulevards named after him in Ankara and
Istanbul, and especially with the Talaat Pasha Organization still
active with its virulent leader, Dogu Perincek.
With all these perils on their way, Davutoglu’s “new beginning”
has already met its dead end
From: A. Papazian