“If forgiving, then our martyrs should forgive.”
September 27 2014
“Aravot” met with Romanian writer, also politician, also Chairman of
the Armenian Union in Romania, also Vice-President of the Writers’
Union of Romania, Varujan Vosganian (in the photo). The event was the
writer’s book “The Book of Whispers” published by “Antares” Media
Holding, which in the genre of fiction presents the sorrow and losses
of the Armenian people associated with genocide. As characterized by
the experts, it is a new interpretation of the genocide and its
consequences. The writer is the author of various books, of which “The
Book of Whispers” novel became more famous. The latter was published
in Romania in 2009, translated into 7 languages and has become a
bestseller in a number of countries. The book once was a great clamor
in Turkey. To the question of what the real reason for it is, Varujan
Vosganian answered, “The Ambassador of Turkey had even sent a protest
note to the Romanian government, saying that allegedly my book has
offended the feelings of the Turkish people. As to what the offense
was, I do not know. Because we are to be offended rather than them. On
the contrary, my book does not encourage hatred against Turkish
people, at all. My grandfather, Sedrak Melikyan, survived the
genocide, because he got a help by a Turkish family. He was ill, this
family found him, kept him in the stable in secret and my grandfather
thus was rescued. Thus, to some extent, I owe to piety of some Turks.
No need to mess up the things. Human relations are one thing, and the
deeds of the authorities is a different thing.” We reminded Mr.
Voskanyan that once he had voiced three of his own positions on the
issue of the genocide: a/ forget what happened, b/ forgive the Turks,
c/ revenge, saying that if forgetting, then we would have committed
self-murdering, taking a revenge will be continual, while for
forgiving, one should be sure that what happened will nor reoccur. And
to which of the tree options the author gives preference on the
threshold of the 100th anniversary of the genocide, Mr. Vosganian
said, “These are not options but the moves. Forgetting is excluded,
the matter of forgiveness that is still wondering in my mind will
become a reality only in one case when the second party (meaning the
Turks) recognizes its guilt, like in the case with Germans and the
Jews. And if forgiving, then our martyrs should forgive. For the final
solution for the problem, in my opinion, a four dimension is required:
international law, moral, economic and state. To be honest, I am sure
that one day Turkey will recognize. There are many problems facing
this country on this issue, and they, I am sure, are well aware of it.
For instance, the churches and cemeteries must be returned to
Armenians…” To the inquiry of what steps the diaspora undertakes
currently, particularly the diaspora in Romania, Mr. Vosganian said
that the Diaspora has failed to create an Armenian ideology, the
diaspora is just a community, and later he replied, “After the World
War I, the Romanian-Armenian community was quite powerful not only by
the influence, but also in numbers. Romania was the first state to
open its ports for the genocide survivors, for Nansen members, and
therefore, the community, which is the oldest community in Europe
(Armenian moved to Romania around 1,000 years ago), became quite
strong. I can tell that about half of the members of the first
Government of Armenia were in Romania, and we could even open an
Armenian government in abroad, from Katchaznouni up to Drastamat
Kanay. After the World War II, unfortunately, many Armenians who could
not adapt the community-led life migrated to the West. So, now, the
number of the community is small, a few thousand, but we are very
influential. In fact, our voice is perceived as a powerful voice. With
regard to the “powerful” voice, our interlocutor said the following,
“After 1990, our community is rooted in the history of Romania.
Therefore, we decided to take care of our needs in the political
arena. For instance, we were able to fix a clause in the Constitution,
according to which, the national minorities have the same rights to
participate the election campaigns and have their candidates. The
Armenian community has a Senator in the Parliament in 1990, and
henceforth, continually, our representative is at the same time the
leader of the parliamentary group for minorities. I presented the
community for only 6 years, and the greatest strength is in our being
united.” Varujan Vosganian is convinced, “The Armenian community in
Romania is currently in the best of the situation in the world.
According to him, there is no other Armenian community in the world,
which has so much appropriate rights as we have in Romania. For
example, our priests are paid by the state, our expenses of our Sunday
schools and the teachers’ salaries are also paid by the government,
our expenses for the newspaper are also covered by the state. In
short, there is a separate line in the budget of Romania, which
provides funds for the Union of Armenians of Romania, for cultural and
organizational matters. On the other hand, Romania wants to develop
good relations and cooperation in the Black Sea area. Therefore, the
economic and political ties between Romania and Turkey are very
powerful. Romania’s political class is also very careful in such
sensitive matters. Although we are very respected and have many
rights, but the Romanian political parties do not want to go forwards
to the recognition. As a moral issue, recognition is acknowledged, but
the Parliament has not yet made any official announcement about
recognition of the genocide.”
Samvel DANIELYAN
Read more at:
http://en.aravot.am/2014/09/27/167078/