IS 1915 GENOCIDE OR WHAT?
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 1 2013
MARKAR ESAYAN
[email protected]
I intend to put an end to the 1915 matter for now with one last article.
Whenever I attempt to write an article about this issue, I try to
elaborate on the human aspects of the matter and explain the wrong
done by the greater policies. As a matter of fact, while the 1915
tragedy is being discussed as a historical incident, it is actually a
matter that affects our time. Therefore, the failure to solve it stems
from a mentality that has survived up to our time. Having seen the
fact that this mentality is currently in decline, I nurture higher
hopes about the future.
I believe the debate over whether the 1915 incidents amount to
genocide poses an obstacle for those who seek to understand the matter
from the perspective of Turkey. I have written about this idea of mine
countless times. The Genocide Convention, adopted by the United
Nations in 1948, also ratified by Turkey, sets forth the following
criteria for defining genocide:
“(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or
mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on
the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to
prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of
the group to another group.”
For any action to be defined as genocide, these conditions need not be
met. Any person who can take a look at the 1915 incidents can see if
these incidents fall under these articles. I think it would be more
rational for those who do not want the 1915 incidents to be labeled as
genocide to try to modify the Genocide Convention than to argue that
these incidents do not fall within the ambit of these articles.
I feel uneasy as I write down the last paragraph. The
is-1915-genocide-or-not debate leaves the remaining joint efforts out
in the cold. We cannot settle this problem departing from this debate.
Moreover, this would be an act of irreverence against the dead. As a
person who is the grandson of a family half of whose members died in
1915, I see this debate as unfairness done to this sorrow. While it is
a profound piece of 98-year experience and a piece of knowledge
ingrained on the identity, 1915 is still perceived by the people of
Turkey in compliance with the narrative injected by the official
ideology.
In other words, Turkey still does not know what really happened in
1915. For an Armenian, it would be more ethical to try to ensure that
sorrows are acknowledged and respected instead of trying to take
revenge, and to open up venues for dialogue by refraining from
declaring a nation genocidal.
True, the Armenian nation suffered from a great destruction in 1915.
But that was not all. Inheriting the poisonous heritage of the
Community of Union and Progress (CUP), the newly established Turkish
Republic adopted a hostile attitude toward the surviving non-Muslim
minorities and their cultural heritage. Can we offer another
explanation to the fact that only 50,000 Armenians now live in the
country?
Unfortunately, this ideological perversion adopted the same stance in
the face of Kurds, Alevis and Muslims, though to a lesser extent.
Great sorrows were suffered. Today, Turkey is trying to get rid of
this poisonous ideology. But you cannot rehabilitate the 90-year state
mentality in a few days. Still, Turkey is changing at a dazzling pace.
Today’s Turkey and what it was 10 years ago are as different from each
other as white is from black, in a positive sense. This change is
being driven by the demands for reforms voiced by Muslims.
Onlookers may fail to understand it. Or they may say: “We have been
living with this problem for 98 years, and we have serious advantages
over Turkey. We can corner Turkey and impose our version of the
solution.” But will this really be a solution? Will Armenians really
attain serenity if they don’t mourn for their losses together with the
grandchildren of their Turkish and Kurdish neighbors? I think not.
It is time Armenians and the people of Turkey make a new start.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-314221-is-1915-genocide-or-what.html