ACCESSION OF GENOCIDE DENYING TURKEY IN EU WOULD BE EQUAL TO HOLOCAUST DENIAL
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.03.2008 19:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ It is a cause of concern that Swedish Foreign
Minister Carl Bildt hesitates to recognize the genocide of
Christians during the First World War by Ottoman Turks, writes
Pierre A. Karatzian, the media spokesperson for the Union of Armenian
Associations of Sweden.
As the author of the article told PanARMENIAN.Net, he also describes
a new study from Uppsala University showing that, very early on,
Swedish authorities had information about the occurring genocide.
"In the shadow of the First World War the Christian population of
Ottoman Turkey and its surrounding regions, which then included parts
of Northern Iraq and Syria, became the victims of a holocaust. The
genocide was carried out through deportations, with death as the
conclusion and veritable massacres. In eastern Turkey, the historical
Armenian Highlands, the territories where drained of the Armenian
populations.
There were even a large number of Assyrians, Syriancs and Chaldeans
murdered, or expelled, as a result of the genocidal wave that swept
in over the country.
In this territory there were a number of Swedes who witnessed these
assaults. Amongst them we find the missionary Alma Johansson and
reports from the official representatives of Sweden. A brand new
study at Uppsala University of the Swedish archive, written by Vahagn
Avedian, reveals a genuine Swedish reporting from Constantinople
(Istanbul). Within these we find ambassador Cosswa Anckarsvard’s
writings to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and those of
military attache Einar af Wirsen to the general staff.
Both of them sent detailed reports about the occurring genocide. The
rest are merely occasional quotations from the material found in the
Swedish archive:
– Anckarsvard, 6 July 1915: "Mr. Minister, persecutions of the
Armenians have assumed hair raising proportions and everything
points to that the young Turks wish to use the opportunity, as for
different reasons no effective external pressure needs to be feared,
to end the Armenian question once and for all. The means hereby are
quite simple and comprise the elimination of the Armenian nation."
– Anckarsvard, 6 July 1915: "It does not seem to be the Turkish
population who voluntarily initiates [it], but the entire movement
emanates from the authorities and the Young Turkish committee which
stands behind them…"
– Wirsen, 13 May 1916: "Health conditions in Iraq are horrifying. The
Typhus claims numerous victims. The persecutions of Armenians have
contributed to the spread of the disease to a high degree, since
hundreds of thousands of the deported have died of hunger and hardship
along the way."
Wrisen: "Annihilation of the Armenian nation in Asia Minor must upset
all human feelings. It belongs without a doubt to the biggest crimes
that have been committed during recent centuries. The way by which
the Armenian problem was resolved was hair raising."
During modern times the genocide has received a very bitter
consequence. The murder of the Turkish citizen of Armenian descent,
Hrant Dink, is an example. There have even been murders and attacks
on many Christian priests in Turkey during the ensuing years. Those
assaults, coupled with severe restrictions on religion and freedom
of speech, as well as the fact that Turkey is characterized by a
widespread extreme nationalism, results in that numerous minorities
find themselves in a vulnerable position.
The genocide during the First World War, even the massacres that
happened at the end of the 19th century has never been recognized by
Turkey. Instead, through large amounts of effort, it has been denied,
distorted and targeted disrespect mostly towards Armenians. One depicts
Armenians in governmental campaigns as Fifth Columnists and by this
indirectly legitimatizing the genocide that is simultaneously denied.
The recognition of the genocide is one of the keys to the
democratization process of the Turkish republic.
Germany underwent a similar process, which Turkey needs today, after
the Second World War and Adolf Hitler. Germany and Europe came to terms
with the aftermath of the Holocaust and created a protective-net for
ethnic minorities. The rest of Europe started to gradually condemn and
enlighten about Nazi driven veritable assaults of European Jews and
any other groups that were undesirable. Today there is multitude of
books and we are constantly fed with information about the suffering
that took place in the heart of Europe. The Holocaust provided an
insight to the necessity of having laws which punished those who
express disrespect towards a specific group.
Turkey is in urgent need for such laws, and not the kind that
criminalizes recognition of the genocide.
Turkey has never undergone the process that Europe has undergone. After
the Turkish republic was founded in 1923 on the remains of the Ottoman
Empire where the territories that were part of Armenia, as well as
those that were Kurdish and Assyrian became incorporated. The Turkish
put the lid on and has since confiscated churches and extensively
limited the human rights of minority groups. In the republic of Turkey
there was no space for minorities and everyone was supposed to be a
Turk. The politics of assimilation was a fact.
Recognition of the genocide reinforces both religious freedom and the
democratization process in Turkey. It is not a question that the Turks
decide about, but rather the external forces must pressure Turkey,
just like they have done with Nazi Germany, into coming to terms
with its past. To have a Turkey in EU which denies the genocide is
the same as denying the genocide of the 6 million Jews. At the same
time as one legitimizes the concentration camps by claiming that the
Jews were conspiring, and that they needed to be controlled.
At the same time as one legitimizes the concentration camps by
claiming that the Jews were conspiring, and that they needed to be
controlled. Regrettably, this is exactly what the ethnic groups which
were affected by the genocide in Ottoman Turkey got to consistently
experience through official Turkish state propaganda.
This is not and can never be acceptable.
The hesitation of Carl Bildt, our Minister of Foreign Affairs,
concerning the truth and his recalcitrance to recognize the genocide
with the motivation that politicians should not be writing history is
meaningless and alarming. Is Bildt avoiding to call what happened to
European Jews during the Second World War a genocide? This, as well
as the situation of the Kurds in present day Turkey and the attack
of Iraq are, perhaps, a series of "incidents" for the Minister of
Foreign Affairs? There is a strong need for clear sight and precision
in Swedish ‘Turkeypolitics’," the article says.