ARMEN GAKAVIAN: I NEVER SAID THAT ARMENIANS SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO TURKS
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.02.2009 16:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Dr. Armen Gakavian, lecturer at Macquarie University,
Sydney, has presented his remarks regarding his recent interview with
Radical Turkish newspaper.
"In an interview with Turkish Radikal Daily, published on 1st February
2009, I acknowledged and thanked the current campaign for an apology
initiated by Turkish intellectuals and signed by over 30,000 Turks
around the world. I emphasized that this Turkish apology is only the
beginning, and clearly stated that there needs to be a Turkish state
apology for the crime of the Armenian Genocide, followed by corrective
action," he said in a statement obtained by PanARMENIAN.Net.
The statement goes on:
"I also referred to my own "thank you" statement for the Turkish
apology that I, with the help of some friends, am drafting
for discussion. However I never stated that we were preparing
a "counter-apology"; nor are there any plans of issuing a
"counter-apology".
In the interview, I never claimed to speak for other Armenians, nor
did I state that the Armenians should apologize for anything. I merely
stated my own personal view, in the context of a broader discussion,
that Armenian terrorist acts by groups such as ASALA were morally
unjustifiable (as per international law) and that I am sorry that
these acts happened.
Unfortunately, these few words were blown out of proportion, and
the emphasis of my interview was lost; hence the need for this
clarification. In the light of the subsequent distortions, I now
regret having made these statements to the Turkish media and will be
obviously more careful in future.
Responses, both positive and negative, that I have received from some
Turks reveal that my main points in the interview about the Armenian
Genocide were not lost on the honest and thorough Turkish reader.
In my interview, I offered a personal disagreement with terrorist acts
committed by Armenians against Turks. To me, this stance reflects
basic human morality. I stand by that stance, which stems from
my ethical beliefs and rejection of all forms of violence against
innocent civilians, as per international law.
However, I clearly stated in my interview that any crimes committed by
Armenians "cannot compare to the attempted annihilation of an entire
nation … and one does not negate or trivialize the other."
Let me state categorically that I distinguish between, on the one
hand, legitimate and heroic acts of resistance and self-defense by
Armenian revolutionaries before and during the Genocide, and, on
the other hand, wanton acts of terrorist violence against civilians
(such as by ASALA, recognized by international law as crimes against
humanity). It is the latter that I was referring to in my interview.
The purpose of my comments about ASALA, in the context that they were
made, was to illustrate my following point: "If I were the Turkish
state, I would see an apology as an excellent way of restoring the
dignity lost through decades of denial."
Near the end of my interview with Radikal, I wrote that "any Armenian
response to the [Turkish] apology should be similar." I was referring
to the fact that the Turkish apology did not attempt to "address the
question of definitions and political explanations etc", and that the
Armenian response would also not address questions of definitions of
what happened. I did not mean that the Armenian response should match
the Turkish apology with an Armenian apology – any such insinuation
may have been due to a mistranslation.
Finally, it incorrectly stated that Prof. Denis Papazian was involved
in the initiative. Prof. Papazian has at no stage been involved in
this initiative and has never expressed his support for it. I did
not mention Prof. Papazian in my interview, and I believe information
about his alleged involvement was taken from an inaccurate statement,
made in good faith, in an earlier edition of Radikal. Thankfully,
Prof. Papazian has already personally refuted such claims."