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In International Academic Community It Is Indecent To Deny Armenian

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  • In International Academic Community It Is Indecent To Deny Armenian

    IN INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC COMMUNITY IT IS INDECENT TO DENY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
    Karine Ter-Sahakyan

    PanARMENIAN.Net
    April 8, 2011

    Turkish authorities insist they will open archive only if Armenia
    does the same.

    Turkey, at any rate, wants to drive the issue of Genocide recognition
    to historical platform. Activation of the Turkish side always tops
    out in April, when Ankara, worried about recognition of the Armenian
    Genocide by new parliaments and governments of different countries,
    starts to act in its usual mode: blackmail, threats and statements
    about "innocence".

    All this, however distressing for Ankara, begins to play a smaller
    and smaller role for the world community and, realizing this, Turkey
    declares that Armenia is reluctant to open the genocide archives. To
    begin with, there is almost no Ottoman archive in Armenia, neither
    could there be, as at the time of the World War I, Eastern Armenia
    was part of the Russian Empire and it's natural that Ottoman records
    in no way could come to be in the State Archives of Yerevan. Most
    of the Ottoman records are kept in the Library of Congress, some -
    in European countries. The largest collection of archival materials
    is in the Library of Congress. Dispatches of the last U.S. ambassador
    to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau are also kept there. Germany
    possesses lots of documents too: ambassadors of the two countries
    regularly reported on the situation in the empire. However, as for
    Turkish archives, there is almost nothing known about them. There
    is no doubt that some of the documents, directly pointing to the
    deportation and extermination of the Armenian population have been
    erased. It is also possible that they were erased still during the
    time of Ataturk, i.e. immediately after proclamation of the Turkish
    Republic. Turkish authorities insist they will open archive only if
    Armenia does the same.

    But this year, they began to talk that historians rather than
    politicians should examine the Genocide proofs. Meanwhile, in
    international academic community it is indecent to deny the Armenian
    Genocide. However, Turkey is not disturbed by this fact. Most
    interesting is that Ankara, though being perfectly aware of the
    declarative nature of her statements, particularly regarding the last
    verdict of the court of Argentina, nevertheless continues calling down
    curses upon the countries that have recognized the Armenian Genocide.

    But, in fact, all these threats prove to be empty. There will
    definitely be no deterioration of relations between France and
    Turkey, if the Senate votes for adoption of the law criminalizing
    Genocide denial. Most likely, Turkey's threats are addressed to the
    Armenian diaspora, which looks even more confusing especially if
    we recall the words of Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu,
    who recently declared that the Armenians scattered around the world
    are the Turkish diaspora. "They are descendants of our citizens; we
    must communicate with them, work with them and not alienate them from
    ourselves. They are our citizens," Davutoglu said. To some extent,
    Davutoglu is right: they are diaspora Armenians, law-abiding citizens
    of the Ottoman Empire. But before communicating with them, Turkey will
    have to explain something to them, without referring to the mythical
    "fifth column of Russia" that "behind the back of the Ottoman Empire
    tried to seize Western Armenia". The question is whether the Turkish
    state, represented by Erdogan and Ahmetoglu, is ready to say "Yes,
    we slaughtered you because we didn't like you. You were Christians
    and you had a lot of money." Most likely, Armenians will never get
    apologies from the Turkish side for the massacre of 1915. And even
    if they get, there will be living a generation in Armenia for whom
    the events of 1915 are a remote past. Assimilation of the Diaspora
    has been increasing, and in 20-30 years only a few will remember
    who their ancestors were. Alas, such a thing could happen also in
    Armenia. On April 24 most of the Armenian youth walk to the memorial
    in Tsitsernakaberd, but they do it out of habit. From the day of
    national mourning April 24 is gradually turning into simply a day off.

    Probably, we ourselves are to blame for the depreciation â~@~Kâ~@~Kof
    this day. But one thing gives hope: every year on this day burning
    the Turkish flag, Armenian youth walk about the city to the memorial.




    From: A. Papazian
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