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Victor Nadein-Raevsky: Erdogan's Address On Armenian Genocide Contai

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  • Victor Nadein-Raevsky: Erdogan's Address On Armenian Genocide Contai

    VICTOR NADEIN-RAEVSKY: ERDOGAN'S ADDRESS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CONTAINS NEW STATEMENTS THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY INCONCEIVABLE

    by David Stepanyan

    Tuesday, April 29, 00:19

    On the threshold of the 100th mourning anniversary of the Armenian
    Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, the process of international
    recognition of the Genocide seems to be losing momentum. Do you agree
    with such an assessment?

    24 states of the world have officially recognized the Armenian
    Genocide at the level of Parliaments and Governments. Turkey
    seeks to join the EU, and the latter ranks the requirement of
    Ankara's recognition of the Armenian Genocide among several dozens
    of conditions for Turkey's EU membership. Actually, this requirement
    is not vividly reflected in the documents and is restricted to verbal
    statements of European officials. So, the issue of Armenian Genocide
    is always in the spare magazine of Europeans. In the United States
    the Armenian Genocide recognition issue has not gone further than
    the Senate Committee so far. Nevertheless, if the Senate adopts a
    relevant resolution, it will be of great significance to the whole
    process of the Genocide recognition. This is what Turks fear so much
    especially given President Obama's rather harsh statements on April
    24. The international community drew a line under the issue of the
    Armenian Genocide culprits long ago, but Turks did not. The fact of
    the Genocide was confirmed by the Ottoman leadership's decrees and
    by Istanbul's court martial of 1919. In those years the Young Turks
    annihilated not only Armenians, but also Greeks, Assyrians and to a
    smaller extent Jews who were comparatively fewer in Turkey. Turkey
    set up commissions to nationalize the "abandoned property" of the
    Armenians, Greeks and Jews whom the Turks exterminated or deported. And
    all the Turkish statements that only 300 thsd Armenians allegedly
    died in Turkey sound too awkward and absurd. Turkey itself does not
    officially recognize the fact of the Armenian Genocide yet.

    What about the public? Does the Turkish Prime Minister's recent
    address reflect the public sentiments?

    One can observe an idea of repentance in the Turkish society. Even the
    leadership has changed its stance. Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign
    Minister Davutoglu speak of "mass atrocities" and even apologize
    for that. This is already a step forward. Some 20 years ago Turkey
    propagandized hatred against Armenians. Some scientists are already
    speaking of the crime of the Genocide openly though some Turks cannot
    utter that term yet. This process is going on in a rather complicated
    manner, because several generations were brought up on hatred against
    Armenians. Therefore, the changes in the public consciousness are a
    fact that has become possible after the Justice and Development Party
    (AKP) came to power. It is the AKP that started speaking of the rights
    of national minorities, first of all, Kurds. All we can do is hope
    that the national courage of Turkey will prevail and clear the way for
    future relations with Armenia. After all, this crime clears the way
    for similar crimes as long as the Genocide remains unrecognized. I
    am convinced that Turkey should recognize the Armenian Genocide,
    because it will determine its future role in the world. It appears
    that Erdogan's recent address contains new statements that were
    previously inconceivable.

    Is this issue used in Turkey's domestic policy?

    It is used partially. There is a serious aspect concerning the
    discrepancies between Recep Erdogan and Fethullah Gulen. Even Nursists
    turned their back on the latter following his statements on Turkey's
    stance on Israel, for instance, condemnation of the Freedom Flotilla
    campaign. It is noteworthy that Gulen avoids making any statements
    on the Genocide of Armenians. At least, he has never used the term
    Genocide. Nevertheless, Gulen's supporters have faced a wave of
    criticism after the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a
    resolution condemning the Genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. In
    Turkey they began to slam Gulen and his supporters for contributing
    to the resolution along with the Armenian lobby in the Congress. It
    must be admitted that Gulen bears no relation to that. However,
    the Armenian factor was used in the domestic political fights in
    Turkey. Incidentally, in Turkey they began digging into Gulen's roots
    to find any Armenian traces there. Earlier, they absurdly claimed
    that Gulen had Donme roots.

    So, one should not expect any tangible progress in Turkey's policy
    on recognition of the Armenian Genocide, even if the power is changed
    in the countryâ?¦

    One shouldn't yet. Nevertheless, condemnation of the atrocities at
    the legislative level is not impossible. What scares Turkey most
    is the property restitution issue that will inevitable emerge if
    Ankara recognizes the fact of the Genocide of Armenians. It's no
    secret that the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey possessed huge property
    even for that period of time. Therefore, Turkey avoids the property
    claims by Armenians not to face huge financial problems.

    By the way, Israel does not recognize the Armenian Genocideâ?¦

    The position of official Israel, which does not recognize the
    Armenian Genocide, is not only unfair but also illogical and far from
    humanity. The key reason of Tel Aviv's such behavior is unwillingness
    to lose "monopoly" of the only nation that officially suffered from the
    genocide - Holocaust. Here the campaign that started in Turkey long
    ago also played its part. I mean the campaign during which some mass
    media and writers were trying to prove that those who organized the
    genocide - members of the "Unification and progress" party were the
    Jews who adopted Islam. Nevertheless, Israeli scientists recognize
    the Armenian Genocide. Taking into consideration the fact that the
    historical and political science is strong in Israel, it would be
    simply funny, if not profanation. I think that the Israeli residents
    are twisting round at the political level trying to restore relations
    with Turkey that does not recognize the Armenian Genocide. This is
    unworthy of the nation, which was hit by Holocaust. In a certain sense
    in the political bargain with Ankara the Western countries are trying
    to use the Armenian Genocide issue. In 1995 our State Duma adopted
    a statement calling this crime - the genocide.

    The year 2015 will mark the 100th mourning anniversary of the Armenian
    Genocide. Do you think any progress will be registered in the process
    of its international recognition?

    I am confident that more attention will be drawn at the Armenian
    Genocide recognition problem in the world in 2015. We may expect the
    relevant steps from many states that do not depend on the political
    relations with Turkey. However, only the key countries of the world,
    which think they are the masters of the world, may finally settle
    this issue, for instance, the USA, although the recent events have
    demonstrated that not all the countries are ready to be vulnerable
    to the USA. Today Russia does not have another choice. Meanwhile,
    the Armenian Genocide has horrible consequences. I mean Hitler's words
    and other genocide actions, for instance in Africa and Cambodia. Only
    the timely taken measures against display of Nazism may stop such
    brutalities. For instance, young men in Ukraine, whose fathers and
    grandfathers were fighting Nazism during the Great Patriotic War, were
    dinned into head that Stepan Bandera is their leader. As a result,
    these grass-green young men are in fact destroying Ukraine under the
    nazi slogans of the "Right sector". The Americans do not want to see
    that. It is just a real politic for them and nothing else.

    The impact of Islamism, particularly, the impact of Turkey in Russia's
    North Caucasus is one of the trump cards of Turkish diplomats in the
    talks with Moscow. What is the situation like today?

    At present, in its policy regarding Turkey Russia has been actively
    using the Muslim factor. In 2013, in Petersburg a big sector

    of "Nurjullar" sect (250 people) and another one - 120 people were
    revealed. Both were headed by Turks, although Azerbaijanis and ethnic
    Central Asia residents, etc. were within the sect. All these people
    are being programmed not at harmless forms of Islamism. For this
    reason, the activity of this sect is forbidden in Russia and even
    the books by Said Nursi are also forbidden. As for the Caucasus,
    here there are many propagandists and various Muslim movements, first
    of all, Wahabi and Salafis, have been trying to infatuate the hearts
    of the young people. The authorities do not take enough measures to
    stop dissemination of such sects in Russia, although policemen have
    become rather active for the last period of time when suppressing
    terrorism. I'd say that traditional Islam is a serious obstacle on
    the way of dissemination of such radical movements. Big funds should
    be invested in the economy of North Caucasus to employ young people
    and hinder their joining radical sects. Islamist movements are being
    disseminated not only in the Caucasus but also in the Volga region,
    Bashkiria and Tatarstan, although the Turkish vocational schools were
    shut down here several years ago.

    Would you specify the final goal?

    The final goal of dissemination of the Islamist movements in Russia is
    creation of the new elite oriented not at the Russians and Russia but
    at Turkey. In Turkey they have already created such an elite, and we
    see what it has resulted in. The conflict between Gul and Erdogan is
    the conflict between the new elite brought up in the vocational schools
    and universities created by the Hizmet and the authorities. All these
    missionaries have been striving to split Russia through capturing the
    hearts of young Muslims. They want to split the multi-national state,
    which would make it possible to separate Russian Muslims from the rest
    of the country. This is categorically inadmissible to us. Neighboring
    Azerbaijan has found itself in rather a difficult situation resulting
    from the Turkey-sponsored Muslim currents. Turkey's pressure has even
    forced Baku to fire Gulen's Hizmet movement-friendly minister. The
    movement is based on the Sunni Islam, while Shia Islam is a traditional
    religion in Azerbaijan. Groups of Wahabi and Salafis are also a
    major threat to the traditional Shia Islam. All this constitutes
    threat to the incumbent authorities and the public in Baku. That is
    why Azerbaijan tries by all means possible to avoid differentiating
    nationality and religion and to keep integrity. They have even created
    a range of myths to that end. One of the myths, for instance, says
    that Azerbaijanis are just about to be the most ancient nation in the
    world. Scientifically, all this looks quite silly, indeed. All these
    efforts result from phobias and aspirations to create a nation from
    nothing. However, this young country that has borrowed from Iran even
    its name has no other way out.

    http://www.arminfo.info/index.cfm?objectid=A135B7A0-CF12-11E3-8AF20EB7C0D21663


    From: Baghdasarian
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