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Extending An Olive Branch: Rebuilding Turkish-Armenian Relations

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  • Extending An Olive Branch: Rebuilding Turkish-Armenian Relations

    EXTENDING AN OLIVE BRANCH: REBUILDING TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS

    The National Interest Online
    April 23 2015

    Fiona HillKemal KirisciAndrew Moffatt

    April 23, 2015

    One hundred years after the Ottoman-era atrocities against the
    Armenians, a fierce battle is still being fought between Turkey
    and Armenia over historical truth. In this war, politicians and
    lobbyists have replaced the generals, and international legislative
    bodies serve as battlegrounds where history and politics are mixed,
    often irresponsibly.

    On April 24, Armenians around the world annually commemorate the
    mass atrocities that were perpetrated against them by the Ottoman
    Empire during World War I. Most historians put the number of Armenian
    Christians who perished at between 1 million and 1.5 million and
    consider the events to have been genocide. Turkish authorities,
    however, have contested these figures and rejected the use of the term
    genocide. The official Turkish position instead attributes the deaths
    and displacements to the broader context of the war, during which many
    Muslims, Turks, and other minority groups also perished. Although the
    scholarly record is not ambiguous, Turkish officials have advocated for
    the formation of an international commission of historians to study
    the matter before a definitive conclusion is reached. For Armenians,
    Turkey's contestation of history and disavowals of responsibility
    remain a source of deep bitterness.

    This year's remembrance of the Medz Yeghern (an Armenian term commonly
    translated as "Great Catastrophe") carries extraordinary weight and
    expectations, as it is the centenary of the massacres. To commemorate
    the events, Armenian leaders have invited world leaders to gather
    later this week in Yerevan. Numerous ceremonies and other memorial
    events have already been organized to bring international attention
    to the tragic history. The Armenian diaspora's campaign to achieve
    genocide recognition from local, national and multilateral governments,
    newspapers, academic organizations and other policy makers has grown
    in intensity. In recent days, Pope Francis and the European Parliament
    called upon the Turkish government to acknowledge the mass deportations
    and killings as genocide. On Monday, the German government retreated
    from its long-standing avoidance of the term.

    For the Turkish government, the term genocide is neuralgic and fraught
    with legal and financial implications. Not surprisingly, Turkey
    responded to these calls for recognition in an instinctively defensive
    and uncompromising way, recalling its ambassador to the Vatican for
    consultations and warning that such calls would harm relations. In an
    acrimonious war of words, Turkish leaders have branded the Pope as part
    of "an evil front" that is stirring hatred and using "blackmail" to
    plot against them, and they lashed out against the "unfounded claims."

    This harsh reaction was preceded by Turkey's decision earlier this
    year to move a commemoration of the World War I battle of Gallipoli
    from its customary date on March 18 to April 24-25 in order to compete
    with the genocide remembrance activities in Yerevan. This political
    maneuvering stoked considerable resentment on the Armenian side and
    has forced world leaders, who might otherwise have participated in
    both commemorations, to make an uncomfortable choice between the two.

    These developments are regrettable because they come after Turkish
    officials have made steps in recent years toward reconciliation
    with Armenia and its global diaspora. The uproar negates the
    symbolic goodwill that might have come out of the statement last
    year by then Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and this
    year's declaration by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, each of which
    recognized the pain of the Armenians and extended condolences to the
    descendants of those who perished. The revived discord also allows
    hardline nationalists on both sides to persist in their categorical
    demonization of the other.

    Even more unfortunately, the tension overshadows the important
    societal changes taking place in Turkey toward understanding the fate
    of Ottoman Armenians. Less than a decade ago, the Turkish government
    was still prosecuting citizens for describing the events of 1915
    as genocide. Since that time, an awakening has begun regarding the
    "Armenian issue"--several books have been published, international
    conferences and televised debates have been held, and an online
    apology campaign received over 30,000 signatures of support. Several
    Turks have revealed long-hidden family secrets about their ancestors
    being Armenians who were rescued from the death marches and taken
    into their families. These developments have helped to stir this
    particularly difficult and controversial history in the broader
    Turkish consciousness.

    It is now not uncommon for Turks, along with Armenians from around
    the world, to assemble across Turkey on April 24 to commemorate the
    fate of Ottoman Armenians. The anniversary date has also become an
    occasion to remember the courageous Armenian-Turkish journalist,
    Hrant Dink, for his struggle to get Turkish society to reconsider
    its history and investigate how a once-thriving Armenian community in
    Anatolia disappeared. Increasingly, the officially scripted narrative,
    portraying Ottoman-era Armenians as traitors who were simply relocated,
    is being questioned.

    However, at the official level, the process of the "Turkish Thaw"--as
    the author Thomas de Waal has labeled it--has been intermittent and
    delayed at times by strong political winds. The genocide resolutions
    come ahead of Turkey's highly contested general elections in June. The
    outcome of the elections will determine whether the governing
    political party and its former leader, President Erdogan, can rewrite
    the constitution and transform the long-established parliamentary
    system into a presidential one. Polls suggest a tight race, which
    is spurring the government's need to woo nationalist votes. This
    explains, in part, the harsh reaction in Turkey and the reflex to
    see itself as the target of Western conspiracies. Furthermore, the
    genocide statements come amid dire circumstances on Turkey's border.

    The displacement and death in Iraq and Syria brings an added source
    of contestation for many in Turkey. Erdogan has recently accused
    leaders of the Christian world for remaining silent and heedless to
    the sufferings of Muslims. The events that have been unfolding in
    the Middle East and the persecution of minority groups are in many
    ways very much reminiscent of 1915.

    In this charged atmosphere, categorical public calls on Turkey to
    recognize the Armenian genocide risk undermining the modest gains
    the nation, and especially its people, have made with respect to
    reconciliation. As Hrant Dink argued, history should not be legislated
    by the parliaments of third countries or imposed on Turks from abroad.

    Dink acknowledged that Turks and Muslims also suffered during World
    War One. Awareness of the broader context of the war is relevant,
    as is recognition of what Turkish officialdom has called the "shared
    suffering" of the Turks. However, Turkish officials have at times
    tried to use the context to absolve the Turkish state of wrongdoing,
    formulating a moral equivalency regarding the events and their
    victims. Although there was widespread suffering, the atrocities that
    befell the Ottoman Armenian communities cannot be contextualized away
    as collateral damage amid the chaos of war. Context can help foster
    empathy, but it cannot exculpate.

    Turkey and its people need to face and accept their history fully
    and fairly. As they do, the international community can assist
    by also expressing empathy for the pain inflicted on Muslims and
    other groups during and after World War I while commemorating the
    genocide of the Armenians. Recognizing the indiscriminate nature of
    the violence taking place in the Middle East today against Muslims,
    Kurds and members of ancient Christian communities would also go a
    long way toward ending the vicious cycle of recriminations.

    For their part, Turkish politicians should avoid further inflammatory
    reactions and language that fuels "clash of civilization"
    misconceptions between Turkey and the West. Most importantly,
    how Turkey deals with the present will contribute to how it
    addresses the past. To this end, Turkey should lift its embargo
    and open its international border with Armenia--unilaterally, if
    necessary--which would constitute a powerful symbolic gesture in
    support of reconciliation.

    Fiona Hill is Center on the United States and Europe (CUSE) Director
    and Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings
    Institution in Washington, DC.

    Kemal KiriÃ…~_ci is the TUSIAD Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy
    Program at Brookings.

    Andrew Moffatt is Associate Director of CUSE at Brookings.

    Image: Brookings Institution

    http://nationalinterest.org/feature/extending-olive-branch-rebuilding-turkish-armenian-relations-12709




    From: A. Papazian
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