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Dr. Donef: There Are Not Many Scholars Who Focus On The Assyrian Gen

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  • Dr. Donef: There Are Not Many Scholars Who Focus On The Assyrian Gen

    DR. DONEF: THERE ARE NOT MANY SCHOLARS WHO FOCUS ON THE ASSYRIAN GENOCIDE
    By Joseph Haweil

    http://seyfocenter.com/index.php?sid=2&aID=319
    Published: 2011-04-29

    In the next instalment of Seyfo Center's series of interviews with
    scholars of the Assyrian Genocide, Joseph Haweil spoke with Sydney's
    Racho Donef. Dr. Donef was born in Istanbul and migrated to Australia
    in the 1980s. He first studied languages and sociology and after
    completing a Masters degree in sociology, studied for a Diploma in
    Social Sciences at the University of Stockholm.

    Upon returning to Australia, he embarked upon a doctoral thesis
    focussing on Greeks, Assyrians, Armenians and Kurds, conducting
    research both in Australia and Sweden for the thesis. As part of
    his research Dr. Donef also interviewed survivors of the Armenian
    Genocide. Dr. Donef was awarded a PhD by Macquarie University in
    1999 after completing his doctoral thesis entitled Identities in
    the Multicultural State: Four Immigrant Populations from Turkey in
    Australia and Sweden: Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians and Kurds.

    Dr. Donef has worked both in the Federal and New South Wales State
    Public Services for many years. He has also been tutoring in subjects
    related to Middle Eastern religions, politics and the Turkish language
    at the Workers' Education Association in Sydney.

    When did you initially learn of the Assyrian Genocide and what sparked
    your interest in writing about it?

    I was giving an interview to the Assyrian program in a local radio
    station in the Sydney suburb of Fairfield, in the late nineties. I
    was talking about my thesis. For the first time during the program
    I learned about the Assyrian genocide and a caller told me about Dr.

    Gabriele Yonan's book Forgotten Genocide. The book was just translated
    to Turkish. I tried to look for the book the next day and an Assyrian
    friend from Sweden found it and sent it to me. This was my first
    source on the Assyrian genocide.

    Do you consider the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks
    to be one genocide? If yes, how best can these three communities work
    together towards recognition?

    Yes I do. I think there are some tendencies in some sections of the
    Armenian and Greek community to concentrate only on the calamities
    their communities were subjected to. However, this is not helpful. The
    Young Turks wanted to eliminate what they regarded as foreign elements
    off their utopia. Though, primarily it was the Christian elements
    which were singled out for destruction. We should not forget that
    the small community of Yezidis, who it must be added, helped both
    Armenians and Assyrians to escape the holocaust, were also a target.

    Given that there was a concerted effort on the part of the Ittihat
    ve Terraki (Union and Progress) party to exterminate Christians
    and Yezidis, there should be a concerted, collaborative effort to
    raise awareness of the Genocide but also to pressure the Turkish
    government to accept responsibility for the crime that the Young
    Turks perpetrated. I think various research centres and organisations
    should unite under one banner on this issue. A research centre or
    a lobby group can be set up with membership from all the ethnic
    groups affected. I guess what I am advocating is an international
    co-ordinating entity.

    Have you experienced Turkish denialism during your academic career? If
    so, how?

    Well, a few years ago I was invited to London by the Firodel Institute
    to launch a book I had translated, Ahmet Refik, Two Commitees, Two
    Massacres, and give a lecture on the issue of genocide. The meeting was
    hijacked by a group of denialists, including staff from the Turkish
    consulate. As they were organised and had statements and quotations
    prepared before hand, it was difficult to have a meaningful discourse
    on the issue. They came to sabotage the meeting. In their mind they
    were successful. All that they succeed was to strengthen my resolve.

    Do you feel that knowledge of the experiences of Assyrians during
    the genocide is lacking amongst genocide scholars? How can Assyrians
    raise awareness amongst this particular group?

    I don't have sufficient experience and knowledge of those academic
    circles to respond to that. I assume that there is not enough
    knowledge about the Assyrian experiences during the Genocide. The more
    Assyrian Genocide scholars attend conferences the more awareness will
    spread. The trouble is there are not many scholars who focus on the
    Assyrian Genocide.

    Some Assyrians have questioned the importance of erecting monuments
    and other memorials to the genocide as opposed to other means of
    advocacy. How do you respond to the sentiments of individuals holding
    these opinions?

    I am of two minds on this issue. Societies erect monuments to remind
    themselves of the past. We need these physical markers. Unfortunately,
    as we have seen in Fairfield, with the monument erected there, it is
    also easy to vandalise such markers. I don't think erecting monuments
    will necessary prevent other means of advocacy. In any case, erecting
    monuments is not necessarily an activity which will consume all the
    energy Assyrians can master to remind the world of the genocide. I do
    think however that research into the Assyrian genocide, support for
    publication on the issue, organisation of conferences and lobbying
    politicians for the recognition of the Genocide is more important.

    Should greater awareness of the genocide outside the Assyrian,
    Armenian and Greek communities be more a priority than official
    recognition of the genocide by Turkey?

    The priority should be the official recognition of the Genocide
    by Turkey. This is a clear objective the success of which can be
    measured. Awareness of the genocide should be an ever continuing
    exercise but one which has no standards by which we can evaluate to
    inform ourselves of its accomplishment.




    From: A. Papazian
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