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Ragip Zarakolu, HR Champ, and Zoryan Institute Collaborate

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  • Ragip Zarakolu, HR Champ, and Zoryan Institute Collaborate

    PRESS RELEASE
    ZORYAN INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INC.
    Suite 310
    Toronto, ON, Canada M3B 3H9
    CONTACT: Patil Halajian
    Tel: 416-250-9807
    Fax: 416-512-1736
    E-mail: [email protected]
    www.zoryaninstitute.org


    DATE: March 19, 2012


    Ragip Zarakolu, Human Rights Champion, and Zoryan Institute Collaborate in
    Turkish Publication of German Foreign Office Archives

    Toronto-Ragip Zarakolu, a publisher in Istanbul and a renowned champion of
    human rights, has collaborated with the Zoryan Institute to lay one more
    building block on the foundation of a common body of knowledge for Turks and
    Armenians. Zarakolu, despite being in jail since October 2011 allegedly in
    connection with the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trials, has not
    stopped his efforts to bring out the historical truth about the "events of
    1915" and thereafter.

    On January 12, 2012, Belge Yayınları, Zarakolu's publishing house, released
    Alman Belgeleri Ermeni Soykımı 1915-16: Alman Dışişleri Bakanlığı Siaysi
    Arşiv Belgeleri, the Turkish edition of The Armenian Genocide 1915-16:
    Documents from the Political Archives of the German Foreign Office, compiled
    and edited by Wolfgang Gust and published originally in Germany. The
    original book was the product of some ten years of devoted research, editing
    and translating overseen by Wolfgang and Sigrid Gust. It is an extensive
    selection of some 218 telegrams, letters and reports from German consular
    officials in the Ottoman Empire to the Foreign Office in Berlin describing
    the unfolding genocide of the Armenians.

    In December 1915, as a response to the criticism and outrage of German
    officials in the field over the inhuman treatment of the Armenians, German
    Chancellor and Foreign Minister Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg wrote this:
    "The proposed public reprimand of an ally in the course of a war would be an
    act which is unprecedented in history. Our only aim is to keep Turkey on our
    side until the end of the war, no matter whether as a result Armenians do
    perish or not." Imperial Germany was the political and military ally of the
    Ottoman Empire. The candor in these documents was possible because they were
    marked "confidential," "very confidential," or "secret" and "very secret,"
    being intended only for in-house use and never for public consumption.
    During World War I, only German diplomats and military officials could enter
    areas in which the genocide took place relatively unhindered and were able
    to send uncensored reports out of the country. Apart from the Americans, who
    remained neutral in the war until April 6, 1917, German diplomats and their
    informants from the charitable missions or from among the employees of the
    Baghdad Railway were the most important non-Armenian eyewitnesses of the
    Genocide.

    It is ironic to read the report of February 24, 1913, from Ambassador in
    Constantinople (Wangenheim) to the Imperial Chancellor (Bethmann-Hollweg)
    stating, "Here in Germany, we have become accustomed to viewing the
    periodically repeated Armenian massacres as being merely a natural reaction
    to the Armenian businessmen's system of draining others dry. The Armenians
    were called the Jews of the Orient, and people forgot that in Anatolia there
    is also a strong tribe of Armenian farmers which has all the good
    characteristics of a healthy rural population and whose entire wrongdoing
    consists of doggedly defending its religion, its language and its property
    against the foreign peoples surrounding it."

    This new book is part of the long-term project, "Creating a Common Body of
    Knowledge." There is a need in Turkey at this time for authoritative
    information on its suppressed history. The Zoryan Institute seeks to help
    provide information to fill this need through systematic scholarly research,
    the publication of incontestable information on the Armenian Genocide in
    Turkish and other languages, and the distribution of it widely in Turkey and
    other countries. Other documentary and analytical publications commissioned
    by the Zoryan Institute as part of the "Common Body of Knowledge" include
    Hitler and the Armenian Genocide (Belge Publishers) and Judgment at Istanbul
    (Bilgi University Press).

    The translation into Turkish and publication of the German documents was
    very challenging and took seven years. Dealing with the diplomatic German
    language and Sütterlin script of the World War I era was particularly
    difficult, and the text of the forthcoming English language edition was
    helpful in clarifying many passages.

    Ragip Zarakolu has been persecuted by the Turkish state for many years for
    his public positions on freedom of speech, human rights, and the rights of
    Turkey's minorities. Outside Turkey, he has given lectures and participated
    in conferences-including in April 2010 in São Paulo, Brazil at a conference
    co-organized by Zoryan-and is highly respected by academic and human rights
    organizations. Among his honors, he received the NOVIB/PEN Free Expression
    Award in 2003 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by members of the
    Swedish Parliament in February 2012. As a result of his persecution and many
    court indictments, he has been officially adopted by PEN.

    Commenting on the philosophy behind the "Common Body of Knowledge" project,
    K.M. Greg Sarkissian, president of the Zoryan Institute stated, "History is
    a stumbling block for peace and stability in the region. True peace can be
    achieved only if the nations in the region can talk to each other openly
    about their past. Therefore, we see education through the Common Body of
    Knowledge as one of the best ways to alleviate the tension between Turks and
    Armenians, because it provides a basis of shared knowledge that can counter
    generations of hostility and lead to mutual understanding and dialogue."

    The Zoryan Institute is the parent organization of the International
    Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, which runs an annual
    university program on the subject in partnership with the University of
    Toronto, and is co-publisher of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An
    International Journal in partnership with the International Association of
    Genocide Scholars and the University of Toronto Press. It is the first
    non-profit, international center devoted to the research and documentation
    of contemporary issues with a focus on Genocide, Diaspora and Armenia. For
    more information please contact the Zoryan Institute by email
    [email protected] or telephone 416-250-9807.

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