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WHY IS APRIL 24 SO IMPORTANT FOR TURKEY?
by ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
Today's Zaman
April 24 2012
Turkey
When I started to write this article I saw that the Armenian-Turkish
weekly Agos had already run a piece that said all I want to say on
this topic.
I absolutely agree with Agos that recognizing 1915 is not only about
the past, but also about the future of this country. It is also
about seeking justice for the endless victims of the tragedy. As Agos
indicates, the solution lies in dialog between Turks and Armenians --
not in declarations from third party politicians, who only exploit
this matter for their political interests. As Agos stated, Turkey is
already in the process of confronting its past crimes through the coup
and Ergenekon cases. But without recognizing what happened in 1915,
this process could never be called complete. I respectfully bow before
the Armenian victims who suffered deeply and those who lost their lives
in 1915, and I leave the floor to Agos and their meaningful piece:
"The reason why we don't want to forget the things that happened 97
years ago is not only a matter of paying our tributes to the innocent
souls that were lost, but also because of our firm belief in another
future... The deeper meaning that lies in the prominent minstrel
Hovhannes Tumanyan's words "Abrek yeregek, payts mez bes cabrek" (Live
long children, but don't live like us), refers to the responsibility
of building a peaceful future. Attaining a firm cognition on how the
people, the nature and the civilization were all exterminated in 1915
is a sine qua non for such a responsibility.
"While remembering 1915, we take strength not from our desire for
punishment or revenge, but from our wish to collectively get rid of
the chains of the past. For what will eventually emancipate us is the
truth. They intimidate people by saying, "They call our grandfather
murderers!" but those who bear responsibility are not Turks, Muslims
or Kurds. For it is not people who commit genocides, but the mindset.
Just like the Nazis, the İttihat mentality, did actually sacrifice
both the victim and the perpetrator; the ones who lost their lives
were gone, but those who remained became sick. What made the successor
governments an accomplice to this deep-rooted crime has been the
systematic policy of forgetting and denial.
"In fact, we are not any longer debating what happened in 1915 in
Turkey. Everyone debating on this subject knows that, in this very
dark year and the ensuing years, hundreds of thousands of people
were uprooted from their homes and were never able to return, with
a great majority of them lying somewhere in some corner of Anatolia
or in Syrian deserts without a tombstone. They also know that many
people had to convert their religions to be able to survive and
sought shelter in Muslim families... Nowadays, these facts are only
countered by the obdurate argument, "No one can ever dare to say that
we committed genocide!" As if, the use of any other word could lessen
all that happened...
"As 2015 drawing near, we witness some efforts that are made to drag
Turkey to a more nationalistic ground and we are concerned about it...
As long as Turks and Armenians fail to see how the third parties
hypocritically exploit this issue and fail to make a collective effort
to solve their problems together, we will have to live with all these
concerns for a very long time. It's inevitable.
"Turkey remembers the truths about her republican history, though very
late and with strings attached. Turkey is settling her accounts with
the coup d'état, massacres and the crimes committed by the state. The
Ergenekon trial, the Sept. 12 trial, the Feb. 28 investigation, the
inquisition of what happened in Dersim in 1938. Each and every one
of those bears historic importance. Should these cases be handled
in due process, they all have the potential to take the country on
a brand new path. When we take a closer look to these trials and
investigations to better understand their significance, we can see
that all groups in Turkey -- Turks and Kurds, Muslims and Alevis --
has fallen victim to the practices of the state. Even though each
group maintains its tendency to put forward its own victimization,
a holistic look into politics indicates that it is the founding
ideology that lies beneath the root cause of all these victimhood.
"...Without securing cognition about what happened in 1915, we may
get as close to the doorsteps of the new Turkey, but we cannot get
through it."
by ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
Today's Zaman
April 24 2012
Turkey
When I started to write this article I saw that the Armenian-Turkish
weekly Agos had already run a piece that said all I want to say on
this topic.
I absolutely agree with Agos that recognizing 1915 is not only about
the past, but also about the future of this country. It is also
about seeking justice for the endless victims of the tragedy. As Agos
indicates, the solution lies in dialog between Turks and Armenians --
not in declarations from third party politicians, who only exploit
this matter for their political interests. As Agos stated, Turkey is
already in the process of confronting its past crimes through the coup
and Ergenekon cases. But without recognizing what happened in 1915,
this process could never be called complete. I respectfully bow before
the Armenian victims who suffered deeply and those who lost their lives
in 1915, and I leave the floor to Agos and their meaningful piece:
"The reason why we don't want to forget the things that happened 97
years ago is not only a matter of paying our tributes to the innocent
souls that were lost, but also because of our firm belief in another
future... The deeper meaning that lies in the prominent minstrel
Hovhannes Tumanyan's words "Abrek yeregek, payts mez bes cabrek" (Live
long children, but don't live like us), refers to the responsibility
of building a peaceful future. Attaining a firm cognition on how the
people, the nature and the civilization were all exterminated in 1915
is a sine qua non for such a responsibility.
"While remembering 1915, we take strength not from our desire for
punishment or revenge, but from our wish to collectively get rid of
the chains of the past. For what will eventually emancipate us is the
truth. They intimidate people by saying, "They call our grandfather
murderers!" but those who bear responsibility are not Turks, Muslims
or Kurds. For it is not people who commit genocides, but the mindset.
Just like the Nazis, the İttihat mentality, did actually sacrifice
both the victim and the perpetrator; the ones who lost their lives
were gone, but those who remained became sick. What made the successor
governments an accomplice to this deep-rooted crime has been the
systematic policy of forgetting and denial.
"In fact, we are not any longer debating what happened in 1915 in
Turkey. Everyone debating on this subject knows that, in this very
dark year and the ensuing years, hundreds of thousands of people
were uprooted from their homes and were never able to return, with
a great majority of them lying somewhere in some corner of Anatolia
or in Syrian deserts without a tombstone. They also know that many
people had to convert their religions to be able to survive and
sought shelter in Muslim families... Nowadays, these facts are only
countered by the obdurate argument, "No one can ever dare to say that
we committed genocide!" As if, the use of any other word could lessen
all that happened...
"As 2015 drawing near, we witness some efforts that are made to drag
Turkey to a more nationalistic ground and we are concerned about it...
As long as Turks and Armenians fail to see how the third parties
hypocritically exploit this issue and fail to make a collective effort
to solve their problems together, we will have to live with all these
concerns for a very long time. It's inevitable.
"Turkey remembers the truths about her republican history, though very
late and with strings attached. Turkey is settling her accounts with
the coup d'état, massacres and the crimes committed by the state. The
Ergenekon trial, the Sept. 12 trial, the Feb. 28 investigation, the
inquisition of what happened in Dersim in 1938. Each and every one
of those bears historic importance. Should these cases be handled
in due process, they all have the potential to take the country on
a brand new path. When we take a closer look to these trials and
investigations to better understand their significance, we can see
that all groups in Turkey -- Turks and Kurds, Muslims and Alevis --
has fallen victim to the practices of the state. Even though each
group maintains its tendency to put forward its own victimization,
a holistic look into politics indicates that it is the founding
ideology that lies beneath the root cause of all these victimhood.
"...Without securing cognition about what happened in 1915, we may
get as close to the doorsteps of the new Turkey, but we cannot get
through it."