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Al-Ahram, Egypt
May 2 2014
Condolences, what condolences?
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week expressed his
"condolences" to Armenians for those who lost their lives in World War
I, a gesture that falls well short of recognising the genocide, writes
Nora Koloyan-Keuhnelian
"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of Armenians?" asked
Adolf Hitler in 1939 in a speech to his commanders a week before his
invasion of Poland
In the first action of its kind from a Turkish leader over the past 99
years, and a day before the annual commemoration of the 1915 Armenian
Genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks, Armenians around the world
shared the news of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's
statement of condolences to the grandchildren of those who lost their
lives, with mixed reactions.
Erdogan's statement, issued in nine languages, said "we wish the
Armenians who lost their lives in the context of the early 20th
century to rest in peace, and we convey our condolences to their
grandchildren."
The Turkish opposition and most Armenian communities worldwide
criticised Erdogan's statement as "opportunistic."
In response to Erdogan's condolences, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos
of the Holy See of Cilicia based in Beirut, said in a service in
memory of the massacred that "history cannot overcome the undeniable
truth. What happened in 1915 did not occur as result of the War. It
was a genocide against the Armenian people in the legal and political
understanding of the term, a genocide organised by the Turks'
ancestors Talaat and Enver Pasha. Therefore, the Armenians demand the
recognition of the genocide and reparations."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said that Erdogan had "shared
the pains of the past" and hoped that the action Turkey had taken
would be reciprocated.
Columnist for the Turkish Sabah newspaper and political commentator
Rasim Ozan Kutahyali, known for his liberal political views, said that
Erdogan's statement had removed "a taboo".
"We, the Turkish nation, must indeed convey our condolences to the
grandchildren of our Armenian brothers and sisters massacred by the
Talaat Pasha government in 1915. In this, Erdogan has once again
proven to the world that he is not a leader from the usual mold,"
Kutahyali wrote on April 24.
Ayse Gunaysu, a Turkish human rights activist based in Istanbul, was
sure that Erdogan had "changed his communications consultant because
this is new language." In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Gunaysu
said that although Erdogan's statement was the first of its kind "we
in Turkey are so used to the worst that a little bit less worse
surprises us and almost give us hope."
The Turkish History Society, a government agency attached to the prime
minister's office, organised a symposium in the Anatolian city of Van
entitled "Armenians in World War I" on April 24 and 25, which Gunaysu
found ironic.
"In this symposium all the well-known Turkish denialist theses were
reiterated. The programme of the symposium speaks for itself: Armenian
uprisings, Armenian [Revolutionary] Committees and their activities,
and so on. The head of the 'Armenian Desk' of the Turkish Historical
Society, Recep Karacakaya, also argued that 'the real genocide' was
committed by the Armenians," Gunaysu said.
"Erdogan has realised that extreme denialism, the language of mass
murderers, the shameless lies can get him nowhere. So the government
of Turkey is in search of a more refined version of denialism. What
has made him realise this is the decades-long struggle against
denialism waged by Armenians, the grandchildren of the Genocide
victims worldwide, and to some extent a handful of people in Turkey,"
Gunaysu told the Weekly.
Hassan Djemal, a Turkish journalist and writer who had believed the
Genocide did not occur, travelled to Armenia in 2008, visited the
Genocide Monument and laid three carnations in memory of his Armenian
friend, journalist Hrant Dink who was assassinated in 2007 in
Istanbul.
He then published a book entitled 1915: The Armenian Genocide, and is
today best known for acknowledging and apologising for the genocide.
Djemal is the grandson of Ahmed Djemal Pasha, one of the "Three
Pashas" (Enver, Talaat, Djemal) who ruled the Ottoman Empire during
World War I and thus one of the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.
In his book Djemal remarked that "to deny the genocide would mean to
be an accomplice in a crime against humanity." Ahmed Djemal Pasha was
executed in July 1922 in Tbilisi as part of Operation Nemesis in
retribution for his role in the genocide.
The Armenian community in Turkey, Turkish civil society and human
rights groups commemorated the anniversary of the genocide in Istanbul
and Diyarbekir. At the Haidar Pasha station in Istanbul, from where 50
Armenian intellectuals were deported at the time, nearly 1,000 people
gathered to light candles and hold up pictures of those 50 poets and
writers who lost their lives.
Photographs of Dink were also raised in an event that took place in
Istanbul for the first time in 2010. Members of the Committee for the
Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide held banners in Turkish and
Armenian that read "We are commemorating the victims of the Armenian
Genocide." Later in the afternoon, a sit-in took place in Taksim
Square.
In Armenia, April 24 is a day of national mourning, and this year a
group of activists from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)
Party burned the Turkish flag and led a 15,000 torch-lit march in the
capital Yerevan. The banners read "Turkey still hides behind lies" and
"Recognition, Condemnation, Compensation."
Armenian President Serge Sarkissian together with officials and
ministers laid flowers at the Genocide Monument. In a statement,
Sarkissian said that "the denial of a crime constitutes the direct
continuation of that very crime. Only recognition and condemnation can
prevent the repetition of such crimes in the future."
He also stressed that the events of 1915 "should not prevent Turks
and Armenians from establishing compassionate and mutually humane
attitudes towards one another."
Hundreds of Armenian-American families held a silent demonstration in
front of the Turkish embassy in Washington on 24 April, protesting
against the Turkish government's denial of the Armenian Genocide and
calling for justice.
For the sixth year in a row, US President Barack Obama broke his
promise and failed to use the word "genocide" as a description of the
massacres in a speech. Instead, he described it as "one of the worst
atrocities of the 20th century." Obama had made a promise to the
Armenian-Americans, while seeking their votes as a presidential
candidate in 2008, that he would describe the 1915 massacres as
"genocide."
"President Obama, since taking office, has, under pressure from
Turkey, totally reversed course, abandoning his clearly stated pledge
to recognise the Armenian Genocide, and resorting over the past six
years to the very same euphemisms and evasions that he once so
vigourously criticised as a senator and candidate for the White
House," Aram Hamparian, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
Washington DC director, told the Weekly.
"I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and
my view has not changed. A full, frank and just acknowledgement of the
facts is in all of our interests. Peoples and nations grow stronger,
and build a foundation for a more just and tolerant future, by
acknowledging and reckoning with painful elements of the past," Obama
said.
Hamparian said that the Obama administration had pressured Armenia
into downgrading the Armenian Genocide from an unpunished
international crime into an unresolved bilateral conflict. "His White
House has pressured Congress to block legislation commemorating this
crime and even prohibited members of his administration from attending
Capitol Hill remembrances," the ANCA director said.
As the centenary of the genocide is a year away, the Republic of
Armenia and Armenians living in the Diaspora have increased their
demands that Turkey recognise the killings of 1.5 million Armenians as
a 'genocide'.
Uruguay was the first country to officially recognise the Armenian
Genocide in 1965. Other countries that have recognised it include
France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden,
Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus, Lebanon,
Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Canada, the Vatican and Australia.
"We are in no need of Erdogan's condolences. We want him to apologise
for the crime that was committed by his ancestors in 1915. We request
genocide recognition from Turkey and compensation," the representative
of the Armenian Cause Bureau in Egypt Armen Mazloumian told Al-Ahram
Weekly.
"When I say compensation, I mean moral and financial recompense. Moral
compensation comes with Turkey's recognition of the genocide, while
the financial one becomes reality when Turkey gives us back our
rights, our endowments, our churches, schools and lands that were
looted."
In a seminar organised in Cairo by the Free Egyptians Party on the day
of the commemoration, professor of International Law Ayman Salama
explained how the term 'genocide' applied to the massacres committed
by the Turks, stressing the responsibility Turkey must bear as the
inheritor of the former Ottoman Empire.
During the seminar, in which Mazloumian also took part, he called on
the next Egyptian parliament to recognise the Armenian Genocide and
establish a special monument dedicated to it.
Egypt's Armenian community also commemorated the 99th anniversary of
the genocide. Scouts from the Homenetmen Ararat Sporting Club erected
a replica of the Genocide Memorial, originally found in Yerevan, and
community members along with the ambassador of Armenia in Egypt and
the bishop of the Armenian Orthodox Church marched to lay carnations
and candles around the Monument out of respect for the 1.5 million who
lost their lives.
A tree was planted in memory of the victims and a film, "Orphans of
The Genocide," was screened. The following day, a special mass took
place in the St Gregory the Illuminator Church, followed by a requiem
service in which members of the community and Ararat scouts paid
tribute to the martyrs.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/6081/19/Condolences,-what-condolences-.aspx
May 2 2014
Condolences, what condolences?
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week expressed his
"condolences" to Armenians for those who lost their lives in World War
I, a gesture that falls well short of recognising the genocide, writes
Nora Koloyan-Keuhnelian
"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of Armenians?" asked
Adolf Hitler in 1939 in a speech to his commanders a week before his
invasion of Poland
In the first action of its kind from a Turkish leader over the past 99
years, and a day before the annual commemoration of the 1915 Armenian
Genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks, Armenians around the world
shared the news of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's
statement of condolences to the grandchildren of those who lost their
lives, with mixed reactions.
Erdogan's statement, issued in nine languages, said "we wish the
Armenians who lost their lives in the context of the early 20th
century to rest in peace, and we convey our condolences to their
grandchildren."
The Turkish opposition and most Armenian communities worldwide
criticised Erdogan's statement as "opportunistic."
In response to Erdogan's condolences, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos
of the Holy See of Cilicia based in Beirut, said in a service in
memory of the massacred that "history cannot overcome the undeniable
truth. What happened in 1915 did not occur as result of the War. It
was a genocide against the Armenian people in the legal and political
understanding of the term, a genocide organised by the Turks'
ancestors Talaat and Enver Pasha. Therefore, the Armenians demand the
recognition of the genocide and reparations."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said that Erdogan had "shared
the pains of the past" and hoped that the action Turkey had taken
would be reciprocated.
Columnist for the Turkish Sabah newspaper and political commentator
Rasim Ozan Kutahyali, known for his liberal political views, said that
Erdogan's statement had removed "a taboo".
"We, the Turkish nation, must indeed convey our condolences to the
grandchildren of our Armenian brothers and sisters massacred by the
Talaat Pasha government in 1915. In this, Erdogan has once again
proven to the world that he is not a leader from the usual mold,"
Kutahyali wrote on April 24.
Ayse Gunaysu, a Turkish human rights activist based in Istanbul, was
sure that Erdogan had "changed his communications consultant because
this is new language." In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Gunaysu
said that although Erdogan's statement was the first of its kind "we
in Turkey are so used to the worst that a little bit less worse
surprises us and almost give us hope."
The Turkish History Society, a government agency attached to the prime
minister's office, organised a symposium in the Anatolian city of Van
entitled "Armenians in World War I" on April 24 and 25, which Gunaysu
found ironic.
"In this symposium all the well-known Turkish denialist theses were
reiterated. The programme of the symposium speaks for itself: Armenian
uprisings, Armenian [Revolutionary] Committees and their activities,
and so on. The head of the 'Armenian Desk' of the Turkish Historical
Society, Recep Karacakaya, also argued that 'the real genocide' was
committed by the Armenians," Gunaysu said.
"Erdogan has realised that extreme denialism, the language of mass
murderers, the shameless lies can get him nowhere. So the government
of Turkey is in search of a more refined version of denialism. What
has made him realise this is the decades-long struggle against
denialism waged by Armenians, the grandchildren of the Genocide
victims worldwide, and to some extent a handful of people in Turkey,"
Gunaysu told the Weekly.
Hassan Djemal, a Turkish journalist and writer who had believed the
Genocide did not occur, travelled to Armenia in 2008, visited the
Genocide Monument and laid three carnations in memory of his Armenian
friend, journalist Hrant Dink who was assassinated in 2007 in
Istanbul.
He then published a book entitled 1915: The Armenian Genocide, and is
today best known for acknowledging and apologising for the genocide.
Djemal is the grandson of Ahmed Djemal Pasha, one of the "Three
Pashas" (Enver, Talaat, Djemal) who ruled the Ottoman Empire during
World War I and thus one of the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.
In his book Djemal remarked that "to deny the genocide would mean to
be an accomplice in a crime against humanity." Ahmed Djemal Pasha was
executed in July 1922 in Tbilisi as part of Operation Nemesis in
retribution for his role in the genocide.
The Armenian community in Turkey, Turkish civil society and human
rights groups commemorated the anniversary of the genocide in Istanbul
and Diyarbekir. At the Haidar Pasha station in Istanbul, from where 50
Armenian intellectuals were deported at the time, nearly 1,000 people
gathered to light candles and hold up pictures of those 50 poets and
writers who lost their lives.
Photographs of Dink were also raised in an event that took place in
Istanbul for the first time in 2010. Members of the Committee for the
Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide held banners in Turkish and
Armenian that read "We are commemorating the victims of the Armenian
Genocide." Later in the afternoon, a sit-in took place in Taksim
Square.
In Armenia, April 24 is a day of national mourning, and this year a
group of activists from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)
Party burned the Turkish flag and led a 15,000 torch-lit march in the
capital Yerevan. The banners read "Turkey still hides behind lies" and
"Recognition, Condemnation, Compensation."
Armenian President Serge Sarkissian together with officials and
ministers laid flowers at the Genocide Monument. In a statement,
Sarkissian said that "the denial of a crime constitutes the direct
continuation of that very crime. Only recognition and condemnation can
prevent the repetition of such crimes in the future."
He also stressed that the events of 1915 "should not prevent Turks
and Armenians from establishing compassionate and mutually humane
attitudes towards one another."
Hundreds of Armenian-American families held a silent demonstration in
front of the Turkish embassy in Washington on 24 April, protesting
against the Turkish government's denial of the Armenian Genocide and
calling for justice.
For the sixth year in a row, US President Barack Obama broke his
promise and failed to use the word "genocide" as a description of the
massacres in a speech. Instead, he described it as "one of the worst
atrocities of the 20th century." Obama had made a promise to the
Armenian-Americans, while seeking their votes as a presidential
candidate in 2008, that he would describe the 1915 massacres as
"genocide."
"President Obama, since taking office, has, under pressure from
Turkey, totally reversed course, abandoning his clearly stated pledge
to recognise the Armenian Genocide, and resorting over the past six
years to the very same euphemisms and evasions that he once so
vigourously criticised as a senator and candidate for the White
House," Aram Hamparian, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
Washington DC director, told the Weekly.
"I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and
my view has not changed. A full, frank and just acknowledgement of the
facts is in all of our interests. Peoples and nations grow stronger,
and build a foundation for a more just and tolerant future, by
acknowledging and reckoning with painful elements of the past," Obama
said.
Hamparian said that the Obama administration had pressured Armenia
into downgrading the Armenian Genocide from an unpunished
international crime into an unresolved bilateral conflict. "His White
House has pressured Congress to block legislation commemorating this
crime and even prohibited members of his administration from attending
Capitol Hill remembrances," the ANCA director said.
As the centenary of the genocide is a year away, the Republic of
Armenia and Armenians living in the Diaspora have increased their
demands that Turkey recognise the killings of 1.5 million Armenians as
a 'genocide'.
Uruguay was the first country to officially recognise the Armenian
Genocide in 1965. Other countries that have recognised it include
France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden,
Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus, Lebanon,
Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Canada, the Vatican and Australia.
"We are in no need of Erdogan's condolences. We want him to apologise
for the crime that was committed by his ancestors in 1915. We request
genocide recognition from Turkey and compensation," the representative
of the Armenian Cause Bureau in Egypt Armen Mazloumian told Al-Ahram
Weekly.
"When I say compensation, I mean moral and financial recompense. Moral
compensation comes with Turkey's recognition of the genocide, while
the financial one becomes reality when Turkey gives us back our
rights, our endowments, our churches, schools and lands that were
looted."
In a seminar organised in Cairo by the Free Egyptians Party on the day
of the commemoration, professor of International Law Ayman Salama
explained how the term 'genocide' applied to the massacres committed
by the Turks, stressing the responsibility Turkey must bear as the
inheritor of the former Ottoman Empire.
During the seminar, in which Mazloumian also took part, he called on
the next Egyptian parliament to recognise the Armenian Genocide and
establish a special monument dedicated to it.
Egypt's Armenian community also commemorated the 99th anniversary of
the genocide. Scouts from the Homenetmen Ararat Sporting Club erected
a replica of the Genocide Memorial, originally found in Yerevan, and
community members along with the ambassador of Armenia in Egypt and
the bishop of the Armenian Orthodox Church marched to lay carnations
and candles around the Monument out of respect for the 1.5 million who
lost their lives.
A tree was planted in memory of the victims and a film, "Orphans of
The Genocide," was screened. The following day, a special mass took
place in the St Gregory the Illuminator Church, followed by a requiem
service in which members of the community and Ararat scouts paid
tribute to the martyrs.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/6081/19/Condolences,-what-condolences-.aspx