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  • Ara Sarafian: The Ottoman Archives In Turkey Represent What Turkish

    ARA SARAFIAN: THE OTTOMAN ARCHIVES IN TURKEY REPRESENT WHAT TURKISH OFFICIALS HAVE CHOSEN TO DECLASSIFY SO FAR

    April 2, 2015

    By Vahakn Karakachian

    Interview With Ara Sarafian, Director of the Gomidas Institute

    "The Ottoman archives in Turkey represent what Turkish officials
    have chosen to declassify so far. There are millions of documents
    that have not been declassified"

    Historian Ara Sarafian is the founding director of the Gomidas
    Institute in London, which sponsors and carries out research and
    publishes books. Among the institute's publications are English
    translations of Armenian texts related to the Armenian Genocide. He
    edited a "Critical Edition" of the The Treatment of Armenians in the
    Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916, commonly known as the Blue Book (originally
    published in 1916 by British historians Lord James Bryce and Arnold
    Toynbee), as well as a Turkish edition of the book.

    "Talaat Pasha's Report on the Armenian Genocide, 1917" was published
    by the Gomidas Institute in April 2011. As the title implies, it is an
    appraisal of a report that was found in Talaat Pasha's private papers.

    How did you start this project?

    I first heard of Talaat's report when Murat Bardakci published
    some information from it in Hurriyet newspaper in 2005. Bardakci
    later published the whole report in facsimile format in a book. That
    allowed me to take the report more seriously. The project then took
    off when I was able to go to the Prime Ministry Archives in Istanbul
    and follow up on the data at hand. My key finding was information
    about a special survey Talaat had ordered on Armenians in February
    1917. These materials authenticated Talaat's report. The final
    stage was the analysis of the data : the report, which had no title,
    calculated the number of Armenians who had gone missing in the Ottoman
    Empire between 1914-17. The whole analysis was presented on the first
    page in a clear manner. It was a report on the Armenian Genocide.

    Do you think that some Ottoman era archives on the Armenian Genocide
    have been deliberately "vanished" by the authorities or some academic
    circles?

    The Ottoman archives in Turkey represent what Turkish officials have
    chosen to declassify so far. There are millions of documents that
    have not been declassified. Undoubtedly many documents have been lost
    or destroyed for all sorts of reasons. And there can be little doubt
    that the declassified materials have been carefully chosen. There are
    entire categories of records that are not available to researchers -
    such as the detailed deportation and resettlement registers from the
    provinces. The Armenian issue is an intensely political issue and
    none of this should be surprising.

    However, the available Ottoman materials, especially when used
    alongside alternative sources (such as United States records or
    Armenian survivor accounts), support the Armenian Genocide thesis.

    Every civil society has to deal with the dark pages of it's past. Do
    you think Turkey's leading civil society organizations have started
    influencing Turkish political reform?

    Yes, all nations have dark pages. However, in Turkey, the Armenian
    issue is not simply a dark page in the past. It is part of the ruling
    ideology of the state - especially in the opposition parties and some
    parts of the ruling AKP. Modern Turkey has been built on the continued
    abuse of Armenians and other social groups such as Kurds, women,
    and Alevis. Many of the abusers - including torturers and killers -
    are still living lives there. Turkey needs a social revolution to
    extricate the good from the bad in itself.

    It is against such a background that many brave individuals have spoken
    out in the past. Now there are democratic organisations carrying on
    the struggle for the good. Only weeks ago, the People's Democratic
    Party (HDP) has made a point of fielding Armenian candidates, and
    many women, in the coming elections in Turkey. They have already
    influenced Turkish politics by their conduct, and if they do well at
    the elections, they will be moving Turkey in a positive direction.

    In recent years, you've been collaborating with the city councils of
    Diyarbakýr and Bitlis. Tell us more about this.

    In recent years I have worked closely with Turkish civil society
    organisations, like the Human Rights Association (IHD), the Bar
    Associations of Diyarbakir and Bitlis, the municipalities of these
    cities as part of the positive changes we are seeing in Turkey.

    Because of the changes that are taking place in Turkey, there is
    need for sensible Armenian voices to chart the way forward. The
    Gomidas Institute has thus dealt not only with the Genocide, but
    also the possibilities of rehabilitating of the Armenian issue in a
    sensitive and peaceful manner. And we do this as a diaspora Armenian
    organisation.

    When you say dealing with issues in a sensitive and peaceful manner,
    what do you mean?

    I see Kurds, for example, as victims. Most Kurds in Turkey are
    internally dispersed refugees. Thousands of their villages were
    destroyed by the Turkish army in the 1980s and 1990s. Ordinary Kurds
    still suffer from discrimination, poverty, and lack of basic services.

    They have been brutalised, yet remain steadfast. Their political
    struggle has fuelled the democratisation of Turkey. Despite these
    difficulties, today, Kurds invariably refer to Armenians as their
    kith and kin. Of course, they have a sense of guilt too, because many
    of their own ancestors were involved in the Armenian Genocide. This
    is something most Kurds, especially their leaders, say outright. So,
    whatever the past, we have the ability to engage all of these issues
    openly and consider the best way to resolve them. If the Turkish
    state adopted a similar position, the Armenian issue could be resolved.

    One of the issues I grapple in my own work concerns the descendants of
    Armenians who were assimilated into Muslim communities in Turkey. Some
    of these people, perhaps most, wish to be left alone. Others are
    interested in their Armenian heritage in a passive way. And some feel
    a sense of loss and wish to reclaim part of their lost identity. As
    a rule, none of these people have a voice, and too often they are
    objectified in a terrible way. For example, when a group of such
    Armenians went to Armenia last summer, there were Armenian newspaper
    articles claiming that a group of "hidden Armenians" were visiting
    their "homeland." The fact was that these were not hidden Armenians
    (they came from Sourp Giragos church in Diyarbakir). Furthermore, they
    lived on their ancestral homelands, in Diyarbakir. And ironically,
    while in Armenia, they were offered eastern Armenian lessons in the
    bastardised Soviet era orthography.

    Where do you expect these developments to go?

    Nobody can predict the future, However, if we take the issues at
    hand seriously, there is room for serious progress. However, if good
    people do not get involved, then we should not blame others for
    lack of progress or regression. The Armenian Genocide has not run
    its course, and there is a great deal to play for. That is why the
    Gomidas Institute works in Turkey. Join us if you can.

    http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/64936



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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