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Turkey Needs To Confront Past Realities

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  • Turkey Needs To Confront Past Realities

    TURKEY NEEDS TO CONFRONT PAST REALITIES
    by Harry Sterling, Special to The Windsor Star

    Windsor Star (Ontario)
    May 17, 2006 Wednesday
    Final Edition

    'The Armenian claims are a direct attack on our identity, on Turkey's
    history."

    With these words Turkish embassy counsellor Yonet Tezel explained
    his government's decision to recall its ambassador to Canada, Aydemir
    Erman, for "consultations."

    The move followed recent remarks by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
    Harper associating his government with Canadian parliamentary
    resolutions describing the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey
    during the First World War as an act of genocide.

    Turkey has made a similar move against the French government for
    contemplating a proposed law making denial of the Armenian genocide
    a crime.

    As a further indication of its displeasure, Turkey has announced
    it is cancelling participation of Turkish fighter aircraft in an
    international military air exercise May 17 to June 24 in Cold Lake,
    Alta.

    Despite its actions directed at Ottawa and Paris, Turkish authorities
    stressed the recalls were only "... for a short time for consultations
    over the latest developments about the baseless allegations of
    Armenian genocide."

    While the statement by the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
    Erdogan was essentially pro-forma, for many it was indicative of
    Turkey's inability to confront an issue that is never going to go
    away until the Turks come to terms with it.

    Turkish governments have always maintained that the large-scale
    deaths of Armenians during the First World War and after occurred
    when the then-Ottoman government was trying to put down Armenian
    nationalists aligned with invading Russian forces and was not an act
    of premeditated genocide.

    They also insist the figure of 1.5 million deaths is inflated and
    that during that turbulent period hundreds of thousands of Turks in
    eastern Turkey also died.

    While these explanations are widely shared by the Turkish population,
    some Turks have called for a more open-minded approach to the issue,
    including Turkey's internationally recognized author Orhan Pamuk.

    He was subjected to widespread criticism and physical threats for
    commenting during an interview about the Armenian genocide and
    repression of the country's Kurdish minority, both considered taboo
    subjects, especially by Turkish nationalists. He was charged with
    denigrating the nation and faced a stiff prison sentence. However,
    as a result of international pressure, particularly from the European
    Union -- which Turkey wants to join -- the government dropped the
    charges on technical grounds.

    A number of Turkish academics have also voiced support for examining
    the genocide issue with more of an open mind.

    One way to do this would be to open up Ottoman-era archives and other
    documentary sources, including Russian military reports that might
    shed light on what took place during fighting in the region.

    Investigations carried out by German and U.S. analysts concerning the
    deaths concluded that the catastrophic defeat of Turkish troops engaged
    against Russian forces during the early stages of the First World
    War, and the Turkish army's claim it had been stabbed in the back by
    Armenian nationalists, resulted in the Turkish military disarming and
    executing countless Armenian men as traitors, regardless of whether
    they were engaged in an anti-Turkish insurgency.

    The Turkish army purportedly then rounded up Armenian women and
    children, ordering their deportation via the Syrian Desert, resulting
    in massive deaths.

    Turkish authorities dispute such findings, maintaining there was
    no official policy to exterminate Armenians and that most deaths
    were caused during the deportation to Syria due to lack of adequate
    provisions at a chaotic time in eastern Anatolia.

    Notwithstanding contradictory views on what transpired nine decades
    ago, what is incomprehensible to many outside Turkey is why current-day
    Turks are unable to look back on those horrific developments in a
    more balanced fashion, instead of insisting Armenian claims have
    absolutely no foundation in truth.

    One reason that has been cited concerns the Turkish military, seen as
    the true power in Turkey. The modern-day Turkish military founded by
    Kemal Ataturk has always seen itself as the defender not just of the
    country's independence, but also of its national honour and dignity.

    The Turkish officer caste takes its role in society extremely
    seriously, even executing a prime minister for allegedly endangering
    the stability of the state. Anything that could raise doubts or
    undermine the military's ability to present itself as guardian of
    Turkey's national honour and territorial integrity, or which portrays
    Turks behaving in a barbaric fashion, is unacceptable.

    This, some claim, is why it's near impossible to confront the realities
    behind the tragic fate of Turkey's Armenian population 90 years ago
    -- or Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish population -- since it could
    undermine Turkey's own idealized perception of itself as a modern,
    liberal society.

    But like Germany, Turkey must confront the realities of the past if
    it expects to be accepted as a nation capable of dealing open-mindedly
    with its own history, however disagreeable that might be.

    Harry Sterling, a former diplomat, is an Ottawa-based commentator. He
    served in Turkey.
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