Tweet
Turkish Daily News
April 26 2008
A common enemy that is called hate
Neither Turks nor Armenians are interested in free-thinking
researchers, says historian Ara Sarafian, arguing that both Armenian
and Turkish nationalists seek to prolong the animosity between the two
peoples
Vercihan ZiflioÄ?lu
ISTANBUL ` Turkish Daily News
Turkey and Armenia must together create the opportunity to secure a
peaceful future and the current tactics of the Armenian diaspora are
not helpful in the view of the director one of that same diaspora's
leading think tanks. That iconoclastic view was shared by Ara
Sarafian, who heads the London-based Gomidas Institute on the
sidelines of a conference this week held by Bilgi University on the
day often associated with allegations of an Armenian genocide at the
hands of Ottoman Turks that is said to have begun on April 24,
1915. Indeed the date is important Sarafian told the Turkish Daily
News, as on that day, ` 220 Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul were
arrested and were never heard of again.' But, he said, the ongoing
campaign by the Armenian lobby to generate declarations by parliaments
around the world, a campaign bitterly opposed by Turkey, has hardly
produced the desired results. It is time for a new approach, he
said. This was the message Sarafian shared at the conference,
organized by the Human Rights Association (Ä°HD) Istanbul branch
and held at Bilgi. And it was a theme Sarafian returned to in a
conversation with the TDN. He said nationalists among both Armenians
and Turks are fed by hatred and animosity. The researcher agreed that
Armenian lobbies and committees are certainly organizing anti-Turkish
activities, but argued it is wrong to categorize the entire Armenian
diaspora as a single camp. Turkey's stance toward Armenians has only
helped the efforts of these Armenian lobbies and committees, he
said. Armenians, meanwhile, make comical claims for land that only
serve to reinforce Turkish reluctance to engage in dialogue. `Problems
will not be solved by people talking from their comfortable chairs in
Los Angeles,' he said.
`Those who accused Dink of being a Turkish agent made him a hero' On
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was murdered by a teenage
Turkish nationalist on Jan. 19, 2007, Sarafian noted a particular
irony. For years, many in the Armenian diaspora accused Dink of being
a Turkish agent for his views that development of empathy between the
two communities was not served by genocide polemics. Now that he is
dead, those same critics of Dink when he was alive have turned him
into a hero. `Dink created an opportunity for Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement but that is now lost,' he said. If the genocide issue
was solved all these lobbies and groups would face serious hardship
because they would have nothing to do, he said. `We have lived like
enemies until now. From now on, we must work for peace,' said
Sarafian, adding that the only thing separating Turks from Armenians
was religion.
Neither side is interested in free-thinking researchers: Sarafian said
neither Turkish nor Armenian nationalists wanted free-thinking
researchers, accusing some professors of Armenian origins in the
United States of creating obstacles for German researcher Hilmar
Kaiser and noted that some invitations for meetings were canceled at
the last minute. `Even this interview will make me a target of some
groups,' he said. Being a historian is mutually exclusive from being
Armenian, he said, adding that most of his own family was lost during
the incidents in 1915. `As a historian, my duty is to objectively seek
the truth. In the 1990s, I conducted research in Turkey,' he
said. However, he and Kaiser had encountered serious obstacles during
his studies in the Prime Ministry archives, claiming that they were
eventually barred from entering it. The Turkish press was manipulating
the exchanges with Turkish History Foundation Chairman Yusuf
HalaçoÄ?lu, he said. `Upon HalaçoÄ?lu's
invitation to work together, I proposed to center our studies in
ElazıÄ?. I asked for a list of Armenians deported from
the province. If these people were exiled to somewhere and then
continued their lives, there must be records. After this request,
HalaçoÄ?lu invited me to Ankara and also told a reporter
on CNN-Türk, `Sarafian knows well that such incidents never
took place under the Ottomans.' After this statement, I decided to put
a stop to the decision to work together. HalaçoÄ?lu, with
that statement, showed his stance. As a historian, it is impossible to
conduct an objective study.'
Armenians accuse Ottomans of committing organized massacres of
Armenians in 1915 that was tantamount to genocide. This week Armenia's
new president announced the campaign to secure international
recognition of such claims will continue. Turkey dismisses the
allegations and argues that there were huge numbers of casualties on
both sides and most were caused by inter-communal fighting and wartime
conditions. To date, parliaments in some 20 countries have passed
resolutions supporting the Armenian position. The United States and
the United Kingdom have remained notable exceptions and refrain from
use of the word `genocide'
April 26 2008
A common enemy that is called hate
Neither Turks nor Armenians are interested in free-thinking
researchers, says historian Ara Sarafian, arguing that both Armenian
and Turkish nationalists seek to prolong the animosity between the two
peoples
Vercihan ZiflioÄ?lu
ISTANBUL ` Turkish Daily News
Turkey and Armenia must together create the opportunity to secure a
peaceful future and the current tactics of the Armenian diaspora are
not helpful in the view of the director one of that same diaspora's
leading think tanks. That iconoclastic view was shared by Ara
Sarafian, who heads the London-based Gomidas Institute on the
sidelines of a conference this week held by Bilgi University on the
day often associated with allegations of an Armenian genocide at the
hands of Ottoman Turks that is said to have begun on April 24,
1915. Indeed the date is important Sarafian told the Turkish Daily
News, as on that day, ` 220 Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul were
arrested and were never heard of again.' But, he said, the ongoing
campaign by the Armenian lobby to generate declarations by parliaments
around the world, a campaign bitterly opposed by Turkey, has hardly
produced the desired results. It is time for a new approach, he
said. This was the message Sarafian shared at the conference,
organized by the Human Rights Association (Ä°HD) Istanbul branch
and held at Bilgi. And it was a theme Sarafian returned to in a
conversation with the TDN. He said nationalists among both Armenians
and Turks are fed by hatred and animosity. The researcher agreed that
Armenian lobbies and committees are certainly organizing anti-Turkish
activities, but argued it is wrong to categorize the entire Armenian
diaspora as a single camp. Turkey's stance toward Armenians has only
helped the efforts of these Armenian lobbies and committees, he
said. Armenians, meanwhile, make comical claims for land that only
serve to reinforce Turkish reluctance to engage in dialogue. `Problems
will not be solved by people talking from their comfortable chairs in
Los Angeles,' he said.
`Those who accused Dink of being a Turkish agent made him a hero' On
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was murdered by a teenage
Turkish nationalist on Jan. 19, 2007, Sarafian noted a particular
irony. For years, many in the Armenian diaspora accused Dink of being
a Turkish agent for his views that development of empathy between the
two communities was not served by genocide polemics. Now that he is
dead, those same critics of Dink when he was alive have turned him
into a hero. `Dink created an opportunity for Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement but that is now lost,' he said. If the genocide issue
was solved all these lobbies and groups would face serious hardship
because they would have nothing to do, he said. `We have lived like
enemies until now. From now on, we must work for peace,' said
Sarafian, adding that the only thing separating Turks from Armenians
was religion.
Neither side is interested in free-thinking researchers: Sarafian said
neither Turkish nor Armenian nationalists wanted free-thinking
researchers, accusing some professors of Armenian origins in the
United States of creating obstacles for German researcher Hilmar
Kaiser and noted that some invitations for meetings were canceled at
the last minute. `Even this interview will make me a target of some
groups,' he said. Being a historian is mutually exclusive from being
Armenian, he said, adding that most of his own family was lost during
the incidents in 1915. `As a historian, my duty is to objectively seek
the truth. In the 1990s, I conducted research in Turkey,' he
said. However, he and Kaiser had encountered serious obstacles during
his studies in the Prime Ministry archives, claiming that they were
eventually barred from entering it. The Turkish press was manipulating
the exchanges with Turkish History Foundation Chairman Yusuf
HalaçoÄ?lu, he said. `Upon HalaçoÄ?lu's
invitation to work together, I proposed to center our studies in
ElazıÄ?. I asked for a list of Armenians deported from
the province. If these people were exiled to somewhere and then
continued their lives, there must be records. After this request,
HalaçoÄ?lu invited me to Ankara and also told a reporter
on CNN-Türk, `Sarafian knows well that such incidents never
took place under the Ottomans.' After this statement, I decided to put
a stop to the decision to work together. HalaçoÄ?lu, with
that statement, showed his stance. As a historian, it is impossible to
conduct an objective study.'
Armenians accuse Ottomans of committing organized massacres of
Armenians in 1915 that was tantamount to genocide. This week Armenia's
new president announced the campaign to secure international
recognition of such claims will continue. Turkey dismisses the
allegations and argues that there were huge numbers of casualties on
both sides and most were caused by inter-communal fighting and wartime
conditions. To date, parliaments in some 20 countries have passed
resolutions supporting the Armenian position. The United States and
the United Kingdom have remained notable exceptions and refrain from
use of the word `genocide'
Comment