Three Turkish Voices on the Ottoman Armenians

[Joseph]

“IN MEMORIAM: HRANT DINK, 1954-2007”
By Fatma Muge Gocek
*
As I sit in front of my computer and type in this first eulogy of my life with tears streaming down my face, I realize that what I will miss the most*about my dear friend the journalist Hrant Dink’s unexpected departure from this life are the big hugs he used to give me, to us, to all his friends, to humanity as a whole, those warm, comforting, loving hugs…* I mourn that I will no longer feel that happiness surge within me as I saw his face* light up on our next encounter, he will not say “Dear Muge!” and rush to me with his arms open to give me one of his wonderful hugs.* The last image in my minds’ eye will unfortunately be his tall, lifeless body lying covered on a pavement, mercilessly assassinated by a gunman in broad daylight in front of his newspaper in Istanbul on January 19th 2007.*
*
I got to know Hrant closely in 2002 when he came to Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend the annual meeting of the Turkish Armenian Workshop of Scholars that my colleagues Ronald Grigor Suny, Gerard Libaridian and I held at the University of Michigan that year.* After the initial meeting at the University of Chicago in 2000, we had decided to invite journalists as observers and he, as the columnist and editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper, was among the invitees.* Hrant was just as surprised as we were when he was issued a passport by the Turkish state to attend the workshop as he had been refused one for the last twenty years.* At the workshop, he stunned all the participants by making several original contributions, specifically by his articulate standpoint*as an Armenian living in Turkey, by his criticism of nationalist Diaspora politics, and by his peaceful vision of the future of Turkish-Armenian relations.*
*
During our first meeting, I was personally struck by one thing in particular about Hrant Dink.* At the time, I had been working intensely on the ethnic cleansing of the Armenians in1915 and even just the mere act of reading about the historical events had made me so angry and hurt as a human being and as an ethnic Turk.* I had also been born and raised in Turkey for twenty-four years prior to my arrival in the United States and therefore knew and was likewise very upset as a Turkish citizen about the prejudice and discrimination the minorities still faced in Turkey due to*rabid Turkish nationalism.* When I could not overcome my anger, when the Diaspora Armenians I met in the United States likewise struggled so much -- sometimes successfully and at other times unsuccessfully -- with their anger and hurt, how*had Hrant Dink achieved, how had he managed to overcome that ever-consuming, destructive, dangerous anger to fill himself instead with so much love and hope for humanity, for Turkish society, for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation?* How could he have done so in spite of the memory of 1915 and in spite of the subsequent prejudice and discrimination he faced in Turkey?*
*
It was for me that particular quality which made Hrant Dink a great human being and a great role model: his unwavering belief in the fundamental goodness of all humans regardless of their race, ethnic origin, regardless of what they had personally or communally experienced; his unwavering vision that we in Turkey were going to one day be able to finally confront our past and come to terms with our faults, mistakes and violence as well as our so brandied about virtues; his unwavering trust that we all would manage to live together in peace one day.
*
Hrant was very excited about our scholarly activities and became our fervent supporter from then on.* “You scholars are the ones who are ultimately going to solve this issue!” he kept saying over and over again.* Last spring, when he was visiting the United States, I suddenly got a phone call from him to find out that he was on his way to Ann Arbor to especially meet with me: “Keep the dialogue between the Armenian and Turkish scholars going, that is the most significant endeavor we have for the solution of this problem and, no matter what happens, do not let things get politicized,“ he told me during our long meeting over coffee.* He was aware, like many of us in the United States, Europe, Turkey and all over the world who belong to our Turkish Armenian network, that the solution to this problem lies in cooperation, in dialogue, and in reconciliation.* He was aware that we need to tackle this issue as a community of scholars who, like him, believe in the ultimate goodness of humanity, and who, like him, fervently hope and strive on a daily basis to move that dialogue, the possibility of that reconciliation forward.* Following his example, we shall attempt to overcome the deep anger we feel over his assassination, attempt to move beyond the narrow confines of our ethnic, national identities to reach for our common element of humanity so that our children, so that Hrant’s children and beautiful grandchildren live in a world, in societies filled with love rather than hatred.
*
My dear friend Hrant, I promise you that I will continue, with the help of the community of friends and scholars that we have built around us, to keep reaching out with the same love, warmth and hope that you hugged all of us, and I will try to deliver the same message.* And, while you rest in peace within the soil of your ancestors you so loved and cherished to death, you will nevertheless also be there alongside us in spirit.**

[Joseph]

Taner Akcam

www.hyetert.com/anasayfa.asp*in Turkish, and*has been translated to English

*

Rebel Against*My Turkishness
*
I am a Turk.* Hrant was an Armenian.* I am a writer at Agos.* Hrant was Agos.* Hrant had one ambition only which was*to end the hatred, malice and grudge between the Armenians and the Turks and*both nations to live together*in peace, respect*and harmony.
*
Hrant and Agos were like*the blossoming flower on the Turkish prairie.* They picked that flower and threw it out.* Who was shot was not only Hrant, it was at the same time Turkey’s reputation.* That is so true.* But we have to ask ourselves*that the attack has an agenda geared towards our domestic politics. The goal is to install feelings of guilt in our collective unconscious. The real victim was not Hrant Dink, it was us, as usual: Our peace, our stability, our happiness, our unity, our integrity, our conscience that has long forgotten disturbance and shame.* So they*trained the*17 year old well not to miss the target but who killed this target were the ones behind this intention.
*
Hrant was not killed with one bullet, but was targeted and killed slowly day by day.** On January 5, he said "Taner, I am very scared.**Their intent is planned well to Agos and myself.* They called me over to the Istanbul*Governor's*Office to threaten me.* They told me that they will make me pay for what I have done.** All threats to Agos and me started after this incident.* 2007 will be a very bad year.* They will come onto us.* We have been pointed at.* We have become*easy targets.* They left us in the middle to be hunted down as if*the hunting season has started.* With their politics, press and lawmakers they created this atmosphere and condemned us with it."
*
Hrant was not killed only by the 17 year old, but was killed by the ones who condemned him as the enemy to the Turks.* He was killed by those who made him suffer*because of*Article 301 in front of the courthouse doors, who did not have the courage to change*Article 301, he was killed by*the ones who called*him to the Governor's Office to threaten him instead of protecting him.
*
Let's not cry but lower our heads.* Look at our own hands.* How are we to clean the blood off of those hands.* You, the publishers, writers, who are in shock after Hrant's death, open your old newspaper articles, check out what you had written about Hrant, what you had said about Hrant, there you will see the killer, you will see the killer in the court orders relating to*Article 301.* Decide what you will do to the Governor's deputy who called Hrant and threatened him.
*
Hrant was targeted as the Armenian who insulted Turkishness and was slain.* Hrant was shot because he said Turkey had to face its history.* The hands who shot him were the same*hands who shot*Hrants in 1915, who cut the Armenians' throats in the desert,* their message is "Yes, we did it in 1915 we'll do it again in 2007."* The ones who shot Hrant think they shot him in the name of the Turks.* The same way the ones who shot Hrants in 1915.* They think killing is being Turkish.* Being Turkish is to see others as enemies and kill them.* Instead, those are the ones who are their own enemies.* They are the ones who are ruining Turkey's reputation.
*
This is why we are acting now.* We want to recover the Turkish name and take it away from the killers by the slogans of "we are all Hrants" "we are all Armenian"* We are the voice of the Turks, the Kurdish, the Alevi, the pure, and the Muslim.* We are the voice of Turkey screaming for justice.
*
Being Turkish or Armenian should be a respected and not dirtied by the hands of killers.* We will be proud of being Turkish when we call those killers, killers.* Today we are trying to do this.* We know that we*are good*when we say we are all Armenians.* We know we will be proud when we call the killers, murderer.* We are sending an important*message to the world today by saying we are all Hrants, we are all Armenians.* The killer and killers have no involvement with being Turkish and Turkey.* The real*Turks are the ones who are calling* the killers, murderers and*shouting the slogan "We are all Armenian."* Who are united as one and distant from the killers of Hrant.* This is the message to 1915.
*
We will not accept Hrant's killers as real Turks and we feel the same for the killers of 1915.* The ones who worship his killers are the same ones who worship the killers of 1915, namely, Talat, Bahaettin Sakir or Dr. Nazim.
*
We the Turks, by shouting "We are all Hrants and we are all Armenians," telling the whole world that we will not abandon Turkey and the Turkish people in the hands of killers, and will not let the Turkish reputation be insulted by murder and hatred towards the Armenians.
*
We should be able to say the catastrophe of 1915 remains to be a crime committed in our name, it remains to be a crime against humanity and human plurality committed in the name of ‘Turkishness.’
*
As we accept Hrant's murder a shame, we should accept the murders of 1915 the same, as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.* We are condemning this murder as many others have, and there were Turks, Kurds, Alevis and Muslims condemning the murders of 1915.* As well as*condemning the murders of 1915 of Bogazliyan Mayor Kemal, or the religious leader Abdullahzade Mehmet Efendi, or Talat Pasha, Enver to Bahaettin Sakir, Dr. Nazim, Diyarbakir Mayor Resit, and will not accept them as Turks.
*
Keep in mind, in 1915, there were Ankara*Governor Mazhar, Halep Governor Celal, Kastamonu Governor Resit, Yozgat Governor Deputy Cemal, Kutahya Mayor Ali Faik, Der-Zor Mayor Ali Fuat as well as the soldiers, commanders, 3rd Infantry Commander Vehip Pasha, Trabzon Garnizon Commander Avni Pasha, Miralay Vasfi, Yozgat Commander Salim.* Today, Trabzon has one murderer Ogun Samast.* But in 1915 Trabzon had murderers such as Governor Cemal Azmi, Ittihatci Nail from Yenibahce as well as Turks against those such as Chief of Police Nuri, businessman Ahmet Ali Bey, Customs Officer Nesim Bey and Trabzon senator Hafiz Mehmet Emin Bey who said he saw Armenians being loaded into boats and slaughtered and drowned but he couldn't do anything about it.
*
Today, Turkey and the Turks have to make a decision and a distinction between the two kinds of* Turks that exist and existed in the past.
*
Today, the world is watching us with respect and*the wall of distinction between the real Turks and the barbaric generation of the past and future.* We are building the wall between the Turks and the killers and we are able to name the murderers.* We have to show this acceptance and courage for 1915 too not only for today's incidents.* Hrant wanted this from us.* He used to say "I love the Turks and Turkey,* I feel lucky to live with the Turks."* We need to build the wall between the killers and the Turks.* This is how we should face our history.* We are calling Hrant's killer, the murderer, not the Turk and as such we are facing our history.* We will only face the world with pride if we build the same wall between the Turks and the killers of 1915 and condemn those murderers.
*
My scream is the scream of Turkey itself.* It is the scream of a Turk who lost Hrant, his soul brother, his Armenian friend, his brother.* Let us take our nation back from the murderers and shout all together "We are all Hrants, we are all Armenians."
*
This scream is the only answer to the ones who want to create the hatred between Turks and Armenians.
*
Written by:* Taner Akcam, History Professor at University of Minnesota, Radikal Newspaper January 24, 2007

[Joseph]

January 31, 2007

world

Turks investigate U prof
A visiting professor is charged with insulting Turkishness after writing book.
By Kathryn Nelson, Conrad Wilson
ore than 90 years after the Armenian genocide, University professor Taner Akçam is in the middle of a controversial debate that recently turned deadly.

The murder of Hrant Dink, a prominent Armenian newspaper editor in Turkey, sent shockwaves around the world. It especially hit home for Akçam, a visiting professor in the University's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

Akçam has been accused of insulting Turkishness because of his outspoken position on the existence of the Armenian genocide and his recently published book, "A Shameful Act." Now he faces similar accusations as Dink, which contributed to the journalist's death on Jan. 19.

"He was shot on the street in front of his newspaper," Akçam said. "He was murdered."

Armenian editor Dink and Turkish columnist Akçam both faced scrutiny for their positions on the Armenian/Turkish issue.

Subsequently, the men have been investigated under a Turkish law that is often associated with speaking against the government for committing genocide.

"We both had one objective: … to stop the discrimination against minorities in Turkey, to end the distortion in Turkish history and to change the perversion of what it means to be Turkish," Akçam said.

Though Dink was outspoken about the crimes against the Armenian people, Akçam said Dink never used the word "genocide."

"Any time (Dink) was asked if genocide took place or not, he always cracked a smile," Akçam said. "He didn't place a lot of importance on the term. He would always say, 'I know what happened to my people.' "

Only once, during an interview with Reuters in 2006, did Dink use the word genocide.

"He hesitated to use it in Turkish context, because he told me, 'Taner, when I use this term, it creates a certain tension, animosity, and my message cannot go though. That's why I'm not using (it) and, because for me, the important thing is my message goes through.'"

Shortly after Dink's interview, the Turkish government filed a criminal complaint against him.

In August 2006, Akçam wrote an article in support of Dink's position. The Turkish government then filed a criminal complaint against Akçam.

"I wrote for everyone reading this article to participate in this crime that Hrant is accused of," Akçam said.

He attended Dink's funeral in Istanbul on Jan. 23.

Human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called for the repealing of Article 301, the law Akçam is charged with breaking, citing that it poses a direct threat to freedom of expression.

Turkishness "is not defined in the law, so the judges and the nationalists have a very vague definition of this term and they are attacking the individuals," Akçam said.

The Middle East Studies Association of North America wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of Turkey, claiming that scholars and public intellectuals writing about the Armenian/Turkish issue "operate in an atmosphere of increased intimidation." The organization specifically cites Dink's death and Akçam's safety.

University of Louisville professor Justin McCarthy sits at the other side of the spectrum.

McCarthy said he believes the Armenian/Turkish issue was a mutual clash in which both sides were well-armed and responsible for deaths.

He contests that the deportation of Armenians was a relocation strategy of the Turkish government, similar to the internment of Japanese-Americans in 1942 by the United States, but, he said, with much better reason.

McCarthy said there is a historical bias against the Turkish people who were simply acting in a justified manner against the Armenians.

With a background in demography, McCarthy said the numbers of Armenians killed during this time has been inflated. He places the deaths at 600,000 instead of the 1 million to 1.5 million that are generally accepted.

McCarthy said he believes the Armenian people are held as "higher specimens" over the Turks.

In the past, he said, the Armenians have killed some 30 Turkish diplomats. But, "how many of them got a picture on the front page of The New York Times?"

William Jones, an expert on Turkey with Amnesty International, said Article 301 has led to corruption in the country.

"What has happened in Turkey is that the Article 301 has become a favorite piece of the penal code that's being used by right-wing nationalists to bring cases against people."

Along with Dink and Akçam, other prominent scholars such as Orhan Pamuk, who recently won the Nobel Prize in literature, have been charged under Article 301.

"Amnesty (International) has been calling for the abolishment for Article 301 for some time," Jones said.

Dink's assassination shows similarities to other murders in the past year, Akçam said.

"Behind all these activities, there is always a retired army officer or a group of army officers, and there is a pattern with all these assassinations and attacks."

Jones acknowledged an extremist movement, but he said no one knows if this group exists.

"Dink became a target through these people who were using 301 against him," he said. "It got his name in the press."

The Daily contacted the Turkish Embassy in Washington, but it was unavailable for comment.

Akçam's book, "A Shameful Act," recounts the Turkish government's involvement in the Armenian genocide and was recently nominated for a Minnesota Book Award.


© Copyright 2007 The Minnesota Daily