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Dar Al-Hayat, Beirut/London
May 4 2005
Translated from Arabic exclusively for Armenian News Network/Groong
by Katia M. Peltekian
The Armenian diaspora launches an offensive against Turkey
by Nizam Mardini, a Syrian writer
The Armenian diaspora recently commemorated the 90th anniversary of
the genocide perpetrated against the Armenians. Ninety years ago, on
April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Sultan ordered the deportation of the
Armenians from their homes, towns and villages in the north and south
east of the empire. They were to walk towards Syria, Lebanon and Iraq
which were also under Ottoman rule at the time.
The Armenians consider that the forced deportation and all the
military actions against them have resulted in the death of 1.5
million Armenians; however, the Turks reject these claims and accuse
the Armenians of betrayal and rebellion against the Ottoman Empire,
of which they were citizens.
If the Armenians have been successful in Europe to embarrass Turkey,
which already conjures bad memories to Europeans because of the
Ottoman rule that brought Islam to their midst, some of these peoples
now want to take their revenge from the Turks who adamantly deny the
Armenian claims and say that the Armenians also killed around 500
thousand Moslem Turks with the help of some western countries and
Russia.
Between the Armenian claims and Turkish denial, the question remains
unresolved in spite of the numerous decisions by European parliaments
that have recognized the Armenian Genocide and have demanded from
Turkey to follow suit and apologize to the Armenians. The German
parliament's decision that will be taken at the end of this week will
add more importance to this issue because Germany was an ally of the
Ottoman Empire during the First World War between 1914 and 1918.
Germany will officially apologize to the Armenians, and this will
make Ankara face a new situation that might lead them to take a
courageous step and acknowledge that crimes against humanity did take
place towards the Armenians and the Assyrians in such regions as
Diarbekr, Mardine, Aintab, Ourfa, and other cities and villages where
the majority of the population were Armenians and Assyrians.
But Ankara is stubbornly trying to fight all Armenian claims that are
supported by Europe and America, so they have offered to open the
Turkish archives, as other nations have done, and to let historians,
scholars and specialists study the documents. However, the Armenian
diaspora still rejects the idea that only the archives in Istanbul
will be used as the only historical sources. Instead, the Armenians
have chosen the method of pressure that the European Union is
practicing prior to the negotiations between Brussels and Ankara for
Turkey's membership to the EU in order to press the descendants of
the Ottoman Empire to admit the Genocide. Roupen Safrastian, an
expert in Turkish-Armenian relations, confirms that the Armenian
issue will be `discussed during the bilateral negotiations' and the
Europeans will make the Genocide recognition a primary condition for
Turkey to join the E.U.
Safrastian also says that Turkey will become a member of the E.U. if
it acknowledges its past, and this `will open the door to establish
ties between Turkey and Armenia.' He adds, `This issue is not a taboo
any more, and the Turks are now discussing it openly.' He also says
that the number of Turks who are demanding the recognition of the
Genocide is increasing every year. The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet has
also published the diary of the Ottoman Prime Minister Talaat Pasha
regarding the Armenian Genocide. It has included the population
census written by Talaat Pasha in his own handwriting when he was the
Minister of Interior. According to this census the number of people
who were deported from their villages and cities in Anatolia towards
the Syrian desert was 924,158 Armenians.
Political and diplomatic circles consider the publication of these
memoirs as a beginning of an Ottoman-Turk acknowledgment of what the
Armenians suffered.
As a result, political observers note that it is not enough for the
Turkish authorities to repeat that their archives, documents and
manuscripts are open to the public. The question is more than a
simple historical or archival issue. It is a question that shifts
from being a political issue to economical to cultural or to
intellectual issue which has resulted in more animosity. The Diaspora
should now clarify what its aims are. Are they aiming to take revenge
from history? Or are they aiming to take revenge from the heirs of
the Ottoman Empire? Or is it only to demand that Turkey acknowledge
the sufferings that their ancestors went through?
What has worried the Turks more is that the latest annual report of
the European Union includes several articles that target its
sovereignty, especially that the report has requested that Turkey
acknowledge the Genocide perpetrated against the Armenians 90 years
ago. The report has also demanded that Turkey continue with the
democratic reforms that would give more freedom to the religious and
racial minorities.
In this context, Turkey feels that the European Union should change
its old mentality when dealing with Turkey, and avoid bringing up the
question of the Armenian Genocide that was committed by the Ottoman
Empire. Turkey also says that the E.U. should not ignore the Turkish
proposal to form an international court of justice, made up of
historians and lawmakers, to study the case of the annihilation of
1.5 million Armenians. Turkey believes that this question is being
used for political purposes, and that some Europeans who are against
Turkey's joining the E.U. are creating obstacles to stop Turkey from
becoming a member, although it considers that this issue has nothing
to do with E.U. membership. In fact, the Armenian-Turkish writer
EtienneMahjoubian states that the Armenian position towards the
`event-Genocide' is both wrong and racial. In addition, he says that
the Europeans are now being supported by the Americans after the
relations between Turkey and the U.S. have deteriorated due to
policies in the Middle East. Therefore, several political, academic
and media circles in the U.S. are now speaking against Erdogan and
his ruling party to the point of issuing threats that the U.S.
Congress would sign a bill demanding that Turkey acknowledge the
Genocide. This bill is adopted in France where a very large Armenian
community resides, and in Britain which is considering it from the
Cyprus problem. Meanwhile, the Kurdish problem has become the common
issue for most members of the E.U., especially the Scandinavian
countries which find problem the best excuse to reject Turkey's
membership to the E.U.
On the other hand, the Turkish military and traditional nationalists
look at this problem as something that would break down the Turkish
nation, and thus doubt the intentions and credibility of the European
capitals as well as that of Washington. Since the Turkish public
believes that there is a European-American conspiracy against it, it
makes Turkish-European and Turkish-American negotiations very
difficult.
Thus Turkey has to stay in the European and American arena so that it
would not be imposed by such impossible and unrealistic conditions
and demands, such as the Armenian Genocide issue. For Turkey, this is
a very sensitive and dangerous problem, because simply talking about
it would mean that official Turkey is acknowledging the mistakes of
the Turkish authorities since the formation of modern Turkey.
May 4 2005
Translated from Arabic exclusively for Armenian News Network/Groong
by Katia M. Peltekian
The Armenian diaspora launches an offensive against Turkey
by Nizam Mardini, a Syrian writer
The Armenian diaspora recently commemorated the 90th anniversary of
the genocide perpetrated against the Armenians. Ninety years ago, on
April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Sultan ordered the deportation of the
Armenians from their homes, towns and villages in the north and south
east of the empire. They were to walk towards Syria, Lebanon and Iraq
which were also under Ottoman rule at the time.
The Armenians consider that the forced deportation and all the
military actions against them have resulted in the death of 1.5
million Armenians; however, the Turks reject these claims and accuse
the Armenians of betrayal and rebellion against the Ottoman Empire,
of which they were citizens.
If the Armenians have been successful in Europe to embarrass Turkey,
which already conjures bad memories to Europeans because of the
Ottoman rule that brought Islam to their midst, some of these peoples
now want to take their revenge from the Turks who adamantly deny the
Armenian claims and say that the Armenians also killed around 500
thousand Moslem Turks with the help of some western countries and
Russia.
Between the Armenian claims and Turkish denial, the question remains
unresolved in spite of the numerous decisions by European parliaments
that have recognized the Armenian Genocide and have demanded from
Turkey to follow suit and apologize to the Armenians. The German
parliament's decision that will be taken at the end of this week will
add more importance to this issue because Germany was an ally of the
Ottoman Empire during the First World War between 1914 and 1918.
Germany will officially apologize to the Armenians, and this will
make Ankara face a new situation that might lead them to take a
courageous step and acknowledge that crimes against humanity did take
place towards the Armenians and the Assyrians in such regions as
Diarbekr, Mardine, Aintab, Ourfa, and other cities and villages where
the majority of the population were Armenians and Assyrians.
But Ankara is stubbornly trying to fight all Armenian claims that are
supported by Europe and America, so they have offered to open the
Turkish archives, as other nations have done, and to let historians,
scholars and specialists study the documents. However, the Armenian
diaspora still rejects the idea that only the archives in Istanbul
will be used as the only historical sources. Instead, the Armenians
have chosen the method of pressure that the European Union is
practicing prior to the negotiations between Brussels and Ankara for
Turkey's membership to the EU in order to press the descendants of
the Ottoman Empire to admit the Genocide. Roupen Safrastian, an
expert in Turkish-Armenian relations, confirms that the Armenian
issue will be `discussed during the bilateral negotiations' and the
Europeans will make the Genocide recognition a primary condition for
Turkey to join the E.U.
Safrastian also says that Turkey will become a member of the E.U. if
it acknowledges its past, and this `will open the door to establish
ties between Turkey and Armenia.' He adds, `This issue is not a taboo
any more, and the Turks are now discussing it openly.' He also says
that the number of Turks who are demanding the recognition of the
Genocide is increasing every year. The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet has
also published the diary of the Ottoman Prime Minister Talaat Pasha
regarding the Armenian Genocide. It has included the population
census written by Talaat Pasha in his own handwriting when he was the
Minister of Interior. According to this census the number of people
who were deported from their villages and cities in Anatolia towards
the Syrian desert was 924,158 Armenians.
Political and diplomatic circles consider the publication of these
memoirs as a beginning of an Ottoman-Turk acknowledgment of what the
Armenians suffered.
As a result, political observers note that it is not enough for the
Turkish authorities to repeat that their archives, documents and
manuscripts are open to the public. The question is more than a
simple historical or archival issue. It is a question that shifts
from being a political issue to economical to cultural or to
intellectual issue which has resulted in more animosity. The Diaspora
should now clarify what its aims are. Are they aiming to take revenge
from history? Or are they aiming to take revenge from the heirs of
the Ottoman Empire? Or is it only to demand that Turkey acknowledge
the sufferings that their ancestors went through?
What has worried the Turks more is that the latest annual report of
the European Union includes several articles that target its
sovereignty, especially that the report has requested that Turkey
acknowledge the Genocide perpetrated against the Armenians 90 years
ago. The report has also demanded that Turkey continue with the
democratic reforms that would give more freedom to the religious and
racial minorities.
In this context, Turkey feels that the European Union should change
its old mentality when dealing with Turkey, and avoid bringing up the
question of the Armenian Genocide that was committed by the Ottoman
Empire. Turkey also says that the E.U. should not ignore the Turkish
proposal to form an international court of justice, made up of
historians and lawmakers, to study the case of the annihilation of
1.5 million Armenians. Turkey believes that this question is being
used for political purposes, and that some Europeans who are against
Turkey's joining the E.U. are creating obstacles to stop Turkey from
becoming a member, although it considers that this issue has nothing
to do with E.U. membership. In fact, the Armenian-Turkish writer
EtienneMahjoubian states that the Armenian position towards the
`event-Genocide' is both wrong and racial. In addition, he says that
the Europeans are now being supported by the Americans after the
relations between Turkey and the U.S. have deteriorated due to
policies in the Middle East. Therefore, several political, academic
and media circles in the U.S. are now speaking against Erdogan and
his ruling party to the point of issuing threats that the U.S.
Congress would sign a bill demanding that Turkey acknowledge the
Genocide. This bill is adopted in France where a very large Armenian
community resides, and in Britain which is considering it from the
Cyprus problem. Meanwhile, the Kurdish problem has become the common
issue for most members of the E.U., especially the Scandinavian
countries which find problem the best excuse to reject Turkey's
membership to the E.U.
On the other hand, the Turkish military and traditional nationalists
look at this problem as something that would break down the Turkish
nation, and thus doubt the intentions and credibility of the European
capitals as well as that of Washington. Since the Turkish public
believes that there is a European-American conspiracy against it, it
makes Turkish-European and Turkish-American negotiations very
difficult.
Thus Turkey has to stay in the European and American arena so that it
would not be imposed by such impossible and unrealistic conditions
and demands, such as the Armenian Genocide issue. For Turkey, this is
a very sensitive and dangerous problem, because simply talking about
it would mean that official Turkey is acknowledging the mistakes of
the Turkish authorities since the formation of modern Turkey.