Please Sign This Petition: Özür diliyoruz

[Joseph]

Turkish MP Urges Parliament to Apologize to Armenians

Published: Monday December 22, 2008


ISTANBUL (Marmara)--A Turkish parliament member's request Sunday that the legislature apologize to Armenians for the “events of 1915” has caused an uproar in parliament, with members hurling personal insults at one another.

Democratic Society Party (DTP) member Osman Euzcelik brought the matter up during parliament's discussion of the education ministry budget and went on to recall the Armenian massacres by using the Kurdish word that describes Genocide.

He also said that he had heard stories about the Armenian killings as child growing up in Turkey and added that the killings were planned by the sultan of the Ottoman Empire and were carried out by groups called Hamiddiye, which also had Kurdish members.

Euzcelik likened the campaign to kill Armenians to the current campaign waged against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

“These groups killed a large number of Armenians. A lot of times they would line up the Armenians and shoot them in the chest. All Armenians of Martin were killed and some fled to Syria,” said Euzcelik, who added that his grandfather's family provided refuge for Genocide survivors.

Nevzad Pakdil, who was presiding over the parliament session, interrupted Euzcelik, blasting him for “insulting the society in which you live.”

Euzcelik said that he was apologizing to Armenians on his own behalf.

Pakdil intervened again attempting to stifle the parliament member. Members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) applauded the Pakdil while another DTP member, Surru Saken directed his anger to Paktdil by saying, “Mr. Chairman, you represent the Marash district and you know full well the extent of the tragedy that unfolded there.”

This comment prompted a member of the AKP to walk toward DTP members and begin screaming at his fellow parliamentarians. Another parliament member intervened to stop what could have become a physical altercation.

“Should we not talk about the facts? There is not one Assyrian left,” screamed another DTP member during the commotion, which was followed by several DTP members leaving the parliament.

Earlier in October, DTP leader, Ahmet Turk, denounced the government's policy regarding the Kurdish issue, describing it as “cultural and societal genocide."

"The policy of denial, assimilation and eradication has affected people. Only the Kurds resisted. They still resist," Turk told demonstrators in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir on October 22.

DTP, the country's main Kurdish party, has been under siege by the Turkish government, facing a possible ban by the constitutional court in what is widely recognized as being a politically charged case aimed at decapitating the party.



Monday, December 22, 2008

Wow!!!

[Edoman]

If this escalates into a string of political assassinations in the future I wonder if even a good old fashion 'Turkish Military Coup Cleansing Agenda' will be enough to stop the truth seekers.

[hipeter924]

If this escalates into a string of political assassinations in the future I wonder if even a good old fashion 'Turkish Military Coup Cleansing Agenda' will be enough to stop the truth seekers.

No, its just a incident of the political war. You have Kurds and some rare Turks that oppose the current government, on the other side you have Turks who would like a lot to stay in power using hatred (as Hitler did) to undermine democracy and freedom of speech, this sort of thing has happened before.

[antranig]

after 1915

i think its very important to recognize that following the genocide was and has been an ongoing ethnic cleansing and ethnic denial campaign of those whose ancestral homeland has always been and will always be in anatolia.

ERMENI DOLU

- as someone posted about their friend krikor and his fear and repression of his own identity, this ongoing racism and repression of the native peoples of anatolia has seriously eroded their own sense of identity to the point of self-destruction, as that post pointed out.

its not nearly enough to acknowledge and apologize for the genocide. this is just the beginning of the very long road ahead of restoration and repair of all the physical and psychological damage thats been inflicted on armenians for all the years of the existence of the republic of turkey.

there is the physical destruction and vandalism of the majority of armenian architecture and structures - many of which predate the invasion of the seljuk turks. some of this has been state sanctioned.


GYAVOOR

armenians and the other ethnic groups whose ancestral homelands have been ethnically cleansed have to be re-written back into history books. we have to be written INTO the constitution and laws as the people whose homeland has been anatolia for thousands of years and that it remains our only homeland. (same for kurds and all others ethnically cleansed)

NO SPORES!

i do not consider myself a "diasporan." our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents were exiled. its that simple. they could not go back to their towns and villages because they didn't exist as such any more. also, to even attempt to visit meant risking their life.

today, many of the town, village and place names have been changed so that even something as intangible as a name could not indicate that armenians had lived there for thousands of years.

GUL GOVERMENT WHATEVER

this is not about rectifying problems with the current government of turkey nor the correction of how the government relates to its citizens.

this is a human problem first and foremost. it can only be resolved by all the parties involved- armenian, turkish, kurdish, etc.

the entire view of the history and relations between the people of asia minor has to reconcile with reality. by acknowledging the history of the land, its people, the destruction and erasing of armenian history, the psychological repression (which includes all ancestors of anatolian armenians) and the lies, bribes, coercion, and hostility towards the rest of the world when inquiring about these massive crushing and xxxxxling of human rights.

IAN, not OGLU

the only way i'll feel the genocide is resolved is when armenians feel free to speak armenian in public, revert to using armenian names, have armenian names returned to maps, thousands of years history is taught in schools and universities, monuments to the genocide are in the public squares of major and provincial cities, false, racist, hate-inciting and twisted history and facts are purged from all official web sites, books and government publications, armenians are encouraged to speak freely and openly about our history, feelings and experiences, armenians are encouraged to become part of the government (along with all other ethnicities), armenian TV, radio stations, and websites are enthusiastically encouraged, and last but certainly not least, ancestors of exiled armenians are encouraged to come back to their ancestral lands to live in peace.

i think after all these changes for armenians and all others (kurds, assyrians, greeks, etc.) i would consider the past to be laid to rest.

i did not mention any kind of "reparations" because this situation is not fully repairable. some of us still have the deeds to our ancestral lands and houses and would like to return to live there. however that would only be feasible if all of the above is properly addressed.

i don't have any bitterness towards turks at all though it should be plainly understandable to any reasonable person why some armenian people do.

at some point i think its inevitable that the republic of turkey will evolve into the USA - the united states of anatolia (or asia minor) with everyone equal before the law and happily speaking the language of their choice and respecting each other regardless of ethnicity, religion, etc.

the region needs its own near-eastern union - not the european union. its a natural development but can only take place if all the human rights devastation is addressed fully. i think enough turks want to do this and would have no problem thinking of armenians (and all others) as full equals deserving of treatment the way they would like to be treated.

i see that region as having great potential (greece, cyprus, turkey, armenia, gerogia, azerbaijan) but only if all of the human rights issues are fully addressed and resolved (in and between all those countries.

the turks have to start to honestly review their history and it looks like they have.

[Sako]

Welcome to the forums Antranig. Good post!

[Joseph]

http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2008-12-18-a-nation-begins-to-come-to-grips-with-its-conscience

A nation begins to come to grips with its conscience

by Vincent Lima

Published: Thursday December 18, 2008 in Editorial Notebook
Related Articles
Turkish “apology to Armenians” aims to improve relations


Yerevan - Gadarine Boudakian fondly remembered her childhood in the Ottoman Empire before the state shattered that childhood and made her an orphan in 1915. Many decades later, she volunteered at a hospital in Queens, New York, and was often called upon to interpret for Turkish patients who spoke no English.

Those patients, most born decades after she was orphaned, obviously bore no personal responsibility for Gadarine's fate. And Gadarine - in whose honor her granddaughter and I named our firstborn child - helped them without hesitation.

Almost two years ago, when I was in Istanbul for Hrant Dink's funeral, I asked the young woman at the hotel reception desk for directions to the Agos office. She told me how to get there and then she apologized.

For what?

For the murder of Hrant Dink.

But you did not kill him, I protested.

Yes, but he was killed in Turkey, so I'm sorry, she said.

I was taken aback. Of course, I appreciated her graciousness and her sentiment. She was appalled by what the murderer and his accomplices had done, and she wanted me to know it. She identified with the state, but in fact she had no role in the murder, no culpability. Why apologize?

(And why apologize to me? Wasn't she, as a Turkish citizen, also a target of the murderers' effort to silence and suppress free speech and an honest encounter with Turkey's past?)

My reaction to the Turkish "We Apologize" initiative is similar.

First, I admire the initiators and each signatory for their willingness to breach the code of silence imposed for decades by Turkish nationalist historiography and the Turkish state. Each act of signing the statement of apology is an act of courage that can have adverse consequences for the signatory.

Second, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of an apology from individuals. Like Grandma Gadarine, I'm comfortable with individual Turks and don't require anything from them as a condition for normal relations. It is the state, as the undisputed successor to the Ottoman Empire as it stood in 1915-17, that is culpable for the genocide, for continuing the anti-Armenian policies of the Young Turks, and for denying those crimes. It's the state that has to face the consequences of that crime against humanity.

Third, the initiative provides a new opportunity for Turkish society at large to reexamine the suppressed and falsified pages of Turkey's history. This reexamination will help set the stage for popular acquiescence to the inevitable acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish state.

That said, the apology avoids characterizing the Great Catastrophe (which is a translation of the Armenian name for it) as genocide. Unlike, say, the 1988 earthquake, which was also a catastrophe, the Great Catastrophe was a crime, meaning it had perpetrators who acted with criminal intent. To acknowledge the Great Catastrophe without acknowledging that it is a genocide, a crime against humanity, is to tell only part of the story.

The apology initiative is an opportunity for us to acknowledge that Turkish society includes people of conscience and courage. We will need to continue to work with them to tell the whole story of our peoples.

[Ottoman cCc]

It group member armenian

[Joseph]

It group member armenian

What is your point?

xxxkurt?

[No Pasaran]

It group member armenian

with feeling sorry for using turkish but i want to say something.

kendini super kahraman sadrazamin sol tasagindan cikma xxxkurt zanneden insan musveddesi arkadasim burada agzi kan kokan fasist niyetli insanlara ihtiyacimiz yok ermeni veya turk insanca seyler yapmaya calisiyoruz. umarim yeterince acik olmusumdur.

[ardakilic]

kendini super kahraman sadrazamin sol tasagindan cikma xxxkurt zanneden insan musveddesi arkadasim burada agzi kan kokan fasist niyetli insanlara ihtiyacimiz yok ermeni veya turk insanca seyler yapmaya calisiyoruz. umarim yeterince acik olmusumdur.

What a shame for a kind boy