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EXTRACTING A LESSON FROM ARMENIAN EMIGRATION
By Mehmet Kamis
Zaman Online, Turkey
April 27 2006
The Editor in Chief of the Armenian newspaper Agos, Hrant Dink
and Turkish-Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan made two different
statements last week on the Armenian issue. Dink said it was a big
mistake on the part of the Armenians to trust the British, Germans,
French, and Russians.
Protestant missionaries and Russians caused conflicts among the
two communities which had lived together for centuries, during
the last years of the Ottoman Empire, and they watched the events
that unfolded and the Armenian emigration. These countries acted in
accordance with the interests of their respective states and left
when their interests were at risk. These provocations caused the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Turks and Armenians. People were
left homeless. Children became orphans and women became widows. Two
good friends became enemies, perhaps forever. The big states left
this region after getting what they wanted. Neither the rights nor
the future of the Armenians was secured.
Unfortunately, the same game is being played today and the players
of this game do not even need the least change in tactics. The game
that was planned for the Armenians in the past is presently being
planned for the Kurds. Those who are striving for the establishment of
a Kurdish state with encouragement from Western powers are not taking
the future into account. They do not care about what they will do with
the regional forces they are provoking, after these foreign powers
leave this region. However, the locals should make their calculations
very well as to what they are going to do when the foreigners are gone.
Mutafyan's remarks last week need to be diagnosed very well. Looking
at the Armenian issue from another perspective, he said that Armenian
political parties and Armenian patriarchs in the 19th century also
bore the responsibility for the outbreak of the crisis. Mutafyan,
undoubtedly, did not put all the blame on the shoulders of the
Armenians; however, he stressed that the Armenians and big states
also bore the responsibility along with the Ottoman Empire.
What I am particularly interested in here is the mistakes of the
Armenian leaders; the Armenian patriarchs not fulfilling their
duties of averting such a crisis and the Armenian leaders not warning
the youths sufficiently to prevent them from being deceived. It is
necessary to scrutinize the mistakes of the Armenian leaders who
did not issue the necessary warnings and take measures against the
provocations made by the Russian spies and Protestant missionaries
at the break in this historical faultline.
Dink's and Mutafyan's statements on the Armenian issue are such
that could bring a new perspective to history. These rare warning
statements show that this geography can still extract very important
lessons from the past. Instead of judging the past once again, we
should rather focus on "What lessons could be drawn today from those
events". While events that occurred 90 years ago are being reenacted
through the Kurds this time, one should look back at those days again
and extract lessons from the mistakes. Powers outside the region,
which have some plans for this region, have always provoked conflicts
among various ethnicities here. When their plans materialize and they
leave the region, the region's residents are left on their own.
Turks and Kurds had been living in these lands before everyone else.
They had the same belief and thought. They married each other. They
are still living in these lands and will also continue to do so in
the future. Moreover, they are still relatives. Their leaders, with
common sense, should tell the youths more about these realities. The
leaders of the Kurds, in particular, should understand this historical
fact well and act in a more constructive manner. Ethnic nationalism
has done no good to any nation; it will do the Kurds no good, either.
People living in this geography should be more careful when they are
listening to the utterances of foreigners. If there is another break
in the faultline, the consequences will be hard to bear.
By Mehmet Kamis
Zaman Online, Turkey
April 27 2006
The Editor in Chief of the Armenian newspaper Agos, Hrant Dink
and Turkish-Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan made two different
statements last week on the Armenian issue. Dink said it was a big
mistake on the part of the Armenians to trust the British, Germans,
French, and Russians.
Protestant missionaries and Russians caused conflicts among the
two communities which had lived together for centuries, during
the last years of the Ottoman Empire, and they watched the events
that unfolded and the Armenian emigration. These countries acted in
accordance with the interests of their respective states and left
when their interests were at risk. These provocations caused the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Turks and Armenians. People were
left homeless. Children became orphans and women became widows. Two
good friends became enemies, perhaps forever. The big states left
this region after getting what they wanted. Neither the rights nor
the future of the Armenians was secured.
Unfortunately, the same game is being played today and the players
of this game do not even need the least change in tactics. The game
that was planned for the Armenians in the past is presently being
planned for the Kurds. Those who are striving for the establishment of
a Kurdish state with encouragement from Western powers are not taking
the future into account. They do not care about what they will do with
the regional forces they are provoking, after these foreign powers
leave this region. However, the locals should make their calculations
very well as to what they are going to do when the foreigners are gone.
Mutafyan's remarks last week need to be diagnosed very well. Looking
at the Armenian issue from another perspective, he said that Armenian
political parties and Armenian patriarchs in the 19th century also
bore the responsibility for the outbreak of the crisis. Mutafyan,
undoubtedly, did not put all the blame on the shoulders of the
Armenians; however, he stressed that the Armenians and big states
also bore the responsibility along with the Ottoman Empire.
What I am particularly interested in here is the mistakes of the
Armenian leaders; the Armenian patriarchs not fulfilling their
duties of averting such a crisis and the Armenian leaders not warning
the youths sufficiently to prevent them from being deceived. It is
necessary to scrutinize the mistakes of the Armenian leaders who
did not issue the necessary warnings and take measures against the
provocations made by the Russian spies and Protestant missionaries
at the break in this historical faultline.
Dink's and Mutafyan's statements on the Armenian issue are such
that could bring a new perspective to history. These rare warning
statements show that this geography can still extract very important
lessons from the past. Instead of judging the past once again, we
should rather focus on "What lessons could be drawn today from those
events". While events that occurred 90 years ago are being reenacted
through the Kurds this time, one should look back at those days again
and extract lessons from the mistakes. Powers outside the region,
which have some plans for this region, have always provoked conflicts
among various ethnicities here. When their plans materialize and they
leave the region, the region's residents are left on their own.
Turks and Kurds had been living in these lands before everyone else.
They had the same belief and thought. They married each other. They
are still living in these lands and will also continue to do so in
the future. Moreover, they are still relatives. Their leaders, with
common sense, should tell the youths more about these realities. The
leaders of the Kurds, in particular, should understand this historical
fact well and act in a more constructive manner. Ethnic nationalism
has done no good to any nation; it will do the Kurds no good, either.
People living in this geography should be more careful when they are
listening to the utterances of foreigners. If there is another break
in the faultline, the consequences will be hard to bear.