Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Genocide; Is It A Question Of National Identity?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Genocide; Is It A Question Of National Identity?

    GENOCIDE; IS IT A QUESTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY?
    By Eleni Fergadi

    Kurdish Globe
    http://www.kurdishglobe.net/displayArticle.j sp?id=0120D26473B1E249ABF2838FFDBFD707
    Jan 30 2008
    Iraq

    Last Saturday, the International Conference on Genocide against the
    Kurdish people commenced in Martyr Saad Adbullah's conference center
    here in Erbil.

    The conference, which lasted for three days, began two weeks after the
    burial ceremony of the remains of the Anfal victims with the somewhat
    sober aim of "academic" remembrance of sorts; in a way to present the
    research that has been undertaken on this very black page of Kurdish
    history and at the same time "internationalize" these events with
    the hope that similarly to the national recognition it has received
    by the Federal High Court as genocide, the same would follow on an
    international level.

    Scholars, writers, politicians and artists were invited to this
    conference to present their own perspectives and research on the
    Kurdish genocide from the Ba'athist government-simply put and in
    the words of the organizers-to present "a record" of the atrocities
    that began with the deportation of around 40,000 Kurds from areas
    surrounding Kirkuk on July 10, 1963, and the destruction of more
    than 800 Kurdish villages during that time. Much followed throughout
    Kurdistan, such as the bombardment of the cities of Qaladze (April
    24, 1974) and Halabja (April 26, 1974), the chemical attacks during
    1987-88, the infamous Anfal Campaign (1988), as well as the destruction
    of villages that were burned to the ground, the indiscriminate killing
    of civilians and the bombardment of refugee camps.

    The daughter of the late Saad Abdullah, in whose memory the conference
    center was built, and current Minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs,
    Mrs. Chinar Saad Abdullah, presented a detailed account of crimes
    perpetrated against the Kurds, providing startling statistics: The
    province most affected by the atrocities was Dohuk (70.33%), with
    Suleimanya (42%), Kirkuk (22%) and Erbil (17%) following; in terms
    of nationalities and religious affiliations, those who suffered the
    most were Kurds (99%) and Muslims (98%). In gender terms, 66.61% of
    victims were male and 33.39% female. The minister, while stressing
    the abhorrence of the Anfal Campaign, stated that in its duration
    "all human rights and ethics were violated."

    The minister also provided figures relating to the preferred targets
    of the attacks (see Table above) and stated that 17% of those who
    survived the attacks suffer from mental and physical illnesses,
    pointing out that many families, having lost all possessions, still
    have to live under dire conditions.

    At the Conference, the Chief of Staff of the presidential office,
    Fuad Hussein, reiterated that the aim of such a conference is "not
    only to deal with questions, but also to discuss the genocide...from
    different angles," expressing his hope that the workshops and panel
    discussions "will lead us to the answer of the question why this
    genocide...happened." Mr. Hussein also stressed that "just as our
    language, geography, history...form part of our national identity,
    so the genocide against the Kurds is the most important aspect in the
    formation of the Kurdish Nation." He added, "This tragedy must not
    only form part of our history, but it must also become a guideline
    for us to build a society far removed from hatred and violence....In
    this way we hope that one day we can feel so sure of ourselves that
    we can tell our children...and all the future generations...that the
    killings...will never happen again."

    Within the framework of the conference, a documentary film on the
    genocide against the Kurds (Kurdistan TV) was shown on the first day
    (visitors could then watch it in a special amphitheatre that was held
    for this purpose); a series of photographs and artwork were exhibited
    and singers Diyari Qaradaghi and Melek performed Kurdish songs about
    Anfal. More than 60 papers were received by the ministries organizing
    the event; however, the time limit only allowed 37 to be presented.

    The papers will be published in a book on the subject and another
    conference will take place in Europe in the near future.

    On Monday, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani visited the conference.

    An interview on trauma and national identity

    The Globe spoke with Dr. Zafer Yoruk, a lecturer at the University
    of Kurdistan-Hawler and a specialist in identity politics, about the
    Kurdish genocide and the process of Kurdish nation-building, and it
    was discovered that in a nation-building process, such as the one
    Kurdistan is currently undergoing, there is more than meets the eye.

    Dr. Yoruk, what do you think of the International Conference on the
    Genocide against the Kurds?

    "A few weeks ago, we witnessed the burial ceremony of the remains
    of victims, and this conference that followed shows both that the
    genocide and particularly the memories of Anfal are still fresh...

    this makes me fairly confident that the genocide can be called what
    in psychoanalysis is a trauma and in this case a collective one."

    What is collective trauma?

    "Trauma is a medical word used widely in the field of orthopedics to
    refer to the moment to define the cause of a broken leg or arm. When
    used as a psychiatric term, trauma refers to the same moment or
    experience, with the only difference being that what is traumatized
    is the soul and therefore healing the wound requires much more than
    a mere cast for a couple of weeks. In the case of collective trauma,
    we are talking about a different kind of scar, more so, because it was
    experienced collectively." Dr. Yoruk explained: "Traumas determine our
    behavior usually in the form of a personality disorder. People repress
    their trauma; that is, they try to forget them and think that they
    never happened, but in reality the scars of the past traumas survive
    in our unconscious and come to the surface without us realizing it. For
    example, people who cannot cope with boundaries and authority in their
    adult lives definitely carry serious scars inflicted upon their souls
    by their fathers. Now, families and communities can share a collective
    trauma even though they have never experienced it themselves."

    Can you be more specific?

    "Older generations, who have experienced a trauma collectively, like
    the Kurds did, cannot repress; that is, they cannot simply ignore it,
    try to forget it and thus they 'speak it' to the younger generation
    in order to cope with it. This collective transmission is similar
    to what we call repression in the case of the individual. Vamik
    Volkan, an American psychiatrist, provides us with an interesting
    example when he discusses the Long March of the Red Indians. When a
    reporter interviewed a Navajo Red Indian on the subject, it was as
    if the interviewee was referring to an event that had taken place
    yesterday, but the journalist soon realized that the Long March had
    actually occurred 125 years before. Volkan argued that, for the Red
    Indians, the Long March is as real as the rising sun in the morning,
    even though they might not have experienced it themselves, even if
    it was an event that took place more than a century ago...the older
    generations projected their experiences to the younger ones and thus
    shaped the latter. So much so that the trauma itself has become the
    major collective bond that united the Red Indian community together;
    it has become the major plaster of a social identity. The problem with
    this style of building collective/national identity lies in what I
    said above. The scars of trauma have many negative effects on human
    behavior; they result in serious personality disorders. Therefore,
    if the genocide ends up as the most important factor of the Kurdish
    national identity, then there are dangers ahead...."

    Are you implying that the Kurds should forget? And what do you mean
    by dangers? What are they?

    "No, no, on the contrary...Kurds should be invited not to forget;
    that is, to remember what happened. But they should also be invited
    to forgive. From the beginning of the history of the 'person' and of
    the 'word' we have learned that the best way of coping with trauma
    is remembering it; that is, not repressing it, but at the same time
    trying to find ways to forgive those responsible. The beloved Armenian
    journalist Hrant Dink, for example, who was murdered last year outside
    his office in Istanbul, was well aware of this problem.

    In every public interview he gave, Dink systematically called on his
    people not to rely on the Armenian genocide for the existence of the
    Armenian nation and that is because he knew very well the potential
    disorders of such a practice. What are those disorders, you may ask?

    If you look at the emerging Turkish nationalist discourse preceding
    1915, then you can see that the sole element that it relied on was
    some trauma that the Turkic-Islamic peoples of Central Asia, the
    Balkans and Caucasus had experienced during the 19th century. When
    these elements arrived in Anatolia from Russia and the Balkans,
    they not only brought with them a shared traumatic scar but also the
    feeling of revenge and compensation for what they had been through.

    It is precisely the reliance on a trauma in the Turkish nation-building
    that resulted in the Armenian genocide. The hatred and the consequent
    search for revenge and compensation were all projected onto the
    Christian peoples of Anatolia, particularly the Armenians, even though
    the only thing the Armenian population shared with the perpetrators
    of the past was that of religion; they were Christians. It is exactly
    this vicious circle, this chain of events that I am talking about. What
    I have said so far can be summarized as follows: In the process of
    nation-building, a collective trauma may be 'selected' to play a
    positive bonding role, but such selection also means the emergence of
    'collective personality disorders.' Simply put, if the Kurdish nation
    insists on building itself by relying on the trauma of the genocide,
    then the potential danger of seeking compensation is very real. The
    Kurds should definitely remember, but they should also forgive."

    What would you propose then?

    When we are talking of building a community, a nation, then peoples'
    minds usually go back to the beginning of the 19th century, when
    nation-states and nationalism were mushrooming. When nationalism
    emerged, there were particular circumstances, such as modernity,
    new technologies and alienation. Almost 30 years have passed since
    Benedict Anderson showed that the nation is not natural, something
    that existed and exists 'just like that'; rather, it is what he called
    'an imagined community.' Hobsbawm defined nation as 'an invented
    community' and I would rather call it 'a fabricated community.' Now,
    nationalism draws on both positive and negative aspects: The positive
    are usually a glorious past that is being reclaimed for today; for
    instance, Kurdish nationalist discourse refers to the glorious Med
    Empire, and the Kawa rebellion against the tyrant Dohak, and relates
    all these events to the Kurdish New Year (Newroz). It is these aspects
    that are imagined to be somehow shaping and determining the Kurdish
    identity of today. The Anfal and the genocide in general adds the
    traumatic dimension in play....No one should be allowed to deny that
    the genocide is as real as the rising sun, borrowing from Volkan's
    abovementioned example, but building an identity by emphasizing the
    genocide is a recipe full with traps. I think that in the 21st century
    the best way of creating a polity isn't by relying on methods left
    over by the 19th century, but to seriously activate and promote the
    norms of citizenship, solidarity and trust, as the primary bonds to
    cement a community together as one, the precondition of which are
    participation, accountability and transparency."

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X