Tweet
NAGGING DOUBTS PERSIST
http://www.keghart.com/Editorial_Nagging_Doubts
31 May 2010
They tell us Turkey is changing for the better.
They tell us Turkey is becoming a vibrant secular democracy.
They tell us the bad old days of the fascist generals are gone.
They tell us 200,000 Turks turned up at Hrant Dink's funeral in
early 2008.
Turkish publishers are putting Genocide books on the market. This year
Genocide commemorations received the widest Turkish media coverage
ever. There was a groundbreaking two-day symposium on the Genocide in
Ankara this year. None of the speakers was a Genocide denialist. The
speakers talked even about confiscated Armenian property, reparations,
and how to confront the past. In mid-April, at the International
Poetry Festival in Istanbul, a poet from Armenia won a prize for his
poem about the Genocide.
We are not deaf or blind. We want to see Turkey change. We have an
interest in seeing a progressive Turkey. For one, an enlightened Turkey
is more likely to face the country's Armenian Question: the Genocide,
reparations and restitution. An enlightened Turkey would also liberate
Turks from centuries of obscurantist, corrupt and despotic regimes
which have bred racism, violence and religious fundamentalism.
But we have nagging doubts. While Turkey seems to be changing, it's
still true that:
--Turkish Penal Code Article 301 re 'insulting Turkishness' remains
in force --Ankara not only denies the Genocide, it has intensified
its anti-Armenian propaganda campaign ---Ankara continues its
chock hold on Armenia by blockading that tiny, landlocked country,
and demanding that we hand over Armenian Artsakh to usurper Azeris
--Ankara is arming and training Azeris against Armenia and Artsakh
--Ankara continues the Turkification of Armenian toponyms and the
destruction of Armenian monuments --Ankara's oppression of Kurds,
Alevis, Armenians, and other minorities continues unabated, while
the Turkish Army illegally occupies a large part of Cyprus.
Armenians also wonder about the much-ballyhooed Turkish democracy.
Despite its seeming independence, we suspect the Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan's government remains in power because the cunning generals
have allowed him slack: the covert strategy is to allow Erdogan make
brave statements and thus persuade Europeans that Turkey is democratic
and thus deserving of membership in the European club. Last year's
Protocol Tango with Armenia had the same goal: to qualify for EU
membership, Turkey has to have open borders with all its neighbours.
In light of the openness in the coverage of the Genocide in Turkey
in the past year, Armenians are naturally asking themselves: "Are the
righteous, democratic, humanist Turks being used by Ankara to improve
its creds, to impress Barak Obama and the Western world? Armenians
also wonder how representative and influential are the enlightened
Turks who raised their voices and shouted "We are all Hrant Dink"
at the funeral of the Armenian journalist. Ragip Zarakolu, Orhan
Pamuk, Taner Akcam, Sait Cetinoglu, Mehmut Konuk, Fikret Baskaya,
Baskin Oran, Mahir Sayin, and Asli Comu are people we are eager to
know and to befriend. However, this handful of intellectuals, writers
and scholars is not representative of 12-million-inhabitant Istanbul,
just as the biggest city of Turkey is not representative of Turkey.
It's said there are four, if not, five Turkeys. There is Erdogan
and his fundamentalist Moslem followers; there is the military and
the far-right terrorist Ergenokon; there are the impoverished and
largely illiterate Anatolian masses; there are the minorities which
make a third of the country's population; and then there is the
outwardly-Europeanized Istanbul metropolis. This Turkish bifurcation
makes genuine Armenian-Turkish negotiations a tough challenge. Who
matters? Who should we talk to?
Erdogan makes Armenians nervous. The man is not only a fundamentalist
Moslem, he is also a nationalist. He can be intemperate, hectoring,
arrogant, and threatening. Erdogan, who is busy these days, like
Pegasus, flying hither and thither, declaring Turkey to be the bridge
between East and West, between North and South, between Islam and
Europe, between Israel and the Arabs, between America and Azerbaijan...
can better utilize his time by overhauling the Turkish educational
system. For starters, he should push for the publication of history
textbooks, which dare tell the truth to Turks, especially to the new
generation. Erdogan should start by scrapping the mythical ridiculous
history dictator Mustapha Kemal foisted upon Turks. Lies such as
"alleged-Genocide", "Armenians were fifth-columnists who collaborated
with the Russian enemy" and "ungrateful Armenians wanted to tear Turkey
apart" should be tossed into the dustbin of history. We realize that
in the face of centuries of denigration ("Bloody Turk", "Sick Man of
Europe")-particularly in the West-Turkish leaders and ruling classes
had to overcompensate by inculcating among Turks the belief that they
are super special-superior to other races, such as Armenians, Arabs,
Greeks, Bulgarians... The hilarious Kemal fantasy-historiography
claims that the Turkic race is the father of humanity and that most of
humanity's greatest inventions were ACTUALLY fruits of Turkish genius!
For far too long, Turks have been fed lies by their government
and their educational system. To transform the brave efforts of the
Istanbul intellectuals into a nation-wide movement, Ankara has to come
clean and tell the truth. We realize that this is not an easy task:
decades of orchestrated deception can't be erased in a few years.
Millions of Turks know little or nothing about Armenians, let alone
be aware that Eastern Turkey was Armenia for nearly 4,000 years. It's
high time revisionist Turkish scholars and historians were allowed
to tell the truth about Turkey's history. To gain credibility and
respect, Turkey has to discard its fantasy history. The longer Ankara
delays this vital project, longer will Turkish psychic ills continue
to fester the Turkish body politic, culture and society.
"Once bitten, twice shy" is an eloquent axiom. Armenians have
been bitten and ...burned more than once by Turkish government's
mendacity-be they the sultans, the Young Turks, Kemal and then his
idolatrous followers. Nearly a century ago our trust almost resulted
in the extinction of our nation. As much as we want to trust the
"new" Turkey, we need concrete, credible, meaningful proof of its
good intentions.
Related Articles:
Is "Reconciliation" Compatible with Justice?
http://www.keghart.com/Kasbarian_Reconciliation
What Davutoglu Fails to Understand
http://www.keghart.com/Akcam_Davutoglu%20
From: A. Papazian
http://www.keghart.com/Editorial_Nagging_Doubts
31 May 2010
They tell us Turkey is changing for the better.
They tell us Turkey is becoming a vibrant secular democracy.
They tell us the bad old days of the fascist generals are gone.
They tell us 200,000 Turks turned up at Hrant Dink's funeral in
early 2008.
Turkish publishers are putting Genocide books on the market. This year
Genocide commemorations received the widest Turkish media coverage
ever. There was a groundbreaking two-day symposium on the Genocide in
Ankara this year. None of the speakers was a Genocide denialist. The
speakers talked even about confiscated Armenian property, reparations,
and how to confront the past. In mid-April, at the International
Poetry Festival in Istanbul, a poet from Armenia won a prize for his
poem about the Genocide.
We are not deaf or blind. We want to see Turkey change. We have an
interest in seeing a progressive Turkey. For one, an enlightened Turkey
is more likely to face the country's Armenian Question: the Genocide,
reparations and restitution. An enlightened Turkey would also liberate
Turks from centuries of obscurantist, corrupt and despotic regimes
which have bred racism, violence and religious fundamentalism.
But we have nagging doubts. While Turkey seems to be changing, it's
still true that:
--Turkish Penal Code Article 301 re 'insulting Turkishness' remains
in force --Ankara not only denies the Genocide, it has intensified
its anti-Armenian propaganda campaign ---Ankara continues its
chock hold on Armenia by blockading that tiny, landlocked country,
and demanding that we hand over Armenian Artsakh to usurper Azeris
--Ankara is arming and training Azeris against Armenia and Artsakh
--Ankara continues the Turkification of Armenian toponyms and the
destruction of Armenian monuments --Ankara's oppression of Kurds,
Alevis, Armenians, and other minorities continues unabated, while
the Turkish Army illegally occupies a large part of Cyprus.
Armenians also wonder about the much-ballyhooed Turkish democracy.
Despite its seeming independence, we suspect the Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan's government remains in power because the cunning generals
have allowed him slack: the covert strategy is to allow Erdogan make
brave statements and thus persuade Europeans that Turkey is democratic
and thus deserving of membership in the European club. Last year's
Protocol Tango with Armenia had the same goal: to qualify for EU
membership, Turkey has to have open borders with all its neighbours.
In light of the openness in the coverage of the Genocide in Turkey
in the past year, Armenians are naturally asking themselves: "Are the
righteous, democratic, humanist Turks being used by Ankara to improve
its creds, to impress Barak Obama and the Western world? Armenians
also wonder how representative and influential are the enlightened
Turks who raised their voices and shouted "We are all Hrant Dink"
at the funeral of the Armenian journalist. Ragip Zarakolu, Orhan
Pamuk, Taner Akcam, Sait Cetinoglu, Mehmut Konuk, Fikret Baskaya,
Baskin Oran, Mahir Sayin, and Asli Comu are people we are eager to
know and to befriend. However, this handful of intellectuals, writers
and scholars is not representative of 12-million-inhabitant Istanbul,
just as the biggest city of Turkey is not representative of Turkey.
It's said there are four, if not, five Turkeys. There is Erdogan
and his fundamentalist Moslem followers; there is the military and
the far-right terrorist Ergenokon; there are the impoverished and
largely illiterate Anatolian masses; there are the minorities which
make a third of the country's population; and then there is the
outwardly-Europeanized Istanbul metropolis. This Turkish bifurcation
makes genuine Armenian-Turkish negotiations a tough challenge. Who
matters? Who should we talk to?
Erdogan makes Armenians nervous. The man is not only a fundamentalist
Moslem, he is also a nationalist. He can be intemperate, hectoring,
arrogant, and threatening. Erdogan, who is busy these days, like
Pegasus, flying hither and thither, declaring Turkey to be the bridge
between East and West, between North and South, between Islam and
Europe, between Israel and the Arabs, between America and Azerbaijan...
can better utilize his time by overhauling the Turkish educational
system. For starters, he should push for the publication of history
textbooks, which dare tell the truth to Turks, especially to the new
generation. Erdogan should start by scrapping the mythical ridiculous
history dictator Mustapha Kemal foisted upon Turks. Lies such as
"alleged-Genocide", "Armenians were fifth-columnists who collaborated
with the Russian enemy" and "ungrateful Armenians wanted to tear Turkey
apart" should be tossed into the dustbin of history. We realize that
in the face of centuries of denigration ("Bloody Turk", "Sick Man of
Europe")-particularly in the West-Turkish leaders and ruling classes
had to overcompensate by inculcating among Turks the belief that they
are super special-superior to other races, such as Armenians, Arabs,
Greeks, Bulgarians... The hilarious Kemal fantasy-historiography
claims that the Turkic race is the father of humanity and that most of
humanity's greatest inventions were ACTUALLY fruits of Turkish genius!
For far too long, Turks have been fed lies by their government
and their educational system. To transform the brave efforts of the
Istanbul intellectuals into a nation-wide movement, Ankara has to come
clean and tell the truth. We realize that this is not an easy task:
decades of orchestrated deception can't be erased in a few years.
Millions of Turks know little or nothing about Armenians, let alone
be aware that Eastern Turkey was Armenia for nearly 4,000 years. It's
high time revisionist Turkish scholars and historians were allowed
to tell the truth about Turkey's history. To gain credibility and
respect, Turkey has to discard its fantasy history. The longer Ankara
delays this vital project, longer will Turkish psychic ills continue
to fester the Turkish body politic, culture and society.
"Once bitten, twice shy" is an eloquent axiom. Armenians have
been bitten and ...burned more than once by Turkish government's
mendacity-be they the sultans, the Young Turks, Kemal and then his
idolatrous followers. Nearly a century ago our trust almost resulted
in the extinction of our nation. As much as we want to trust the
"new" Turkey, we need concrete, credible, meaningful proof of its
good intentions.
Related Articles:
Is "Reconciliation" Compatible with Justice?
http://www.keghart.com/Kasbarian_Reconciliation
What Davutoglu Fails to Understand
http://www.keghart.com/Akcam_Davutoglu%20
From: A. Papazian