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Radio Netherlands
June 9 2010
Can there be reconciliation without recognition?
Published on : 9 June 2010 - 2:48pm | By Robin van Wechem (RNW)
Almost a hundred years after the mass killing of over a million
Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, the subject is still an open wound
for both Armenians and Turks.
While most scholars agree that what happened in 1915 constitutes a
genocide, Turkey refuses to accept the term, in part, says sociologist
Samantha Power, because they "don't want to be put in the same company
as Hitler." For Armenians, though, acknowledgment is a necessary first
step towards coming to terms with the past.
The fourth instalment of "The Circle of Genocide" film and debate
series was about reconciliation and coming to terms in the aftermath
of mass violence. The controversial case of the Armenian genocide
served as the starting point for the evening's discussion, organised
by Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the Centre for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies.
The evening began with a screening of the 2006 PBS documentary "The
Armenian Genocide" - which laid out the events of 1915 and strongly
criticised Turkey for failing to recognize the events as a genocide.
And we'd like to know what you think. Is it ever possible for victims
and perpetrators to reconcile after a genocide or mass killing? If so,
what conditions need to be met before a society can start to heal its
wounds?
http://www.rnw.nl/international-justice/article/can-there-be-reconciliation-without-recognition
From: A. Papazian
June 9 2010
Can there be reconciliation without recognition?
Published on : 9 June 2010 - 2:48pm | By Robin van Wechem (RNW)
Almost a hundred years after the mass killing of over a million
Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, the subject is still an open wound
for both Armenians and Turks.
While most scholars agree that what happened in 1915 constitutes a
genocide, Turkey refuses to accept the term, in part, says sociologist
Samantha Power, because they "don't want to be put in the same company
as Hitler." For Armenians, though, acknowledgment is a necessary first
step towards coming to terms with the past.
The fourth instalment of "The Circle of Genocide" film and debate
series was about reconciliation and coming to terms in the aftermath
of mass violence. The controversial case of the Armenian genocide
served as the starting point for the evening's discussion, organised
by Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the Centre for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies.
The evening began with a screening of the 2006 PBS documentary "The
Armenian Genocide" - which laid out the events of 1915 and strongly
criticised Turkey for failing to recognize the events as a genocide.
And we'd like to know what you think. Is it ever possible for victims
and perpetrators to reconcile after a genocide or mass killing? If so,
what conditions need to be met before a society can start to heal its
wounds?
http://www.rnw.nl/international-justice/article/can-there-be-reconciliation-without-recognition
From: A. Papazian