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IN INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC COMMUNITY IT IS INDECENT TO DENY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
April 8, 2011
Turkish authorities insist they will open archive only if Armenia
does the same.
Turkey, at any rate, wants to drive the issue of Genocide recognition
to historical platform. Activation of the Turkish side always tops
out in April, when Ankara, worried about recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by new parliaments and governments of different countries,
starts to act in its usual mode: blackmail, threats and statements
about "innocence".
All this, however distressing for Ankara, begins to play a smaller
and smaller role for the world community and, realizing this, Turkey
declares that Armenia is reluctant to open the genocide archives. To
begin with, there is almost no Ottoman archive in Armenia, neither
could there be, as at the time of the World War I, Eastern Armenia
was part of the Russian Empire and it's natural that Ottoman records
in no way could come to be in the State Archives of Yerevan. Most
of the Ottoman records are kept in the Library of Congress, some -
in European countries. The largest collection of archival materials
is in the Library of Congress. Dispatches of the last U.S. ambassador
to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau are also kept there. Germany
possesses lots of documents too: ambassadors of the two countries
regularly reported on the situation in the empire. However, as for
Turkish archives, there is almost nothing known about them. There
is no doubt that some of the documents, directly pointing to the
deportation and extermination of the Armenian population have been
erased. It is also possible that they were erased still during the
time of Ataturk, i.e. immediately after proclamation of the Turkish
Republic. Turkish authorities insist they will open archive only if
Armenia does the same.
But this year, they began to talk that historians rather than
politicians should examine the Genocide proofs. Meanwhile, in
international academic community it is indecent to deny the Armenian
Genocide. However, Turkey is not disturbed by this fact. Most
interesting is that Ankara, though being perfectly aware of the
declarative nature of her statements, particularly regarding the last
verdict of the court of Argentina, nevertheless continues calling down
curses upon the countries that have recognized the Armenian Genocide.
But, in fact, all these threats prove to be empty. There will
definitely be no deterioration of relations between France and
Turkey, if the Senate votes for adoption of the law criminalizing
Genocide denial. Most likely, Turkey's threats are addressed to the
Armenian diaspora, which looks even more confusing especially if
we recall the words of Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu,
who recently declared that the Armenians scattered around the world
are the Turkish diaspora. "They are descendants of our citizens; we
must communicate with them, work with them and not alienate them from
ourselves. They are our citizens," Davutoglu said. To some extent,
Davutoglu is right: they are diaspora Armenians, law-abiding citizens
of the Ottoman Empire. But before communicating with them, Turkey will
have to explain something to them, without referring to the mythical
"fifth column of Russia" that "behind the back of the Ottoman Empire
tried to seize Western Armenia". The question is whether the Turkish
state, represented by Erdogan and Ahmetoglu, is ready to say "Yes,
we slaughtered you because we didn't like you. You were Christians
and you had a lot of money." Most likely, Armenians will never get
apologies from the Turkish side for the massacre of 1915. And even
if they get, there will be living a generation in Armenia for whom
the events of 1915 are a remote past. Assimilation of the Diaspora
has been increasing, and in 20-30 years only a few will remember
who their ancestors were. Alas, such a thing could happen also in
Armenia. On April 24 most of the Armenian youth walk to the memorial
in Tsitsernakaberd, but they do it out of habit. From the day of
national mourning April 24 is gradually turning into simply a day off.
Probably, we ourselves are to blame for the depreciation â~@~Kâ~@~Kof
this day. But one thing gives hope: every year on this day burning
the Turkish flag, Armenian youth walk about the city to the memorial.
From: A. Papazian
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
April 8, 2011
Turkish authorities insist they will open archive only if Armenia
does the same.
Turkey, at any rate, wants to drive the issue of Genocide recognition
to historical platform. Activation of the Turkish side always tops
out in April, when Ankara, worried about recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by new parliaments and governments of different countries,
starts to act in its usual mode: blackmail, threats and statements
about "innocence".
All this, however distressing for Ankara, begins to play a smaller
and smaller role for the world community and, realizing this, Turkey
declares that Armenia is reluctant to open the genocide archives. To
begin with, there is almost no Ottoman archive in Armenia, neither
could there be, as at the time of the World War I, Eastern Armenia
was part of the Russian Empire and it's natural that Ottoman records
in no way could come to be in the State Archives of Yerevan. Most
of the Ottoman records are kept in the Library of Congress, some -
in European countries. The largest collection of archival materials
is in the Library of Congress. Dispatches of the last U.S. ambassador
to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau are also kept there. Germany
possesses lots of documents too: ambassadors of the two countries
regularly reported on the situation in the empire. However, as for
Turkish archives, there is almost nothing known about them. There
is no doubt that some of the documents, directly pointing to the
deportation and extermination of the Armenian population have been
erased. It is also possible that they were erased still during the
time of Ataturk, i.e. immediately after proclamation of the Turkish
Republic. Turkish authorities insist they will open archive only if
Armenia does the same.
But this year, they began to talk that historians rather than
politicians should examine the Genocide proofs. Meanwhile, in
international academic community it is indecent to deny the Armenian
Genocide. However, Turkey is not disturbed by this fact. Most
interesting is that Ankara, though being perfectly aware of the
declarative nature of her statements, particularly regarding the last
verdict of the court of Argentina, nevertheless continues calling down
curses upon the countries that have recognized the Armenian Genocide.
But, in fact, all these threats prove to be empty. There will
definitely be no deterioration of relations between France and
Turkey, if the Senate votes for adoption of the law criminalizing
Genocide denial. Most likely, Turkey's threats are addressed to the
Armenian diaspora, which looks even more confusing especially if
we recall the words of Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu,
who recently declared that the Armenians scattered around the world
are the Turkish diaspora. "They are descendants of our citizens; we
must communicate with them, work with them and not alienate them from
ourselves. They are our citizens," Davutoglu said. To some extent,
Davutoglu is right: they are diaspora Armenians, law-abiding citizens
of the Ottoman Empire. But before communicating with them, Turkey will
have to explain something to them, without referring to the mythical
"fifth column of Russia" that "behind the back of the Ottoman Empire
tried to seize Western Armenia". The question is whether the Turkish
state, represented by Erdogan and Ahmetoglu, is ready to say "Yes,
we slaughtered you because we didn't like you. You were Christians
and you had a lot of money." Most likely, Armenians will never get
apologies from the Turkish side for the massacre of 1915. And even
if they get, there will be living a generation in Armenia for whom
the events of 1915 are a remote past. Assimilation of the Diaspora
has been increasing, and in 20-30 years only a few will remember
who their ancestors were. Alas, such a thing could happen also in
Armenia. On April 24 most of the Armenian youth walk to the memorial
in Tsitsernakaberd, but they do it out of habit. From the day of
national mourning April 24 is gradually turning into simply a day off.
Probably, we ourselves are to blame for the depreciation â~@~Kâ~@~Kof
this day. But one thing gives hope: every year on this day burning
the Turkish flag, Armenian youth walk about the city to the memorial.
From: A. Papazian