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ARMENIANS EXPRESS HOPE OVER APOLOGY
Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 24 2011
Turkey
Sept. 6-7, 1955 events resulted in pogroms throughout Istanbul against
the minorities.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's apology on behalf of the Turkish
state on Nov. 24 over the killings in Dersim in 1938 has created a
stir among Armenians both in Turkey and abroad.
"It looks as if Erdoğan is ready to discuss official history in
Turkey. I hope he presents this attitude for the Armenian genocide
as well. Recognizing the genocide would gain Turkey prestige and
make it possible for her to face up to its history," Ara Sarafyan,
director of the London-based Gomidas Institute, told the Hurriyet
Daily News yesterday.
Sarafyan said they were ready for a commission of historians to tackle
the issue, but he called for the disclosure of Turkey's confidential
archives as well.
Hayk Demoyan, the director of the Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan,
also said the prime minister was indirectly referring to what Armenians
claim is a genocide.
"The Young Turks committed genocide against the Armenians in 1915. The
Kemalists, who shared the same mindset with the Young Turks, then
subjected the remaining Armenian survivors in Dersim to genocide. As
such, Dersim was the follow up to the genocide," Demoyan told the
Daily News via a phone interview yesterday.
Dersim, which is in eastern Turkey, was renamed Tunceli in the 1930s.
Demoyan said they were ready for a commission of historians to work
on the issue but expressed skepticism that Turkey could reciprocate
the move.
"We are ready to take part in the commission. But are you ready
to disclose the secret archives of the [Turkish] General Staff and
speak of the genocide in an objective manner? How are your academics
supposed to discuss this problem freely when there is a threat hanging
over your country's intellectuals, such as Article 301 [of the Turkish
Penal Code]? Turkey has a problem about confronting its past," Demoyan
said in reference to an infamous legal article that has been used to
criminalize "insults to Turkishness."
But Mihalis Vasiliadis, the chief editor of the Istanbul-based daily
Greek newspaper Apoyevmatini, said the prime minister's speech was
a political maneuver.
"So, will he also apologize for the events of Sept. 6-7, 1955, as
in the many painful events that occurred throughout the history of
the Republic? I highly doubt that," Vasiliadis told the Daily News
in reference to pogroms against members of the country's minority
communities.
"I cried during the prime minister's speech. I believe in him. His
attitude will lead all the way to a facing off with the events of 1915;
the state will apologize to us," Arev Cebeci, a Turkish-Armenian who
ran as a deputy candidate nominee for the opposition CHP during the
last elections, told the Daily News.
But Cebeci, whose deputyship bid received much criticism from
Istanbul's Armenian community, said CHP leader Kemal Kılıcdaroğlu's
statements regarding the issue did not befit a left-wing party.
Cebeci also told the Daily News that he had decided to resign from
his active duties in the CHP Assembly.
"The prime minister's mental map is identical to that of the Armenian
diaspora. Erdoğan will soon recognize the Armenian genocide, too,"
Kılıcdaroğlu had said in connection with the ongoing public spat over
the Dersim killings.
The prime minister's response, in turn, was no less furious: "You dare
to put me in the same place with the Armenian diaspora? Shame on you.
I defy anyone who places Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan in the
same spot as the Armenian diaspora. Know your place," Erdoğan told
Kılıcdaroğlu.
In the late 1930s, the military launched an operation to suppress
tribes in Dersim, whose population was largely made up of Alevi Kurds.
Thousands were killed while many survivors were sent into internal
exile.
Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 24 2011
Turkey
Sept. 6-7, 1955 events resulted in pogroms throughout Istanbul against
the minorities.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's apology on behalf of the Turkish
state on Nov. 24 over the killings in Dersim in 1938 has created a
stir among Armenians both in Turkey and abroad.
"It looks as if Erdoğan is ready to discuss official history in
Turkey. I hope he presents this attitude for the Armenian genocide
as well. Recognizing the genocide would gain Turkey prestige and
make it possible for her to face up to its history," Ara Sarafyan,
director of the London-based Gomidas Institute, told the Hurriyet
Daily News yesterday.
Sarafyan said they were ready for a commission of historians to tackle
the issue, but he called for the disclosure of Turkey's confidential
archives as well.
Hayk Demoyan, the director of the Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan,
also said the prime minister was indirectly referring to what Armenians
claim is a genocide.
"The Young Turks committed genocide against the Armenians in 1915. The
Kemalists, who shared the same mindset with the Young Turks, then
subjected the remaining Armenian survivors in Dersim to genocide. As
such, Dersim was the follow up to the genocide," Demoyan told the
Daily News via a phone interview yesterday.
Dersim, which is in eastern Turkey, was renamed Tunceli in the 1930s.
Demoyan said they were ready for a commission of historians to work
on the issue but expressed skepticism that Turkey could reciprocate
the move.
"We are ready to take part in the commission. But are you ready
to disclose the secret archives of the [Turkish] General Staff and
speak of the genocide in an objective manner? How are your academics
supposed to discuss this problem freely when there is a threat hanging
over your country's intellectuals, such as Article 301 [of the Turkish
Penal Code]? Turkey has a problem about confronting its past," Demoyan
said in reference to an infamous legal article that has been used to
criminalize "insults to Turkishness."
But Mihalis Vasiliadis, the chief editor of the Istanbul-based daily
Greek newspaper Apoyevmatini, said the prime minister's speech was
a political maneuver.
"So, will he also apologize for the events of Sept. 6-7, 1955, as
in the many painful events that occurred throughout the history of
the Republic? I highly doubt that," Vasiliadis told the Daily News
in reference to pogroms against members of the country's minority
communities.
"I cried during the prime minister's speech. I believe in him. His
attitude will lead all the way to a facing off with the events of 1915;
the state will apologize to us," Arev Cebeci, a Turkish-Armenian who
ran as a deputy candidate nominee for the opposition CHP during the
last elections, told the Daily News.
But Cebeci, whose deputyship bid received much criticism from
Istanbul's Armenian community, said CHP leader Kemal Kılıcdaroğlu's
statements regarding the issue did not befit a left-wing party.
Cebeci also told the Daily News that he had decided to resign from
his active duties in the CHP Assembly.
"The prime minister's mental map is identical to that of the Armenian
diaspora. Erdoğan will soon recognize the Armenian genocide, too,"
Kılıcdaroğlu had said in connection with the ongoing public spat over
the Dersim killings.
The prime minister's response, in turn, was no less furious: "You dare
to put me in the same place with the Armenian diaspora? Shame on you.
I defy anyone who places Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan in the
same spot as the Armenian diaspora. Know your place," Erdoğan told
Kılıcdaroğlu.
In the late 1930s, the military launched an operation to suppress
tribes in Dersim, whose population was largely made up of Alevi Kurds.
Thousands were killed while many survivors were sent into internal
exile.