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KURDISH INSIGHTS INTO ARMENIAN TRAGEDY
by ORHAN KEMAL CENGÄ°Z
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-260272-kurdish-insights-into-armenian-tragedy.html
Oct 18 2011
Turkey
Victims of mass human rights violations have a tendency to become
kind of egocentric.
This is an inevitable process. After too much suffering and struggle,
their pain and grief becomes the center of the world for them.
If they cannot divest themselves of this egocentrism, victims have
a great potential to become perpetrators themselves.
This egocentrism makes things worse. Since they focus too much on
their victimhood, they cannot see other victims. They cannot see the
whole system, which makes them victims. And of course after all this
they are only left with a blind hatred towards perpetrators, which
in return has a great potential to make them perpetrators themselves.
In Turkey, almost every single group, except a tiny class of elites,
have suffered from and become a victim of brutal persecution of
deeply seated state traditions. We inherited them from the Committee
of Union and Progress, which massacred Armenians and other non-Muslims
when the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.
When we come to the republican era, exactly the same state mentality
that carried out those atrocities against non-Muslims continued to
persecute different groups. Devout Muslims, Alevis, leftists and
Kurds have all suffered from the same state traditions.
But like I said above, being victims of mass human rights violations
made these entire groups quite egocentric and blind to the suffering
of others. I believe this vicious circle of egocentrism has been
breaking down in Turkey in the last decade. Some non-Muslims realized
that not only they but also Muslims were the victims of the same
state traditions. Some covered women realized that exactly the same
mentality that made non-Muslims suffer is also responsible for their
own suffering.
Recently, I have been observing a kind of awakening among Kurds, which
makes me quite hopeful for the future. First, Osman Baydemir, the
Kurdish mayor of Diyarbakır, and very recently Altan Tan, a Kurdish
member of Parliament, made some thought provoking remarks, calling
everyone in Turkey to look at the past from different perspectives.
The first remark came from Baydemir, who said: â~@~\We should not
forget that Armenians lived in this region, both in Mesopotamia and in
Anatolia, for a long time. It is unacceptable that the relationship
has not been normalized yet. â~@¦ The present generation is not to
blame for what happened but is obliged to say, â~@~XYes, there was
a massacre, and we are sorry about thisâ~@~Y.â~@~]
In another interview, he also stated that â~@~\â~@¦Armenians suffered
great pains in 1914 and were forced to leave the city. After they
left, we became poor, but we were rich when together. This is not
only my viewpoint, but the majority of city residents share my point
of view.â~@~]
Altan Tan called on Kurds to question and to look at their own role
in the massacres of Armenians. In his speech during a conference
in the Southeast, he said: â~@~\Not all Kurds though picked up a
sword. However, Kurds do have their serious share of blame in the
genocide. â~@¦ The government passed a decision of displacement [of
Armenians]. Some Armenians died because of disease, some died from
severe weather conditions and some were killed by violent groups. It
doesnâ~@~Yt matter what happened to those people because the truth
is one -- the Armenian people were annihilated.â~@~]
Encouraging his people to apologize for those victims, Tan said,
â~@~\Call it genocide, massacre or disaster, one thing is clear:
The Turkish population was at one time 13 million, and 1.2 million
were Armenians.
Now the population is 75 million, and only 40,000 Armenians live
here.â~@~]
He also called on devout Muslims to make similar statements regarding
Armenians:
"The religious segment thinks along the lines of the state where
1915 is concerned. While the Syriac massacre was taking place,
[Islamic scholar] Sheikh Fethullah Hamidi delivered a fatwa saying,
'It is forbidden to harm the lives, possessions and honor of Syriacs,'
thus saving the lives of 10,000 Syriacs. While there were Islamists who
did this in the past, today there are Islamists who align themselves
with the state."
I really hope that Kurds questioning the past will deepen, and other
groups, starting with devout Muslims in this country, will join them
in this endeavor. I strongly believe that the future of democracy
and pluralism is seriously linked to this questioning of the people
of this country.
From: Baghdasarian
by ORHAN KEMAL CENGÄ°Z
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-260272-kurdish-insights-into-armenian-tragedy.html
Oct 18 2011
Turkey
Victims of mass human rights violations have a tendency to become
kind of egocentric.
This is an inevitable process. After too much suffering and struggle,
their pain and grief becomes the center of the world for them.
If they cannot divest themselves of this egocentrism, victims have
a great potential to become perpetrators themselves.
This egocentrism makes things worse. Since they focus too much on
their victimhood, they cannot see other victims. They cannot see the
whole system, which makes them victims. And of course after all this
they are only left with a blind hatred towards perpetrators, which
in return has a great potential to make them perpetrators themselves.
In Turkey, almost every single group, except a tiny class of elites,
have suffered from and become a victim of brutal persecution of
deeply seated state traditions. We inherited them from the Committee
of Union and Progress, which massacred Armenians and other non-Muslims
when the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.
When we come to the republican era, exactly the same state mentality
that carried out those atrocities against non-Muslims continued to
persecute different groups. Devout Muslims, Alevis, leftists and
Kurds have all suffered from the same state traditions.
But like I said above, being victims of mass human rights violations
made these entire groups quite egocentric and blind to the suffering
of others. I believe this vicious circle of egocentrism has been
breaking down in Turkey in the last decade. Some non-Muslims realized
that not only they but also Muslims were the victims of the same
state traditions. Some covered women realized that exactly the same
mentality that made non-Muslims suffer is also responsible for their
own suffering.
Recently, I have been observing a kind of awakening among Kurds, which
makes me quite hopeful for the future. First, Osman Baydemir, the
Kurdish mayor of Diyarbakır, and very recently Altan Tan, a Kurdish
member of Parliament, made some thought provoking remarks, calling
everyone in Turkey to look at the past from different perspectives.
The first remark came from Baydemir, who said: â~@~\We should not
forget that Armenians lived in this region, both in Mesopotamia and in
Anatolia, for a long time. It is unacceptable that the relationship
has not been normalized yet. â~@¦ The present generation is not to
blame for what happened but is obliged to say, â~@~XYes, there was
a massacre, and we are sorry about thisâ~@~Y.â~@~]
In another interview, he also stated that â~@~\â~@¦Armenians suffered
great pains in 1914 and were forced to leave the city. After they
left, we became poor, but we were rich when together. This is not
only my viewpoint, but the majority of city residents share my point
of view.â~@~]
Altan Tan called on Kurds to question and to look at their own role
in the massacres of Armenians. In his speech during a conference
in the Southeast, he said: â~@~\Not all Kurds though picked up a
sword. However, Kurds do have their serious share of blame in the
genocide. â~@¦ The government passed a decision of displacement [of
Armenians]. Some Armenians died because of disease, some died from
severe weather conditions and some were killed by violent groups. It
doesnâ~@~Yt matter what happened to those people because the truth
is one -- the Armenian people were annihilated.â~@~]
Encouraging his people to apologize for those victims, Tan said,
â~@~\Call it genocide, massacre or disaster, one thing is clear:
The Turkish population was at one time 13 million, and 1.2 million
were Armenians.
Now the population is 75 million, and only 40,000 Armenians live
here.â~@~]
He also called on devout Muslims to make similar statements regarding
Armenians:
"The religious segment thinks along the lines of the state where
1915 is concerned. While the Syriac massacre was taking place,
[Islamic scholar] Sheikh Fethullah Hamidi delivered a fatwa saying,
'It is forbidden to harm the lives, possessions and honor of Syriacs,'
thus saving the lives of 10,000 Syriacs. While there were Islamists who
did this in the past, today there are Islamists who align themselves
with the state."
I really hope that Kurds questioning the past will deepen, and other
groups, starting with devout Muslims in this country, will join them
in this endeavor. I strongly believe that the future of democracy
and pluralism is seriously linked to this questioning of the people
of this country.
From: Baghdasarian