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WHY WAS THE COMMEMORATION FOR THE MARAS MASSACRE BANNED?
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-302207-why-was-the-commemoration-for-the-maras-massacre-banned.html
December 2012, Tuesday
ORHAN KEMAL CENGÄ°Z
[email protected]
This week is the 34th anniversary of the MaraÅ~_ massacre, in which
in 1978 hundreds of Alevis were brutally and barbarically killed
in MaraÅ~_.
First a "harmless" bomb was thrown into a cinema full of members of
the ultra-nationalist "bozkurtlar" (grey wolves). No one was wounded
or killed, but the provocation achieved its goals. Tension began to
rise in the city. A few days later, two Alevis teachers were killed.
At the same time, a sermon in one of the city's mosques took the lead
in a rumor that began to circulate that Alevis were going to "attack
and destroy the mosques." There was no such Alevi attack, of course,
but this rumor was enough to ignite a major attack against Alevis who
had gathered for the funeral of the teachers. This was the beginning of
the massacre; later on, angry mobs lead by grey wolves scattered into
the city, killing and raping hundreds of Alevis. The MaraÅ~_ massacre
was one of the milestones leading to the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup.
Later on it became clear that the cinema bomb was thrown by a grey
wolf. Alevis' houses were marked weeks earlier by people pretending to
be officials of the municipality. When the attacks started many people
took to the streets with weapons and cutters. During the massacre,
police and gendarme disappeared from the streets of MaraÅ~_. It was
evidently clear that the massacre was planned and or orchestrated by
the deep state, like has happened so many times in Turkey. However,
there is another reality at hand: that the perpetrators of the
massacre used mobs of people who were willing to carry out these
barbaric acts. People's religious and nationalistic sentiments were
abused and manipulated. Mobs mainly were provoked with the circulation
of the same message: Alevis were going to attack the mosques.
Therefore, a confrontation with the massacre requires two distinctive
elements. One is to look at the state mentality which time after time
uses provocation as a tool for manipulation. Alevis, unfortunately,
cannot easily face this aspect of the massacre. They do not want
to understand how the deep-state, military guardianship operated
in Turkey. On the other hand, conservative elements of the Turkish
society do not want to look into how religious sensitivities were
used for this kind of manipulation, or how easily people have been
manipulated in the past in the name of religion. Therefore there are
so many different elements which make a true confrontation with the
past so difficult.
If we were a healthy society, our prime minister and ministers
would have joined the Alevis who were to gather in MaraÅ~_ for the
commemoration of the massacre. Not only them, but all segments of our
society would pour into the streets of MaraÅ~_ to condemn the heinous
crimes committed in this city 34 years ago. But instead, we witnessed
an extremely arbitrary ban of commemoration by the government on the
commemoration of the event. If you ask them, of course, they would
say there were concerns for "security," there was possibility of mass
"provocation" and so on, as if the prevention of these kinds of acts
is not the duty of the government. I am sure they will mention peace,
as if the prohibition of commemoration is not the number one killer
of peace in society.
Can you challenge or tackle the deep state if you refuse to recognize
its victims? Can you open a new page if you refuse look at the old
ones? Again and again we arrive at the same point: Turkey cannot
take serious steps forward as long as the country refuses to look
into her past and the atrocities committed therein.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-302207-why-was-the-commemoration-for-the-maras-massacre-banned.html
December 2012, Tuesday
ORHAN KEMAL CENGÄ°Z
[email protected]
This week is the 34th anniversary of the MaraÅ~_ massacre, in which
in 1978 hundreds of Alevis were brutally and barbarically killed
in MaraÅ~_.
First a "harmless" bomb was thrown into a cinema full of members of
the ultra-nationalist "bozkurtlar" (grey wolves). No one was wounded
or killed, but the provocation achieved its goals. Tension began to
rise in the city. A few days later, two Alevis teachers were killed.
At the same time, a sermon in one of the city's mosques took the lead
in a rumor that began to circulate that Alevis were going to "attack
and destroy the mosques." There was no such Alevi attack, of course,
but this rumor was enough to ignite a major attack against Alevis who
had gathered for the funeral of the teachers. This was the beginning of
the massacre; later on, angry mobs lead by grey wolves scattered into
the city, killing and raping hundreds of Alevis. The MaraÅ~_ massacre
was one of the milestones leading to the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup.
Later on it became clear that the cinema bomb was thrown by a grey
wolf. Alevis' houses were marked weeks earlier by people pretending to
be officials of the municipality. When the attacks started many people
took to the streets with weapons and cutters. During the massacre,
police and gendarme disappeared from the streets of MaraÅ~_. It was
evidently clear that the massacre was planned and or orchestrated by
the deep state, like has happened so many times in Turkey. However,
there is another reality at hand: that the perpetrators of the
massacre used mobs of people who were willing to carry out these
barbaric acts. People's religious and nationalistic sentiments were
abused and manipulated. Mobs mainly were provoked with the circulation
of the same message: Alevis were going to attack the mosques.
Therefore, a confrontation with the massacre requires two distinctive
elements. One is to look at the state mentality which time after time
uses provocation as a tool for manipulation. Alevis, unfortunately,
cannot easily face this aspect of the massacre. They do not want
to understand how the deep-state, military guardianship operated
in Turkey. On the other hand, conservative elements of the Turkish
society do not want to look into how religious sensitivities were
used for this kind of manipulation, or how easily people have been
manipulated in the past in the name of religion. Therefore there are
so many different elements which make a true confrontation with the
past so difficult.
If we were a healthy society, our prime minister and ministers
would have joined the Alevis who were to gather in MaraÅ~_ for the
commemoration of the massacre. Not only them, but all segments of our
society would pour into the streets of MaraÅ~_ to condemn the heinous
crimes committed in this city 34 years ago. But instead, we witnessed
an extremely arbitrary ban of commemoration by the government on the
commemoration of the event. If you ask them, of course, they would
say there were concerns for "security," there was possibility of mass
"provocation" and so on, as if the prevention of these kinds of acts
is not the duty of the government. I am sure they will mention peace,
as if the prohibition of commemoration is not the number one killer
of peace in society.
Can you challenge or tackle the deep state if you refuse to recognize
its victims? Can you open a new page if you refuse look at the old
ones? Again and again we arrive at the same point: Turkey cannot
take serious steps forward as long as the country refuses to look
into her past and the atrocities committed therein.
From: A. Papazian