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HAMPARIAN: CONFRONTING A PRE-GENOCIDAL TURKEY
by Aram Hamparian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/02/09/hamparian-confronting-a-pre-genocidal-turkey/
February 9, 2012
It's sometimes said that the obstruction of truth and justice for
the Armenian Genocide is the result of actions by the Turkish state,
not a reflection of the values of Turkish society.
In modern Turkey, Hrant Dink's killer is treated like a hero, and
those guilty of his assassination are let free.
On the surface, this explanation might have some superficial appeal.
But upon any meaningful examination, this formulation falls apart. It
dramatically oversimplifies the complex reality on the ground in
Turkey, at so many levels, and ignores the deep historical and societal
roots of anti-Armenian racism and violence in modern Turkish culture.
An imperfect (but perhaps useful) analogy may help shed some light
on this issue: America's brutal treatment of African Americans and
Native Americans was not simply the function of governmental policy
driven from above, but rather a reflection and a direct result, sadly,
of very toxic and hateful cultural attitudes on race. Attitudes that
created the very basis for the horrors of slavery and the genocidal
massacres and ethnic-cleansing of American Indian tribes from their
ancient homelands. Reading our Declaration of Independence (and its
reference to "merciless Indian Savages") or our Constitution (and its
inhuman description of African Americans as three-fifths of a human
being) just scratches the surface of the untold terror visited upon
these peoples.
Add to this intolerance the vast American wealth drawn from centuries
of slave labor and the massive theft of native lands-a parallel to the
foundation of the modern Turkish economy, built upon the wealth and
properties of literally hundreds of thousands of Armenian families and
businesses stolen during the Armenian Genocide era-and you compound
racial discrimination with deeply rooted and highly influential
economic interests. A powerful combination. Hard, but not impossible,
to challenge.
To our credit, as Americans-after decades of denial, demonstrations
and, eventually, dialogue-we are today openly struggling with these
deeply intense issues that are so closely tied to our very foundation,
growth, and future as a nation. In Turkey, it is still illegal to
talk about them.
Imagine Birmingham or Montgomery, Ala., at the height of Jim Crow.
Imagine a time in American history, thankfully behind us now, when
segregationists openly celebrated Klan lynchings, and school children
were raised to revel in old-school Westerns that demonized American
Indians and glorified their destruction.
Well, sadly, that is where Turkey stands today.
In modern Turkey, Hrant Dink's killer is treated like a hero, and
those guilty of his assassination are let free. Armenians are regularly
threatened with renewed deportations, the remaining Christian heritage
of Anatolia is being systematically erased, and the country's most
popular films and books are about scapegoating and striking down
treasonous minorities.
There are, of course, Turks who line up on the side of the angels.
Unfortunately, however, U.S. policy toward Ankara has long been to
play to the lowest common denominator, backing demagogues who appeal
to their population's basest instincts, at the expense of the small
but growing number of brave souls who are struggling and sacrificing
for the simple freedom to speak and act in pursuit of their country's
highest aspirations.
Turkey today is not a post-genocidal state, but a pre-genocidal
society, angrily lashing out at its imagined enemies and, it would
seem, seeking out its next target. The remaining Armenians on the soil
of present-day Turkey - reminders of the unfinished work of Turkey's
last genocide - are high on this list, as, of course, are the Kurds,
the most likely victim of its next.
The bottom line is that what is needed is not simply a change in
Turkey's policies, but rather a profound, long-term movement driven
by both international and domestic pressure to rehabilitate Turkey
into a modern, tolerant, and pluralist society that-as proof of its
reform-willingly forfeits the fruits of its genocidal crimes.
Any less would be a disservice to Turkey's victims, to Turkey's
neighbors, and to Turkey's own citizens.
by Aram Hamparian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/02/09/hamparian-confronting-a-pre-genocidal-turkey/
February 9, 2012
It's sometimes said that the obstruction of truth and justice for
the Armenian Genocide is the result of actions by the Turkish state,
not a reflection of the values of Turkish society.
In modern Turkey, Hrant Dink's killer is treated like a hero, and
those guilty of his assassination are let free.
On the surface, this explanation might have some superficial appeal.
But upon any meaningful examination, this formulation falls apart. It
dramatically oversimplifies the complex reality on the ground in
Turkey, at so many levels, and ignores the deep historical and societal
roots of anti-Armenian racism and violence in modern Turkish culture.
An imperfect (but perhaps useful) analogy may help shed some light
on this issue: America's brutal treatment of African Americans and
Native Americans was not simply the function of governmental policy
driven from above, but rather a reflection and a direct result, sadly,
of very toxic and hateful cultural attitudes on race. Attitudes that
created the very basis for the horrors of slavery and the genocidal
massacres and ethnic-cleansing of American Indian tribes from their
ancient homelands. Reading our Declaration of Independence (and its
reference to "merciless Indian Savages") or our Constitution (and its
inhuman description of African Americans as three-fifths of a human
being) just scratches the surface of the untold terror visited upon
these peoples.
Add to this intolerance the vast American wealth drawn from centuries
of slave labor and the massive theft of native lands-a parallel to the
foundation of the modern Turkish economy, built upon the wealth and
properties of literally hundreds of thousands of Armenian families and
businesses stolen during the Armenian Genocide era-and you compound
racial discrimination with deeply rooted and highly influential
economic interests. A powerful combination. Hard, but not impossible,
to challenge.
To our credit, as Americans-after decades of denial, demonstrations
and, eventually, dialogue-we are today openly struggling with these
deeply intense issues that are so closely tied to our very foundation,
growth, and future as a nation. In Turkey, it is still illegal to
talk about them.
Imagine Birmingham or Montgomery, Ala., at the height of Jim Crow.
Imagine a time in American history, thankfully behind us now, when
segregationists openly celebrated Klan lynchings, and school children
were raised to revel in old-school Westerns that demonized American
Indians and glorified their destruction.
Well, sadly, that is where Turkey stands today.
In modern Turkey, Hrant Dink's killer is treated like a hero, and
those guilty of his assassination are let free. Armenians are regularly
threatened with renewed deportations, the remaining Christian heritage
of Anatolia is being systematically erased, and the country's most
popular films and books are about scapegoating and striking down
treasonous minorities.
There are, of course, Turks who line up on the side of the angels.
Unfortunately, however, U.S. policy toward Ankara has long been to
play to the lowest common denominator, backing demagogues who appeal
to their population's basest instincts, at the expense of the small
but growing number of brave souls who are struggling and sacrificing
for the simple freedom to speak and act in pursuit of their country's
highest aspirations.
Turkey today is not a post-genocidal state, but a pre-genocidal
society, angrily lashing out at its imagined enemies and, it would
seem, seeking out its next target. The remaining Armenians on the soil
of present-day Turkey - reminders of the unfinished work of Turkey's
last genocide - are high on this list, as, of course, are the Kurds,
the most likely victim of its next.
The bottom line is that what is needed is not simply a change in
Turkey's policies, but rather a profound, long-term movement driven
by both international and domestic pressure to rehabilitate Turkey
into a modern, tolerant, and pluralist society that-as proof of its
reform-willingly forfeits the fruits of its genocidal crimes.
Any less would be a disservice to Turkey's victims, to Turkey's
neighbors, and to Turkey's own citizens.