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Ekklesia, UK
Jan 1 2012
The Armenian Genocide: What about Turkey?
By Harry Hagopian
31 Dec 2011
Hold on for a minute: is this still December 2011 (just) or are we
already in April 2012? Before anyone assumes that I have taken
complete leave of my senses, I am asking this question merely because
of a recent hyper-inflation of stories in both the official media and
blogosphere that are linked to the Armenian genocide of 1915.
This trend usually occurs nearer the annual anniversary date of 24
April and not at the end of the year when politicians are far more
eager to rush back to their constituencies and rest after all the
rampant mess they have caused over the past year.
However, December 2011 was somewhat different in that it was
characterised by two key Armenian events - one in France and another
in Israel. In France, the National Assembly - the lower house of
parliament - approved a draft law that would criminalise the denial of
the Armenian genocide.
Nonetheless, the Senate - the upper house of parliament - still needs
to ratify the bill before it can ever become law. In fact, Bernard
Accoyer, Speaker of the National Assembly, stated that such
legislation was unlikely to be adopted by both houses of parliament
before the forthcoming presidential elections.
The Turkish reaction to the vote was both disproportionate and
vengeful when hackers crashed the website of the Senate in Paris. The
site ended up showing a black screen signed by Iskorpit - allegedly
the trademark of an infamous Turkish hacker who claims to have
hijacked numerous websites under a Distributed Denial of Service
(DDoS) attack in which thousands of hijacked computers bombard a
website with demands for information, swamping it and effectively
shutting it down. On the same day, the website of Valérie Boyer, the
parliamentarian from President Sarkozy's ruling UMP party who was the
primary sponsor of the `genocide draft law' was also hacked and
started showing a black screen with a Turkish flag.
Hot on the heels of the vote in the French National Assembly, the
Commission on Education, Culture and Sport in the Israeli Knesset
[Parliament] also debated whether Israel should mark April 24 as a
memorial day for `the massacre of the Armenian people'. Although a
similar proposal had been rejected by the Knesset in 2007, Zahava
Gal-On from the left-leaning Meretz party suggested that the colder
diplomatic climate might mean that the measure could gain support this
time round whilst the Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin stressed that the
issue was not a political one.
Apart from France and Israel, Milorad Dodik, Head of the Serbian
Sector of Bosnia from the Serbian Independent Social-Democratic Party,
also requested the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina to discuss a
bill prohibiting denial of the Armenian genocide. Nevertheless, there
is little likelihood for the adoption of such a bill since the Serbian
Social-Democrats have only 8 out of 42 seats in the Federal Parliament
of Bosnia.
Let me posit four key points that I would argue are germane to the
ongoing discourse over the issue of recognition.
- The timing of the debates in France and Israel reek of sheer
political expediency. In France, President Sarkozy is anxiously
courting the Armenian French votes in order to outdo François
Hollande's Socialist Party in the presidential elections of April-May
2012. In Israel, the resurgent enthusiasm toward the Armenian genocide
is meant more as a potential threat - a red flag if you will - to
Turkey ever since bilateral relations chilled following the Mavi
Marmara flotilla incident of June 2010. Given the incontrovertible
historical authenticity of the genocide, coupled with a strong
collective anamnesis, should Armenian nationalism and faithfulness to
their identity accept their `cause' to be crassly marketed with such
animated toadying in a political bazaar that debases the memory of
their murdered ancestors? Is it not clear that the Israeli Knesset or
the French Senate will not deliver the goods? Even the Serbian
proposal is more a spike against Croats and Bosnians than any real
solidarity with Armenians.
- Given the strategy pursued so far by many Armenians, what is the
long-term objective of those recognitions? Armenian and Turkish
emotions vacillate every time this issue comes up, but have the 21
state recognitions to date achieved any discernible or concrete result
in a geopolitical sense? Is it not perhaps time to think more
laterally?
- All the bluster from Turkey's irascible Prime Minister - with his
comparisons to Algeria or his diplomatic sanctions against France -
claim a fury with the French for daring to criminalise the denial of
genocide. However, the blatant irony and dubious double-standards lie
in the fact that Turkey itself has already criminalised genocide
recognition in its Penal Code and has wantonly gaoled those who have
referred to the Armenian experience as genocide.
- Almost a century after this genocide, should Armenians go down the
road of muzzling freedom of expression - a fundamental right that the
whole Middle East and North Africa population is dying for these days?
Should one encourage legislating thought and thereby accepting the
limits of freedom of expression? Mind you, given the horrific scale of
the crime, this sensitive issue becomes laden with profound moral,
ethical, legal, political and psychological implications. Is it
perhaps not wiser to rely upon oneself and adopt a pan-Armenian
strategy that uses a sharper national compass?
In a nutshell, should recognition not pass directly and unfailingly
through Turkey rather than meander hither and thither?
© Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU
political consultant. He also acts as a Middle East and inter-faith
advisor to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales and as
Middle East consultant to ACEP (Christians in Politics) in Paris. He
is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor
(http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian). Formerly an Executive
Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive
Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, he is now an
international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, consultant to
the Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (UK) and author
of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian's own website is
www.epektasis.net
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15961
Jan 1 2012
The Armenian Genocide: What about Turkey?
By Harry Hagopian
31 Dec 2011
Hold on for a minute: is this still December 2011 (just) or are we
already in April 2012? Before anyone assumes that I have taken
complete leave of my senses, I am asking this question merely because
of a recent hyper-inflation of stories in both the official media and
blogosphere that are linked to the Armenian genocide of 1915.
This trend usually occurs nearer the annual anniversary date of 24
April and not at the end of the year when politicians are far more
eager to rush back to their constituencies and rest after all the
rampant mess they have caused over the past year.
However, December 2011 was somewhat different in that it was
characterised by two key Armenian events - one in France and another
in Israel. In France, the National Assembly - the lower house of
parliament - approved a draft law that would criminalise the denial of
the Armenian genocide.
Nonetheless, the Senate - the upper house of parliament - still needs
to ratify the bill before it can ever become law. In fact, Bernard
Accoyer, Speaker of the National Assembly, stated that such
legislation was unlikely to be adopted by both houses of parliament
before the forthcoming presidential elections.
The Turkish reaction to the vote was both disproportionate and
vengeful when hackers crashed the website of the Senate in Paris. The
site ended up showing a black screen signed by Iskorpit - allegedly
the trademark of an infamous Turkish hacker who claims to have
hijacked numerous websites under a Distributed Denial of Service
(DDoS) attack in which thousands of hijacked computers bombard a
website with demands for information, swamping it and effectively
shutting it down. On the same day, the website of Valérie Boyer, the
parliamentarian from President Sarkozy's ruling UMP party who was the
primary sponsor of the `genocide draft law' was also hacked and
started showing a black screen with a Turkish flag.
Hot on the heels of the vote in the French National Assembly, the
Commission on Education, Culture and Sport in the Israeli Knesset
[Parliament] also debated whether Israel should mark April 24 as a
memorial day for `the massacre of the Armenian people'. Although a
similar proposal had been rejected by the Knesset in 2007, Zahava
Gal-On from the left-leaning Meretz party suggested that the colder
diplomatic climate might mean that the measure could gain support this
time round whilst the Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin stressed that the
issue was not a political one.
Apart from France and Israel, Milorad Dodik, Head of the Serbian
Sector of Bosnia from the Serbian Independent Social-Democratic Party,
also requested the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina to discuss a
bill prohibiting denial of the Armenian genocide. Nevertheless, there
is little likelihood for the adoption of such a bill since the Serbian
Social-Democrats have only 8 out of 42 seats in the Federal Parliament
of Bosnia.
Let me posit four key points that I would argue are germane to the
ongoing discourse over the issue of recognition.
- The timing of the debates in France and Israel reek of sheer
political expediency. In France, President Sarkozy is anxiously
courting the Armenian French votes in order to outdo François
Hollande's Socialist Party in the presidential elections of April-May
2012. In Israel, the resurgent enthusiasm toward the Armenian genocide
is meant more as a potential threat - a red flag if you will - to
Turkey ever since bilateral relations chilled following the Mavi
Marmara flotilla incident of June 2010. Given the incontrovertible
historical authenticity of the genocide, coupled with a strong
collective anamnesis, should Armenian nationalism and faithfulness to
their identity accept their `cause' to be crassly marketed with such
animated toadying in a political bazaar that debases the memory of
their murdered ancestors? Is it not clear that the Israeli Knesset or
the French Senate will not deliver the goods? Even the Serbian
proposal is more a spike against Croats and Bosnians than any real
solidarity with Armenians.
- Given the strategy pursued so far by many Armenians, what is the
long-term objective of those recognitions? Armenian and Turkish
emotions vacillate every time this issue comes up, but have the 21
state recognitions to date achieved any discernible or concrete result
in a geopolitical sense? Is it not perhaps time to think more
laterally?
- All the bluster from Turkey's irascible Prime Minister - with his
comparisons to Algeria or his diplomatic sanctions against France -
claim a fury with the French for daring to criminalise the denial of
genocide. However, the blatant irony and dubious double-standards lie
in the fact that Turkey itself has already criminalised genocide
recognition in its Penal Code and has wantonly gaoled those who have
referred to the Armenian experience as genocide.
- Almost a century after this genocide, should Armenians go down the
road of muzzling freedom of expression - a fundamental right that the
whole Middle East and North Africa population is dying for these days?
Should one encourage legislating thought and thereby accepting the
limits of freedom of expression? Mind you, given the horrific scale of
the crime, this sensitive issue becomes laden with profound moral,
ethical, legal, political and psychological implications. Is it
perhaps not wiser to rely upon oneself and adopt a pan-Armenian
strategy that uses a sharper national compass?
In a nutshell, should recognition not pass directly and unfailingly
through Turkey rather than meander hither and thither?
© Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU
political consultant. He also acts as a Middle East and inter-faith
advisor to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales and as
Middle East consultant to ACEP (Christians in Politics) in Paris. He
is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor
(http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian). Formerly an Executive
Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive
Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, he is now an
international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, consultant to
the Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (UK) and author
of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian's own website is
www.epektasis.net
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15961