Tweet
TURKEY ACCUSED OF USING GALLIPOLI EVENTS AS DISTRACTION FROM ARMENIAN CENTENARY
Change of date by Ankara, which leads to a clash of commemoration
ceremonies, seen as an 'indecent political manoeuvre'
Souvenirs commemorating the Gallipoli campaign on sale in in Eceabat,
Turkey. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty
Constanze Letsch in Istanbul
Thursday 16 April 2015 13.00 BSTLast modified on Thursday 16 April
201513.03 BST
Turkey has been accused of belittling the imminent centenary of the
Armenian genocide by advancing its Gallipoli commemorations to the
same day.
The anniversary of the 1915 military operations on the Gallipoli
peninsula has always been marked on 25 April, the day after
commemorations of the massacre of more than 1m Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire. This year, however, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has invited state leaders to join him in Gallipoli on 24 April.
"This is a very indecent political manoeuvre," said Ohannes Kilicdagi,
a researcher and writer for Agos, an Armenian weekly. "It's cheap
politics to try and dissolve the pressure on Turkey in the year of
the centennial by organising this event.
"Everybody knows that the two memorials around Gallipoli have been
held on March 18 and April 25 every year."
Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Tony Abbott, the Australian prime
minister, and John Key, New Zealand's prime minister, have confirmed
they will attend events at Gallipoli. As part of the programme on 24
April, services will be held at several military cemeteries.
At the same time, hundreds will gather on Istanbul's Taksim Square,
where a commemoration of the Armenian genocide has been held since
2010. Another rally will be held in the eastern city of Diyarbakir,
an important centre from where the state governor oversaw the mass
killings in 1915. The main event will be held in Yerevan, capital
of Armenia.
The Turkish government's efforts to divert international attention
have been called "disgraceful" by Armenians speaking against the
hijacking of their commemoration day.
"It's not just Gallipoli," said Nazar Buyum, an Armenian columnist
and writer. "Someone also had the audacity to suggest the organisation
of a Gallipoli memorial concert in an Armenian church in Istanbul for
24 April. The government does everything to overshadow the centennial
of the genocide this year."
Turkey refuses to accept responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds
of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Professor Ayhan Aktar of Istanbul's Bilgi University, who has long
researched the denial of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, was not
surprised by the government's decision to move the date of the
Gallipoli events.
"Turkey has been putting forward the Turks dying on world war one
battlefields for 97 years, arguing that, yes, Armenians might have
died, but so did our ancestors," he said. "This move just continues
this line of defence. It's indecent, and a disgrace."
While the Armenian state leader and many Armenians abroad expressed
outrage at Turkey's diplomatic gamble, the reaction in Turkey has been
rather mute. Part of the reason, Kilicdagi says, is the persistent
fear of violence against the Armenian community in Turkey.
"Even though the situation has somewhat improved, and even though
solidarity with the Armenian community has increased, many have
learned to live with the constant fear," he said. "It has become
almost a reflex. Armenians are still a vulnerable group in Turkey."
The first world war operations in Gallipoli - Canakkale in Turkish -
began on 18 March 1915 with the British naval bombardment of the
peninsula. Turks have used that date to celebrate their victory
against the Allied attack and mourn the soldiers who died in battle.
The naval landings on the shores of Gallipoli ended in devastating
defeat and are remembered by Australians and New Zealanders - not by
the Turks - on 25 April, known as Anzac Day.
After Ankara's announcement to shift all official commemorations
of Gallipoli to 24 April, critics were quick to point out that no
significant military event took place at Gallipoli that day and that
Armenians had greater claim to the day because 24 April 2015 was
when Ottoman authorities started to arrest Armenian intellectuals
in Istanbul.
Hopes of an Armenian-Turkish thaw were raised last year, when
Erdogan extended condolences to the grandchildren of all killed
Armenians. But this year's actions have alienated the 100,000-strong
Armenian community in Turkey.
"After Erdogan's words last year, this was a big disappointment," said
Nayat Karakose, programme coordinator at the Hrant Dink Foundation,
an Istanbul organisation, named after the Armenian-Turkish journalist
murdered in 2007, that promotes Turkish-Armenian reconciliation,
research and culture.
"We expected a more positive step than to try and shift the
international focus away from Armenia's effort to raise awareness
about the genocide."
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a Turkish journalist and human rights activist,
said the upcoming parliamentary elections made any meaningful
concessions by the ruling Justice and Development, or AK, party
impossible.
"They are trying to rally more nationalist votes. Erdogan is a very
pragmatic politician, who is very conscious of political advantages he
can gain by any move he makes," Cengiz said. "But the Armenian issue
is a matter of conscience and of morality, which is why Erdogan is
not the leader who will solve it."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/16/turkey-armenia-1915-centenary-gallipoli-massacre-genocide
Change of date by Ankara, which leads to a clash of commemoration
ceremonies, seen as an 'indecent political manoeuvre'
Souvenirs commemorating the Gallipoli campaign on sale in in Eceabat,
Turkey. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty
Constanze Letsch in Istanbul
Thursday 16 April 2015 13.00 BSTLast modified on Thursday 16 April
201513.03 BST
Turkey has been accused of belittling the imminent centenary of the
Armenian genocide by advancing its Gallipoli commemorations to the
same day.
The anniversary of the 1915 military operations on the Gallipoli
peninsula has always been marked on 25 April, the day after
commemorations of the massacre of more than 1m Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire. This year, however, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has invited state leaders to join him in Gallipoli on 24 April.
"This is a very indecent political manoeuvre," said Ohannes Kilicdagi,
a researcher and writer for Agos, an Armenian weekly. "It's cheap
politics to try and dissolve the pressure on Turkey in the year of
the centennial by organising this event.
"Everybody knows that the two memorials around Gallipoli have been
held on March 18 and April 25 every year."
Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Tony Abbott, the Australian prime
minister, and John Key, New Zealand's prime minister, have confirmed
they will attend events at Gallipoli. As part of the programme on 24
April, services will be held at several military cemeteries.
At the same time, hundreds will gather on Istanbul's Taksim Square,
where a commemoration of the Armenian genocide has been held since
2010. Another rally will be held in the eastern city of Diyarbakir,
an important centre from where the state governor oversaw the mass
killings in 1915. The main event will be held in Yerevan, capital
of Armenia.
The Turkish government's efforts to divert international attention
have been called "disgraceful" by Armenians speaking against the
hijacking of their commemoration day.
"It's not just Gallipoli," said Nazar Buyum, an Armenian columnist
and writer. "Someone also had the audacity to suggest the organisation
of a Gallipoli memorial concert in an Armenian church in Istanbul for
24 April. The government does everything to overshadow the centennial
of the genocide this year."
Turkey refuses to accept responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds
of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Professor Ayhan Aktar of Istanbul's Bilgi University, who has long
researched the denial of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, was not
surprised by the government's decision to move the date of the
Gallipoli events.
"Turkey has been putting forward the Turks dying on world war one
battlefields for 97 years, arguing that, yes, Armenians might have
died, but so did our ancestors," he said. "This move just continues
this line of defence. It's indecent, and a disgrace."
While the Armenian state leader and many Armenians abroad expressed
outrage at Turkey's diplomatic gamble, the reaction in Turkey has been
rather mute. Part of the reason, Kilicdagi says, is the persistent
fear of violence against the Armenian community in Turkey.
"Even though the situation has somewhat improved, and even though
solidarity with the Armenian community has increased, many have
learned to live with the constant fear," he said. "It has become
almost a reflex. Armenians are still a vulnerable group in Turkey."
The first world war operations in Gallipoli - Canakkale in Turkish -
began on 18 March 1915 with the British naval bombardment of the
peninsula. Turks have used that date to celebrate their victory
against the Allied attack and mourn the soldiers who died in battle.
The naval landings on the shores of Gallipoli ended in devastating
defeat and are remembered by Australians and New Zealanders - not by
the Turks - on 25 April, known as Anzac Day.
After Ankara's announcement to shift all official commemorations
of Gallipoli to 24 April, critics were quick to point out that no
significant military event took place at Gallipoli that day and that
Armenians had greater claim to the day because 24 April 2015 was
when Ottoman authorities started to arrest Armenian intellectuals
in Istanbul.
Hopes of an Armenian-Turkish thaw were raised last year, when
Erdogan extended condolences to the grandchildren of all killed
Armenians. But this year's actions have alienated the 100,000-strong
Armenian community in Turkey.
"After Erdogan's words last year, this was a big disappointment," said
Nayat Karakose, programme coordinator at the Hrant Dink Foundation,
an Istanbul organisation, named after the Armenian-Turkish journalist
murdered in 2007, that promotes Turkish-Armenian reconciliation,
research and culture.
"We expected a more positive step than to try and shift the
international focus away from Armenia's effort to raise awareness
about the genocide."
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a Turkish journalist and human rights activist,
said the upcoming parliamentary elections made any meaningful
concessions by the ruling Justice and Development, or AK, party
impossible.
"They are trying to rally more nationalist votes. Erdogan is a very
pragmatic politician, who is very conscious of political advantages he
can gain by any move he makes," Cengiz said. "But the Armenian issue
is a matter of conscience and of morality, which is why Erdogan is
not the leader who will solve it."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/16/turkey-armenia-1915-centenary-gallipoli-massacre-genocide