Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Turkey Says The Pope Is Part Of An 'Evil Front' Because He Used The

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Turkey Says The Pope Is Part Of An 'Evil Front' Because He Used The

    TURKEY SAYS THE POPE IS PART OF AN 'EVIL FRONT' BECAUSE HE USED THE WORD 'GENOCIDE'

    Washington Post
    April 15 2015

    By Ishaan Tharoor

    Turkey's outrage over comments made by Pope Francis this past weekend,
    deeming the massacre of Armenians a century ago a "genocide," continues
    to smolder. Next week marks the centennial of the beginning of what
    the pope called "the first genocide of the 20th century" at Sunday
    Mass in commemoration of the killings.

    Ankara reacted furiously, recalling its ambassador to the Vatican and
    issuing a barrage of strong condemnations. On Wednesday, Turkish Prime
    Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made some even tougher remarks: "Currently,
    an evil front is being formed against us," he said. "Now the pope
    has joined this conspiracy."

    Davutoglu was speaking at an event announcing the manifesto of Turkey's
    ruling Justice and Development Party, ahead of general elections in
    June. The spat with the pope most likely offered good nationalistic
    fodder for local consumption. The prime minister went on, hailing
    the Ottoman Empire's long history of providing sanctuary to the Jews
    expelled by Spain in the 15th century:

    I am addressing the pope: Those who escaped from the Catholic
    inquisition in Spain found peace in our just order in Istanbul and
    Ä°zmir. We are ready to discuss historical issues, but we will not
    let people insult our nation through history.

    The issue of the Armenian genocide is one of profound sensitivity in
    Turkey -- and awkwardness for Turkey's NATO allies, including the
    United States. The traumas and upheavals triggered by these events
    directly shaped the far-flung Armenian diaspora, which plays a leading
    role in global advocacy around how to remember and commemorate the
    slaughters.

    On Wednesday, the European parliament in Brussels called on Turkey to
    recognize what happened as a "genocide." The motion was dismissed by
    Davutoglu's boss, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the appeal
    "went in one ear and out from the other."

    The massacres took place amid the wider conflict of World War I, which
    led to the unraveling and demise of the Ottoman Empire. Successive
    Turkish governments have insisted the scale of the slaughter has been
    distorted, and that many Turks were killed amid the chaos. As many as
    1.5 million Armenians, by some accounts, were systematically killed
    or disappeared.

    "In 1913, there were up to 2 million [ethnic Armenians] in the Ottoman
    Empire. When World War I broke out, the Ottoman government ordered
    their mass deportation. A few years later, there was barely one-tenth
    that number in Turkey, the rest having been exiled or killed," details
    Thomas de Waal, in his new book "Great Catastrophe: Armenians and
    Turks in the Shadow of Genocide."

    Armenian suffering at the time was well-documented, particularly by
    American observers. Former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt wrote in
    May 1918 that his country's entrance into World War I against Germany
    and its allies was justified "because the Armenian massacre was the
    greatest crime of the war, and failure to act against Turkey is to
    condone it."

    The very term "genocide," attributed to the Polish-born Jewish lawyer
    Raphael Lemkin, was invoked precisely with what befell the Armenians
    in mind. But, as de Waal's book charts, the question of remembering
    it has become a political hot potato in the decades since, shrouded
    by Cold War squeamishness and stubborn Turkish nationalism.

    In some ways, Erdogan's government has attempted to soften or reform
    the conversation surrounding the massacres. Ankara has invested
    significantly in the restoration of old Armenian churches in eastern
    Turkey.

    Last year, in what was considered an unprecedented act, Erdogan
    offered condolences to Armenian victims of the "inhumane" deportations
    in 1915. But he stopped short of calling it genocide and condemned
    the government of Armenia for using it as "an excuse for hostility"
    toward Turkey.

    "Millions of people of all religions and ethnicities lost their lives
    in the First World War," said Erdogan.

    Like Davutoglu, Erdogan was less than pleased this week with the Pope's
    intervention into the matter. He warned the pope not to "repeat this
    mistake" and reiterated his government's insistence that its archives
    were "open" and that a "joint commission" of historians should be
    established to reckon with the past. (The historical consensus,
    though, is that the genocide happened.)

    "Whenever politicians ... assume the duties of historians, then
    delirium comes out, not fact," said Erdogan. It's a curious statement,
    not only in this context but in others.

    Erdogan has been known to pronounce repeatedly upon matters of history,
    including his somewhat perplexing insistence on the arrival of Muslim
    seafarers to the New World ahead of Christopher Columbus, which has
    led even to the construction of a proposed mosque in Cuba.

    In the case of the events of 1915, history very much remains the
    subject of politics.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/04/15/turkey-says-the-pope-is-part-of-an-evil-front-because-he-used-the-word-genocide/

Working...
X