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Sarinay's Silence... The Story of a Turkish Denialist
January 30, 2015
By Ara Sarafian
I have an interesting dilemma. A Turkish TV company based in Ankara
has approached me for an interview concerning "the events of 1915."
The programme editor let me know that Yusuf Sarinay - the former head
of the Prime Ministry Ottoman State Archives - is his adviser. How
should I respond?
I believe Yusuf Sarinay is a denier of the Armenian Genocide.
A few years ago I examined an article he wrote, "What Happened on
April 24, 1915?" In that article he claimed that the Armenian
intellectuals who were arrested in Constantinople on 24 April 1915 had
posed a threat to the security of the Ottoman Empire and were
imprisoned accordingly. These prisoners were sent to Chankiri and
Ayash near modern-day Ankara.
Sarinay took Ayash prisoners as his focus and argued that, apart from
a handful of prisoners who were moved elsewhere, the remaining
prisoners stayed in Ayash for the duration of the war and were
released in 1918. Sarinay's argument was entirely based on Ottoman
records in Turkey.
I examined Sarinay's work, including the archival materials he claims
to have seen, and found his presentation lacking. There were
significant discrepancies in his work. The Armenian political
prisoners who were sent to Ayash in 1915, even according to the
Ottoman records, disappeared while in state custody. There are no
letters and petitions sent to the authorities, nor other references
attesting to their presence in Ayash, after the summer of 1915. Yet
Sarinay argues that these men remained in Ayash prison until the end
of WWI.
I published my critique of Sarinay's work in the Turkish-Armenian
newspaper, Agos. The article was printed in Turkish to facilitate a
response from him. Sarinay never responded and proceeded to reprint
his article in a book.
I believe Sarinay chose not to respond because he was caught out and
there was a lot at stake - both personally and institutionally. After
all, he represented the Turkish establishment in the denial of the
Armenian Genocide, and the issues at hand were not trivial. By all
accounts, the Armenian prisoners who were sent to Ayash in 1915
disappeared while in state custody - and Yusuf Sarinay presents a
false picture when he argues otherwise.
Sarinay has remained silent in face of criticism while others - such
as the Turkish Foreign Ministry - have continued to circulate his work
in their own denial of the Armenian Genocide.
I can only wonder in what capacity Sarinay serves the Turkish TV
company making a documentary "on the events of 1915."
Historian Ara Sarafian is the founding director of the Gomidas
Institute in London, which sponsors and carries out research and
publishes books. Among the institute's publications are English
translations of Armenian texts related to the Armenian Genocide. He
edited a "Critical Edition" of the The Treatment of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916, commonly known as the Blue Book (originally
published in 1916 by British historians Lord James Bryce and Arnold
Toynbee), as well as a Turkish edition of the book.
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/60701
January 30, 2015
By Ara Sarafian
I have an interesting dilemma. A Turkish TV company based in Ankara
has approached me for an interview concerning "the events of 1915."
The programme editor let me know that Yusuf Sarinay - the former head
of the Prime Ministry Ottoman State Archives - is his adviser. How
should I respond?
I believe Yusuf Sarinay is a denier of the Armenian Genocide.
A few years ago I examined an article he wrote, "What Happened on
April 24, 1915?" In that article he claimed that the Armenian
intellectuals who were arrested in Constantinople on 24 April 1915 had
posed a threat to the security of the Ottoman Empire and were
imprisoned accordingly. These prisoners were sent to Chankiri and
Ayash near modern-day Ankara.
Sarinay took Ayash prisoners as his focus and argued that, apart from
a handful of prisoners who were moved elsewhere, the remaining
prisoners stayed in Ayash for the duration of the war and were
released in 1918. Sarinay's argument was entirely based on Ottoman
records in Turkey.
I examined Sarinay's work, including the archival materials he claims
to have seen, and found his presentation lacking. There were
significant discrepancies in his work. The Armenian political
prisoners who were sent to Ayash in 1915, even according to the
Ottoman records, disappeared while in state custody. There are no
letters and petitions sent to the authorities, nor other references
attesting to their presence in Ayash, after the summer of 1915. Yet
Sarinay argues that these men remained in Ayash prison until the end
of WWI.
I published my critique of Sarinay's work in the Turkish-Armenian
newspaper, Agos. The article was printed in Turkish to facilitate a
response from him. Sarinay never responded and proceeded to reprint
his article in a book.
I believe Sarinay chose not to respond because he was caught out and
there was a lot at stake - both personally and institutionally. After
all, he represented the Turkish establishment in the denial of the
Armenian Genocide, and the issues at hand were not trivial. By all
accounts, the Armenian prisoners who were sent to Ayash in 1915
disappeared while in state custody - and Yusuf Sarinay presents a
false picture when he argues otherwise.
Sarinay has remained silent in face of criticism while others - such
as the Turkish Foreign Ministry - have continued to circulate his work
in their own denial of the Armenian Genocide.
I can only wonder in what capacity Sarinay serves the Turkish TV
company making a documentary "on the events of 1915."
Historian Ara Sarafian is the founding director of the Gomidas
Institute in London, which sponsors and carries out research and
publishes books. Among the institute's publications are English
translations of Armenian texts related to the Armenian Genocide. He
edited a "Critical Edition" of the The Treatment of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916, commonly known as the Blue Book (originally
published in 1916 by British historians Lord James Bryce and Arnold
Toynbee), as well as a Turkish edition of the book.
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/60701