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TURKISH-ARMENIANS' ANSWER TO GULEN
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Feb 17 2015
MARKAR ESAYAN
On Feb. 11, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had a long meeting with
the administrators of more than 50 nongovernmental organizations at
Ankara Palas Hotel, a historic place located in Turkey's capital. This
meeting was significant since all the participants were non-Muslims
living in Turkey. As an Armenian writer and journalist, I was also
present at the meeting. The scheduled duration of the meeting was
an hour and a half. However, the delegation of Davutoglu and some
ministers maintained it for over four hours. Each participant spoke
during the event. Both the positive developments and the problems
that need to be resolved were discussed.
The participants were the representatives of foundations, associations,
nongovernmental organizations and journals belonging to minority
communities in Turkey including Armenians, Jews, Roma, Syriacs,
Bulgarians and Maronites. They have the competence to represent
their own communities, address the state for years and are closely
acquainted with the issues of their communities. All of them shared
the excitement of the positive changes in favor of them that have taken
place within the last 13 years. Everyone expressed their appreciation
of this change and gave thanks for it. Davutoglu's opening speech
was like a manifesto. Previously, a Christmas lunch was organized
for religious leaders of non-Muslim communities on Jan. 2.
And this was the civilian phase of this agenda.
Davutoglu said that they never accepted the segregationist and hostile
attitude of the former state regime - which used to boast of being
Kemalist, modern and secular - against non-Muslims, adding that they
did not discriminate between citizens regardless of their religion,
language or sect and always tried to reflect this concern in their
policies. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government
overcame and reformed many segregationist practices inherited from
this former regime. Davutoglu sincerely pointed out that they did
not "grant" these reformations, but they saw them as a duty that was
supposed to be done already, adding that they did not expect anything
in return.
He also said it was not possible to approve or remain silent to the
bitter experiences such as the vandalisms targeting non-Muslims on
Sept. 6-7, 1955, underlining that they remembered those violent acts
with pain in their hearts. Davutoglu also indicated that one of the
most significant steps leading to the path for this positive change
was the official condolence message for the 1915 incidents issued
by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on April 23, 2014, which
was the indicator of a new period for Turkey, according to Davutoglu.
Davutoglu also issued a condolence message on Jan. 19, 2015, the
eighth year commemoration of the assassination of Hrant Dink.
All the participants took the floor respectively during the meeting.
Davutoglu, ministers and advisors noted each demand. Many rights
remaining from Ottoman times and guaranteed by the Lausanne Treaty were
violated during the Kemalist regime. The most devastating of them was
the practice of seizing property called the 1935 Declaration. With
this, the most valuable properties of 167 minority foundations were
seized, returned to their former owners without charge, or registered
as a state commodity. The target was to eradicate the foundations
that conserved the vital institutions of minorities.
The AK Party attempted to abolish this law in 2005, but it was blocked
by the "modern and secular" Republican People's Party (CHP). In
2008, while the new law was being negotiated, Parliament witnessed
some embarrassing remarks by the opposition CHP and the Nationalist
Movement Party (MHP). They were saying the AK Party was "bothering
itself for the properties of Agop" in an insulting tone. When reforms
passed into law thanks to the AK Party's votes, the CHP applied to
the Constitutional Court to repeal the legislation. In the name of
justice, a religious party was saying that "the state cannot steal
from its own citizens regardless of their identity or religion.
Rather, it is supposed to protect their interests."
For this very reason, a majority of Armenians have been voting for the
AK Party for the last 13 years. For 99 years, we could not commemorate
the victims of the 1915 incidents on April 24 in our country due to
prohibitions. This ban was also lifted last year. Thanks to Erdogan's
message of condolence, we were able to commemorate our losses in our
churches and cemeteries without fear or worry for the first time last
year. Fethullah Gulen was defeated in the power struggle he had with
the government. In order to cover the fact that they were actually
struggling for sovereignty, he claimed that non-Muslims, Kurds and
Alevis were suppressed in Turkey in an article he wrote for The New
York Times. His claims were simply misleading.
People with different beliefs have been experiencing the freest,
most dignified and glorious days of their lives during the period
of AK Party rule for the last 13 years. We have to stand behind this
truth in order to be fair. No matter what Gulen fights for, it is not
our fight. Manipulating and subverting the pain of April 24 and the
positive changes in recent years is the greatest form of disrespect
to our losses and acquisitions. It would be good to reveal the truth.
http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/markar_esayan/2015/02/17/turkisharmenians-answer-to-gulen
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Feb 17 2015
MARKAR ESAYAN
On Feb. 11, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had a long meeting with
the administrators of more than 50 nongovernmental organizations at
Ankara Palas Hotel, a historic place located in Turkey's capital. This
meeting was significant since all the participants were non-Muslims
living in Turkey. As an Armenian writer and journalist, I was also
present at the meeting. The scheduled duration of the meeting was
an hour and a half. However, the delegation of Davutoglu and some
ministers maintained it for over four hours. Each participant spoke
during the event. Both the positive developments and the problems
that need to be resolved were discussed.
The participants were the representatives of foundations, associations,
nongovernmental organizations and journals belonging to minority
communities in Turkey including Armenians, Jews, Roma, Syriacs,
Bulgarians and Maronites. They have the competence to represent
their own communities, address the state for years and are closely
acquainted with the issues of their communities. All of them shared
the excitement of the positive changes in favor of them that have taken
place within the last 13 years. Everyone expressed their appreciation
of this change and gave thanks for it. Davutoglu's opening speech
was like a manifesto. Previously, a Christmas lunch was organized
for religious leaders of non-Muslim communities on Jan. 2.
And this was the civilian phase of this agenda.
Davutoglu said that they never accepted the segregationist and hostile
attitude of the former state regime - which used to boast of being
Kemalist, modern and secular - against non-Muslims, adding that they
did not discriminate between citizens regardless of their religion,
language or sect and always tried to reflect this concern in their
policies. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government
overcame and reformed many segregationist practices inherited from
this former regime. Davutoglu sincerely pointed out that they did
not "grant" these reformations, but they saw them as a duty that was
supposed to be done already, adding that they did not expect anything
in return.
He also said it was not possible to approve or remain silent to the
bitter experiences such as the vandalisms targeting non-Muslims on
Sept. 6-7, 1955, underlining that they remembered those violent acts
with pain in their hearts. Davutoglu also indicated that one of the
most significant steps leading to the path for this positive change
was the official condolence message for the 1915 incidents issued
by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on April 23, 2014, which
was the indicator of a new period for Turkey, according to Davutoglu.
Davutoglu also issued a condolence message on Jan. 19, 2015, the
eighth year commemoration of the assassination of Hrant Dink.
All the participants took the floor respectively during the meeting.
Davutoglu, ministers and advisors noted each demand. Many rights
remaining from Ottoman times and guaranteed by the Lausanne Treaty were
violated during the Kemalist regime. The most devastating of them was
the practice of seizing property called the 1935 Declaration. With
this, the most valuable properties of 167 minority foundations were
seized, returned to their former owners without charge, or registered
as a state commodity. The target was to eradicate the foundations
that conserved the vital institutions of minorities.
The AK Party attempted to abolish this law in 2005, but it was blocked
by the "modern and secular" Republican People's Party (CHP). In
2008, while the new law was being negotiated, Parliament witnessed
some embarrassing remarks by the opposition CHP and the Nationalist
Movement Party (MHP). They were saying the AK Party was "bothering
itself for the properties of Agop" in an insulting tone. When reforms
passed into law thanks to the AK Party's votes, the CHP applied to
the Constitutional Court to repeal the legislation. In the name of
justice, a religious party was saying that "the state cannot steal
from its own citizens regardless of their identity or religion.
Rather, it is supposed to protect their interests."
For this very reason, a majority of Armenians have been voting for the
AK Party for the last 13 years. For 99 years, we could not commemorate
the victims of the 1915 incidents on April 24 in our country due to
prohibitions. This ban was also lifted last year. Thanks to Erdogan's
message of condolence, we were able to commemorate our losses in our
churches and cemeteries without fear or worry for the first time last
year. Fethullah Gulen was defeated in the power struggle he had with
the government. In order to cover the fact that they were actually
struggling for sovereignty, he claimed that non-Muslims, Kurds and
Alevis were suppressed in Turkey in an article he wrote for The New
York Times. His claims were simply misleading.
People with different beliefs have been experiencing the freest,
most dignified and glorious days of their lives during the period
of AK Party rule for the last 13 years. We have to stand behind this
truth in order to be fair. No matter what Gulen fights for, it is not
our fight. Manipulating and subverting the pain of April 24 and the
positive changes in recent years is the greatest form of disrespect
to our losses and acquisitions. It would be good to reveal the truth.
http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/markar_esayan/2015/02/17/turkisharmenians-answer-to-gulen