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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Jan 18 2015
G-word not so easy
GÃ`NAL KURÅ?UN
January 18, 2015, Sunday
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish lawyer, first pronounced the word
`genocide' in his book "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe" in 1944.
He coined the term by combining `genos,' meaning `race, people' in
Greek, and `caedere,' meaning `to kill' in Latin. According to Lemkin,
the Armenian genocide was a school example of the crime. Today, most
scholars on genocide and historians share this idea.
It is still a discussion between Turkey and Armenia, including
diaspora Armenians. In recent years, we have started to see an
emphasized commemoration of the Armenian genocide on April 24. Since
2010, I've been involved in the commemorations. Police protected me
and the group of intellectuals with whom I organized the 2010
commemoration in Ankara from ultra-nationalist protesters. It was the
first time in my life that had happened.
Assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink said in a 2006
documentary film titled "Screamers": `There are Turks who don't admit
that their ancestors committed genocide. If you look at it though,
they seem to be nice people. ... So why don't they admit it? Because
they think genocide is a bad thing that they would never want to
commit, and because they can't believe their ancestors would do such a
thing either.'
It is really not an easy word to say for an ordinary Turkish citizen,
after all the negative propaganda they receive at school. When we say
"genocide" in Turkey, `Jewish genocide" or "Holocaust' is
automatically understood, as the Armenian genocide is non-existent
according to our official history education. Therefore, we can use the
term `G-word' for it, as it will require some more time to let go of
the policy of denial.
I have traveled to many countries in the world and wherever I go, I
have faced this part of our history, for which I don't want to carry
the burden. I have not done anything bad to anyone in my life and I
have no relationship with the perpetrators of this crime.
Dink believed the term had a political meaning rather than a
historical one, and he was strongly critical of the Armenian
diaspora's strategy of pressuring Western governments into officially
recognizing the label of genocide. He believed that the diaspora
Armenians should be able to live free of the weight of historical
memory. Indicating that a show of empathy would have nothing to do
with accepting or refusing the genocide, Dink called for dialogue,
saying, "Turkish-Armenian relations should be taken out of a
1915-meter-deep well.'
Besides this view, another culturocide, meaning `cultural genocide,'
is going on. In MuÅ?, an Armenian church in the Kale neighborhood that
had been deemed public property since 1923 was sold to the Söylemez
family in 1958. The Söylemez family kept the property until 2012.
Since there was no community to care the building, its roof was
demolished. Only four walls are standing now. In 2012, a Cabinet
decision declared the Kale neighborhood as an area of urban
transformation, and expropriated the parcel on which the church was
located. The family applied to the court and decided to suspend full
demolishment until the final decision.
In my opinion, Armenians have to stop talking about the issue. We --
Turks, Kurds and all Anatolians -- have to defend their rights.
Whatever an Armenian talks about this issue, it is taken as a `victim
defending their rights' and it has a minimal effect. I believe it
would have a greater effect if the other side were to defend their
brothers' and sisters' rights.
On its eighth anniversary, I once again condemn the murder of Dink,
and call on security forces to shed light on this assassination. We
all know that it was not limited to a few 17-year-olds, especially
after seeing a photograph of the assassin flaked by smiling Turkish
police and a gendarmerie officer in front of the Turkish flag.
Charles Aznavour says in his brilliant song `Ils sont tombés' (They
Fell), `In that summer of strife, of massacre and war, their only
crime was life, their only guilt was fear."
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/gunal-kursun/g-word-not-so-easy_370188.html
Jan 18 2015
G-word not so easy
GÃ`NAL KURÅ?UN
January 18, 2015, Sunday
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish lawyer, first pronounced the word
`genocide' in his book "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe" in 1944.
He coined the term by combining `genos,' meaning `race, people' in
Greek, and `caedere,' meaning `to kill' in Latin. According to Lemkin,
the Armenian genocide was a school example of the crime. Today, most
scholars on genocide and historians share this idea.
It is still a discussion between Turkey and Armenia, including
diaspora Armenians. In recent years, we have started to see an
emphasized commemoration of the Armenian genocide on April 24. Since
2010, I've been involved in the commemorations. Police protected me
and the group of intellectuals with whom I organized the 2010
commemoration in Ankara from ultra-nationalist protesters. It was the
first time in my life that had happened.
Assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink said in a 2006
documentary film titled "Screamers": `There are Turks who don't admit
that their ancestors committed genocide. If you look at it though,
they seem to be nice people. ... So why don't they admit it? Because
they think genocide is a bad thing that they would never want to
commit, and because they can't believe their ancestors would do such a
thing either.'
It is really not an easy word to say for an ordinary Turkish citizen,
after all the negative propaganda they receive at school. When we say
"genocide" in Turkey, `Jewish genocide" or "Holocaust' is
automatically understood, as the Armenian genocide is non-existent
according to our official history education. Therefore, we can use the
term `G-word' for it, as it will require some more time to let go of
the policy of denial.
I have traveled to many countries in the world and wherever I go, I
have faced this part of our history, for which I don't want to carry
the burden. I have not done anything bad to anyone in my life and I
have no relationship with the perpetrators of this crime.
Dink believed the term had a political meaning rather than a
historical one, and he was strongly critical of the Armenian
diaspora's strategy of pressuring Western governments into officially
recognizing the label of genocide. He believed that the diaspora
Armenians should be able to live free of the weight of historical
memory. Indicating that a show of empathy would have nothing to do
with accepting or refusing the genocide, Dink called for dialogue,
saying, "Turkish-Armenian relations should be taken out of a
1915-meter-deep well.'
Besides this view, another culturocide, meaning `cultural genocide,'
is going on. In MuÅ?, an Armenian church in the Kale neighborhood that
had been deemed public property since 1923 was sold to the Söylemez
family in 1958. The Söylemez family kept the property until 2012.
Since there was no community to care the building, its roof was
demolished. Only four walls are standing now. In 2012, a Cabinet
decision declared the Kale neighborhood as an area of urban
transformation, and expropriated the parcel on which the church was
located. The family applied to the court and decided to suspend full
demolishment until the final decision.
In my opinion, Armenians have to stop talking about the issue. We --
Turks, Kurds and all Anatolians -- have to defend their rights.
Whatever an Armenian talks about this issue, it is taken as a `victim
defending their rights' and it has a minimal effect. I believe it
would have a greater effect if the other side were to defend their
brothers' and sisters' rights.
On its eighth anniversary, I once again condemn the murder of Dink,
and call on security forces to shed light on this assassination. We
all know that it was not limited to a few 17-year-olds, especially
after seeing a photograph of the assassin flaked by smiling Turkish
police and a gendarmerie officer in front of the Turkish flag.
Charles Aznavour says in his brilliant song `Ils sont tombés' (They
Fell), `In that summer of strife, of massacre and war, their only
crime was life, their only guilt was fear."
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/gunal-kursun/g-word-not-so-easy_370188.html