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TODAY'S ZAMAN: TURKEY'S POLITICIZATION OF GALLIPOLI HURTS NATIONAL LEGACY
13:01, 23 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
The Turkish government's move this year to invite political leaders
from around the world to commemorate World War I's Gallipoli Campaign
on April 24-25, a date chosen to compete with Armenia's centennial
commemoration of the Genocide, has only served to politicize the
Gallipoli legacy, which should be a source of pride for the Turkish
nation, Today's Zaman writes.
Turkey traditionally commemorates its fallen soldiers in the Gallipoli
Campaign - also known as the Battle of Canakkale - on March 18. Only
two years ago, then-President Abdullah Gul marked the 98th anniversary
of the battle on that date. No one in Turkey at the time suggested
that it should be remembered on April 24. Turkey has commemorated the
battle - one of the bloodiest of World War I - on March 18 to coincide
with the day Britain started its bombardment of the Dardanelles.
The change in date of this year's commemorations has been widely
perceived as a crude attempt to distract attention from Armenian
commemorations of the 1915 massacres and forced deportations which
decimated the Ottoman Armenian population, which Armenians commemorate
on April 24.
"The game TR gov't is playing with Gallipoli - politicizing it to
compete with Armenian Genocide commemorations - is utterly disgusting,
in my opinion," Alex Christie-Miller, an Istanbul-based journalist
working for The Times, Newsweek Europe and the Christian Science
Monitor, posted on his Twitter account on March 19.
Joost Lagendijk, a former Green Party deputy in the European Parliament
who also served as the co-chairman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary
Committee, also criticized Turkey's move to commemorate the Gallipoli
Campaign on the same day as the Armenian commemorations, calling
it a "shameless and all-too-transparent effort" to try and distract
attention from the Armenian "Genocide" in his Today's Zaman column
on March 17. Lagendijk said that shifting the 100th anniversary
of the Gallipoli Campaign to the same day "won't work and it will
unnecessarily discredit Turkey."
Turkey's move also offended Turkish citizens of Armenian descent.
Speaking to Agos Â- a Turkish-Armenian weekly formerly edited
by murder victim Hrant Dink -- after Erdogan's invitation, many
Turkish citizens of Armenian descent reacted strongly to Erdogan's
invitation to Sargsyan, calling it a "joke" and an "ill-mannered"
act, and further criticizing it as a "political maneuver."
Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC), an
independent think tank in Yerevan, said the timing of the Gallipoli
invitation could not have been worse. In an email to Sunday's Zaman
in late January, Giragosian stated that Erdogan's move had triggered
an intense negative reaction in Armenia and tended to confirm the
perception of Turkey as an "insincere and unreliable interlocutor."
Speaking to France 24, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said
"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to change this
year's Gallipoli commemoration to coincide with Armenia's marking of
the 100th anniversary of the genocide was a cynical act."
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/23/todays-zaman-turkeys-politicization-of-gallipoli-hurts-national-legacy/
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_turkeys-politicization-of-gallipoli-hurts-national-legacy_375900.html
13:01, 23 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
The Turkish government's move this year to invite political leaders
from around the world to commemorate World War I's Gallipoli Campaign
on April 24-25, a date chosen to compete with Armenia's centennial
commemoration of the Genocide, has only served to politicize the
Gallipoli legacy, which should be a source of pride for the Turkish
nation, Today's Zaman writes.
Turkey traditionally commemorates its fallen soldiers in the Gallipoli
Campaign - also known as the Battle of Canakkale - on March 18. Only
two years ago, then-President Abdullah Gul marked the 98th anniversary
of the battle on that date. No one in Turkey at the time suggested
that it should be remembered on April 24. Turkey has commemorated the
battle - one of the bloodiest of World War I - on March 18 to coincide
with the day Britain started its bombardment of the Dardanelles.
The change in date of this year's commemorations has been widely
perceived as a crude attempt to distract attention from Armenian
commemorations of the 1915 massacres and forced deportations which
decimated the Ottoman Armenian population, which Armenians commemorate
on April 24.
"The game TR gov't is playing with Gallipoli - politicizing it to
compete with Armenian Genocide commemorations - is utterly disgusting,
in my opinion," Alex Christie-Miller, an Istanbul-based journalist
working for The Times, Newsweek Europe and the Christian Science
Monitor, posted on his Twitter account on March 19.
Joost Lagendijk, a former Green Party deputy in the European Parliament
who also served as the co-chairman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary
Committee, also criticized Turkey's move to commemorate the Gallipoli
Campaign on the same day as the Armenian commemorations, calling
it a "shameless and all-too-transparent effort" to try and distract
attention from the Armenian "Genocide" in his Today's Zaman column
on March 17. Lagendijk said that shifting the 100th anniversary
of the Gallipoli Campaign to the same day "won't work and it will
unnecessarily discredit Turkey."
Turkey's move also offended Turkish citizens of Armenian descent.
Speaking to Agos Â- a Turkish-Armenian weekly formerly edited
by murder victim Hrant Dink -- after Erdogan's invitation, many
Turkish citizens of Armenian descent reacted strongly to Erdogan's
invitation to Sargsyan, calling it a "joke" and an "ill-mannered"
act, and further criticizing it as a "political maneuver."
Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC), an
independent think tank in Yerevan, said the timing of the Gallipoli
invitation could not have been worse. In an email to Sunday's Zaman
in late January, Giragosian stated that Erdogan's move had triggered
an intense negative reaction in Armenia and tended to confirm the
perception of Turkey as an "insincere and unreliable interlocutor."
Speaking to France 24, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said
"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to change this
year's Gallipoli commemoration to coincide with Armenia's marking of
the 100th anniversary of the genocide was a cynical act."
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/23/todays-zaman-turkeys-politicization-of-gallipoli-hurts-national-legacy/
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_turkeys-politicization-of-gallipoli-hurts-national-legacy_375900.html