Turkey is at a crossroad and Turks are faced with a
dilemma. On the one hand they feel increasingly compelled to build an atoned
future. On the other hand, they feel the effects of decades-old Turkish
state-sponsored brainwashing to push under the rug the dark pages of the
genocidal past. However, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s recent
‘overtures’ to Armenians has amplified this intra-personal Turkish duel.
The trajectory from being saddled by responsibilities of
dealing with the consequences of Genocide, to being totally free of the burdens
of a criminal past has become a necessity. And it can start when Turks receive
inspiration and enlightenment from righteous Turks who have already achieved
inner peace by acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.
No human being should be required to burden himself with
denial just because he was lied to by his own government for nearly a century.
Turks need to actively encourage one another to distance
themselves from the criminal Young Turks, and to disown their dark legacy of
Genocide. Today’s Turks and especially the new generation should be empowered
to condemn criminal Young Turk regime and ideology at the speed of light; and
to emulate Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (father of Turkey).
In an August 1926 interview with The Los Angeles
Examiner, Ataturk stated that the remainders of the Young Turk government
should be held accountable for the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides.
“These left-overs from the former Young Turk Party, who should have been made
to account for the millions of our Christian subjects who were ruthlessly
driven en masse, from their homes and massacred, have been restive under the
Republican rule”, he said.
So how can the Turkish trajectory to enlightenment on the
facts of the Armenian Genocide be fine-tuned and synchronized with the urgent
Armenian demands for Restitution, Reparations, and Recovery?
For centuries before the Genocide, several sovereign
peoples such as Syrians, Lebanese, Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbians, Arabs, Kurds,
Syriacs-Assyrians and Armenians, were forced to make territorial and human
“contributions” to the Turkish Ottoman Empire. When the process of the
dissolution of the Empire began, several Ottoman subject peoples achieved total
liberation of their territories. A host of Turkish-occupied lands reverted to
their rightful owners. But not all were so lucky.
And as a direct result of the incomplete process of
dissolution of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, Kurds, Armenians, Greeks, Syrians,
and Syriacs-Assyrians continue to be denied the liberation of their ancestral
lands – The Kurds and Syriacs-Assyrians in Merdin region and parts of ancient
Mesopotamia; Armenians in Western Armenia and Armenian Republic of Cilicia; and
Syrians in “Al-Iskendrun” (called “Hatay” under Turkish occupation); whereas
Greeks continue to suffer because of continued Turkish occupation of Greek
Constantinople, Greek Smyrna and Greek Pontus.
While the Government of Turkey has been suppressing free
discussion of the Genocide, Former Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee,
Professor Alfred de Zayas, Geneva School of Diplomacy, recently stated:
“Because of the continuing character of the crime of genocide in factual and
legal terms, the remedy of restitution has not been foreclosed by the passage
of time. Thus the survivors of the genocide against the Armenians, both
individually and collectively, have standing to advance a claim for restitution.
This has been also the case with the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, who
have successfully claimed restitution against many States where their property
had been confiscated. Whenever possible ‘restitutio in integrum’ (complete
restitution, restoration to the previous condition) should be granted, so as to
re-establish the situation that existed before the violation occurred.”
Fast forward to the most recent developments: Should
serious negotiations materialize between Turkey and Armenians, “the joint
Armenian delegation could ask Turkey to take the following preliminary actions
to show its good faith: 1) Compensate all Genocide victims; 2) Rebuild and
return all religious sites to the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul; 3) Return
all confiscated private and community properties to their Armenian owners; 4)
Provide the Republic of Armenia with special access to the Turkish port of
Trabzon for commercial purposes; 5) Give Armenians visa-free entry to Ararat,
Ani, and other Armenian historical sites in Turkey; 6) Lift the blockade of
Armenia; 7) End Turkey’s official policy of denial of the Armenian Genocide and
annul Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code; 8 ) Refrain from all hostile
policies directed against Armenia and Artsakh (Karabagh),” wrote Harut Sassounian
Publisher of The California Courier.
Sassounian’s article represents a magnificently crafted
course of action and a viable platform for all parties involved. (See page E7).
On May 29, Turkish writer and publisher Ragib Zarakolu
renewed his criticism of the Turkish policy of denial: “My generation knew what
happened and tried to conceal it. However, the younger generation had to
believe this lie under certain conditions, which is even worse. … Turkey has
gone blind and deaf. … My country has turned into a cemetery of the dumb,”
Zarakolu stated adding that Turkey must come to understand that recognizing and
apologizing for the genocide has become a precondition for establishment of
democratic society in the country.
“Turkey must accept the historic truth. This is the only
way for Turkey to restore the trust in itself. Recognition, apology and
reimbursement – these will never bring back what has been lost,” he noted.
Comprehensive abandonment of Young Turks’ ideology,
coupled with restitutions and collective atonement can transform Turkey.
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