By Varak
Ketsemanian
Boston, Mass.
(A.W.) —Exploiting an opportune moment during World War I, the Ottoman
government carried out its intent to eliminate the empire’s Christian elements.
Although a vast amount of scholarship has been conducted on the annihilation of
the Armenians, one aspect of the genocide remains obscure—the extermination of
the Assyrians. In the interview below, Sabri Atman, the founder and director of
the Assyrian Genocide and Research Center (Seyfo Center), brings to light some
of the various characteristics of the Assyrian Genocide (or Seyfo).
sabri atman
300x217 Remembering the Assyrian Genocide: An Interview with Sabri Atman Sabri
Atman
Atman is one
of the most well-known lecturers on the Assyrian Genocide. He was born in
Nsibin (Tur Abdin) in southeast Turkey, moved to Austria due to political
reasons, and to Sweden five years later. He has studied economics at the
University of Gothenburg and has a master’s degree on human rights and genocide
studies from Kingston University in London, Siena University in Italy, and
Warsaw University in Poland. Atman continues to contribute immensely to
worldwide awareness of the Assyrian Genocide. He is currently a doctoral
student in genocide studies at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. His
dissertation is on the Assyrian Genocide and the involvement of the Kurds.
Varak
Kestsemanian—What is the primary sequence of events that constitute the
Assyrian Genocide?
Sabri
Atman—We Assyrians call the genocide of 1915 Seyfo, meaning “the sword.” The
reason we called it the sword was that the perpetrators were using Seyfo as a
weapon for the killings. Seyfo is a term that seeks to highlight the Assyrian
share of the genocide, perpetrated against the Armenians and Greeks as well,
during the First World War. The genocide that wiped out more than half the
population of the Assyrians took place mainly in southeastern Turkey, but also
in the northwestern town of Urmiya in Iran.
The Assyrians
initially put the number of their victims at 250,000 people in both the Turkish
territories and Urmiya, Iran. But, the Assyrian delegation to the Lausanne
peace talks of 1923 presented the number of victims as 275,000, since they had
collected more information on the numbers of those who perished. But, according
to some scholars, up to 400,000 civilian Assyrians perished in the systematic
killings, which were ordered and carried out by the Ottoman state, with the
collaboration of its Kurdish subjects and with troops and divisions of the
regular Ottoman military and police forces combined.
The 1915
genocide did not target only the Armenians but also the Greeks, Assyrians, and
the Ezidis. The strategy that the perpetrators had in mind was ethnically
annihilating all non-Muslim citizens living under the Ottoman occupation, with
the objective of homogenizing Turkey in accordance with their goal to create a
nation of “One Religion.” Indeed, their motto was “One Nation, One Religion.”
To achieve their goal, jihad (or holy war) was declared on Nov. 14, 1914 in all
of the Ottoman mosques. Jihad was declared against all Christian subjects
living within the Ottoman territories without having a particular victim. The
main plot was to get rid of all the Christian minorities of Turkey.
The execution
of their primary plan to create one Muslim-Turkish nation started with attempts
to assimilate the non-Turkish Muslim populations like the Kurds and other
immigrants from the Balkans. These Muslim groups were relocated to such cities
as Ankara, Adana, and Konya, and spread among the Turkish majority. The next step
was the removal of the non-Muslim groups from Turkey. Two million Christian
(mainly Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks) were massacred, starved to death and
deported as a result of that policy.
V.K.—How does
the Assyrian Genocide differ from the massacres perpetrated against the Greeks
and Armenians?
S.A.—The
witnesses I’ve interviewed all have wanted to clarify that neither the
architects nor the perpetuators [of the genocide] made any distinction between
any ethnic Christians. They were claiming that “An onion is an onion, whether
it’s red or white. All must be chopped!” This was a direct reference to the
planned and calculated slaughter of the Assyrian, Armenian, and Greek
Christians.
While a large
number of Armenians died during the deportation, many Assyrians were killed in
their villages and towns.
V.K.—What are
the primary sources that make up the research material for your dissertation?
S.A.—The
primary sources for my research are the oral testimonies of the events, which
I’ve collected over the past decade. These sources include unpublished
interviews—that I and many other people conducted with survivors of the
genocide—which we will transcribe, translate, and put into both historical and
socio-political context.
Most of the
sources addressing and documenting the Assyrian Genocide are scattered and
written in languages that are not easily accessible to genocide scholars. These
sources are either written in Assyrian, Arabic, or Turkish.
Furthermore,
oral history and testimonies are entirely ignored by academia since most
scholars concerned with the 1915 genocide have little knowledge of the Assyrian
language. However, these oral testimonies of genocide survivors are central and
immensely important, as they can shed light on many opaque aspects of the
Assyrian Genocide. These oral testimonies represent an extensive pool of
information ready to be subjected to academic scrutiny.
Although the
written sources are of paramount importance, they have not yet been translated
to modern European languages, rendering them inaccessible to most genocide
studies scholars. To mention a few, they include Isaac Armalto’s eye-witness
account that he published in Arabic in 1919 in Lebanon; and Mar Israel Audo’s
documentation of the tragedies, which is available in an unpublished manuscript
in Assyrian.
Many of our
oral history documentations gathered at the Seyfo Center are first-hand
testimonies of eye-witness accounts. I had the opportunity to interview and
record many survivors, and they not only provided me with valuable information
then, but their testimonies continue to provide me with an endless moral boost
in what I do.
Today, we
have been able to extract much information regarding the 1915 massacres from
eye-witness accounts who reported back to their respective embassies. The
following are some examples:
–American
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Jr. in Constantinople gave reports about his
contacts with the government of the Young Turks.
–A document
was published already in 1916 entitled “The Treatment of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916” by James Bryce, a British expert in political
science, and Arnold Toynbee, a historian. Over 100 pages of this document are
about the Assyrians.
–Johannes
Lepsius, a German missionary who lived in Anatolia, informed the authorities in
Berlin about what was happening at the time. The documentation was published in
1919 in Potsdam.
–Prof. David
Gaunt together with Dr. Racho Donef published the book Massacres, Resistance,
Protectors in 2006 and covers the fate of all the Christian groups of eastern
Anatolia during World War I.
V.K.—What is
the primary function of the Seyfo Center? How does it contribute to genocide
scholarship?
S.A.—The
Seyfo Center has a big pool of sources and provides research assistance to
scholars, writers, journalists, filmmakers, and government agencies. We also
document the Assyrian Genocide by collecting oral histories and publishing
written evidence; presenting the Assyrian Genocide in parliaments and
government bodies; educating non-Assyrians in political and academic forums;
participating in activism on behalf of [recognition of] the Assyrian Genocide;
and publishing books, reports, brochures, and other media. We lobby [for
recognition].
I am very
glad to say that we have made great strides in the last ten years regarding the
Assyrian Genocide. First of all, the word Seyfo now is more known on both the
national and international levels. For example:
–On May 13,
2009, a press conference took place in the Swedish Parliament. A Kurdish
intellectual called Berzan Boti apologized for the genocide of 1915 and, as an
act of restitution, handed back his property to its rightful owners, Assyrians.
The deeds of his property were then transferred to the Seyfo Center.
–On March 10,
2010, the Swedish Parliament recognized the Assyrian Genocide.
–Thanks to
the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) and the efforts by the Assyrians in
Australia, a monument was erected on Aug. 7, 2010, for the Assyrian victims
during World War I and the Simele Massacre.
–On May 1,
2013, the Australian Parliament of New South Wales (NSW) recognized the
Assyrian and the Greek Genocide.
–On April 25,
2012, the Assyrian Genocide Monument was unveiled in capital city of Armenia,
in Yerevan.
–On April 27,
2013, the third Assyrian genocide monument was unveiled in France.
I am sure
that in the very near future, we will have more monuments erected around the
world, and the number of countries who recognize the Assyrian Genocide will
have increased dramatically.
V.K.—What are
the primary demands of the Assyrian people from the Turkish government?
S.A.—First of
all, we want the Republic of Turkey to stop the lies they have been practicing
now for 98 years and recognize the Assyrian, Armenian, and Greek genocides.
Denial is a
form of continuation of the genocide. It is to be killed twice. Failure to
recognize the genocide has led to even more genocides against Assyrians in
their homeland.
We Assyrians
also don’t understand the fact that the Republic of Armenia has not recognized
the Assyrian Genocide yet. Today, I am very happy that so far about 26
countries have officially recognized the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
March 10,
2010 and May 1, 2013 are historical days especially for us as Assyrians and
Greeks. The Swedish and Australian Parliaments passed a resolution and
recognized the Assyrian and Greek Genocides in addition to the Armenian
Genocide. I hope other countries will follow suit.
Our Armenian
friends living in Armenia and around the world have to help us and add the
Assyrian and Greek Genocides on the international agenda.
Remember:
Assyrians and Greeks were subjected to the genocide in Turkey, too. We also
demand that today the whole world officially recognize this fact. Of course,
the Republic of Armenia, for many reasons should be one of the first countries
in the world to recognize the Assyrian Genocide!
We are would
very much like to have a strategy based on friendship between Armenians,
Assyrians, and Greeks. We, who were subjected to the same genocide, should
finds ways and means of an internal dialogue and then speak with one voice.
About Varak
Ketsemanian
Varak
Ketsemanian recently received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (with a minor
in History) from the American University of Beirut (AUB). His articles have
appeared in the Lebanese Armenian Aztag Daily and AUB’s Outlook. He is
currently interning at the Armenian Weekly offices in Boston.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder
Not: Yalnızca bu blogun üyesi yorum gönderebilir.