Armenpress
TURKEY WILL RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WHEN IT IS A TRULY DEMOCRATIC
NATION
LOS ANGELES, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS: A Turkish historian Taner Akcam,
prominent outside his native country and controversial at home, told a
meeting with young Armenians in California, USA, that the government of
Turkey must radically revise its policies on Cyprus, the Kurdish problem and
the Armenian genocide, to be looked upon by Europeans as a nation that has
all rights to join the European Union.
Akcam was the first Turkish historian to arrive in Yerevan five years ago
to participate in an international conference dedicated to the 85-th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. He also ascended the Tsitsernakaberd
hill in Yerevan that hosts the Genocide Memorial with researches from other
countries to pay respect to the victims of the genocide.
Taner Akcam is among few Turkish scientists for whom the need to
recognize and learn from the Armenian genocide is as acute now as it was
when the modern Turkish Republic was founded 80 years ago. His views have
made him the target of death threats. He argued that Turkey has approached a
second crucial stage in its nation-building process and if it doesn’t learn
from past mistakes, it is bound to repeat them.
Equally dangerous, Akcam argued, is the reawakening of revanchist ideas
among Turkey’s military-bureaucratic elites. Coupled together, these
tendencies could lead to another calamity, he warned.
Akcam criticized the Turkish government, whose ideology does not
recognize the presence of Kurdish population and denies the Armenian
genocide. Akcam is sure that the government and army Generals will never
agree to officially acknowledge the Armenian genocide. He said this is
possible only through extensive democratic reforms within the country
itself.
“Talking about the Armenian genocide in Turkey is tantamount to
constantly reminding an ill man, who is trying to hide his disease, about
his illness. People not only are reluctant to remember their disgraceful
past, but also do not want others to remind hem about it,” he said.
Akcam explained that Turkey rejects the genocide because Turks lack what
he called “historical consciousness.”