The New Anatolian, Turkey
April 15 2005

Prejudice ise Worse than Poison (On Turkish-Armenian Relations)

Nursun Erel

We now have a historic opportunity for both Armenia and Turkey to
reconcile their relations, but it seem that, once again, it will be
lost to prejudice.

– “How do you know?” I hear your question, so let me tell you.

It was four years ago, on behalf of the TV channel I was working for,
I asked for an appointment from Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanyan to evaluate the Turkish-Armenian relationship. After our
request was accepted, we went to Yerevan. Let me not go in to the
details of our tough journey (Ankara-Istanbul-Tbilisi-Yerevan,
because the direct flights were cancelled once again).

But once I arrived in Yerevan, I spent perhaps the most interesting
days of my professional life, because I could see things with my own
eyes.

What do you mean?

I’m sorry to say this, but an unparalleled prejudice is in every
Armenian’s thoughts.

In schools, universities, churches, government offices, even on the
streets.

Why on the streets?

Because as you’re walking along, all of a sudden you’re confronted
with a huge building facade on which the Armenian flag is painted,
but with a slight (!) difference. On the flag, Mt. Ararat appears in
its all magnificence.

Why in the schools?

Because all the students, even very young pupils, were conditioned
towards one goal:

– Our ancestors were the native citizens of Ararat, it was once our
capital. One day we will take it back.

– Thousands of our relatives were killed by the Turks, we must take
our revenge.

– Mt. Ararat was the longtime home of our ancestors, we have to have
it back.

– Okay, we don’t want war, but Turkey must compensate the Armenians.

Even take a look at the lyrics of the Armenian national anthem:

“Our motherland should be free, but it is under invasion. So our sons
say: Let’s take our revenge. Do it my brother, do it. Man dies once,
but if he dies for the sake of his people and freedom, it is a sacred
death�”

While talking to these people and seeing all the poverty in the
suburbs of Yerevan, I was thinking to myself:

– What a pity they condition their citizens towards such impossible
dreams. Do they think this is the way to get rid of their hunger?

One of the most striking pictures that stuck in my mind was in front
of the U.S. Embassy. Hundreds of Armenians, waiting for hours in a
long long queue, to get visas to go to the States.

I thought to myself:

– The Armenian politicians keep on complaining about the deportation
once applied to Armenians by the Ottomans. So what about today? Isn’t
it almost the same situation for the citizens of today’s Armenia that
they are deporting their own citizens because they can’t give them
any hope in staying, besides poverty and disappointment?

Because I heard that, every day, about 30 families were leaving
Armenia, choosing to live in other countries.

So I asked this question to the ambitious-looking Armenian Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanyan during our interview. Because he told me
that his Turkish-origin family once lived in Turkey, in Urfa and
Maras. Because of the deportation decision, they left Turkey and
moved to Syria in 1922. First, he told me that he had been raised
with stories of Turkish genocide and deportation in his childhood and
than added:

– In fact, Turkey accepts that there was a genocide towards the
Armenians, but due to the fear of compensation the Turkish
politicians prefer to deny it.

Then I reminded him the long queue in front of the U.S. Embassy and
asked:

-You complain of the Ottomans’ deportation of the Armenians. But what
about your own citizens today? Since every day 30 families are
leaving their homeland, isn’t it the same for your government, as if
you’re forcing them to leave?

He kept his silence for a moment and said:

– Well, there is immigration from almost every country, even from
Turkey. We work for the future of our people, but we can’t force them
to stay here”(*)

So, once again, I believed that prejudice is worse than poison for
the human brain”