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PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: George Shirinian
DATE: May 27, 2005 Tel: 416-250-9807

Conference on the Armenian Question and Ilber Hoca(-lar)
By Baskin Oran

Agos and Birgun

May 27, 2005

Translated by the Zoryan Institute

By postponing this conference, Turkey once again shot itself in the foot.
It lost one more opportunity to pretend to be democratic. Without the
conference going ahead, there will be more consequences than if the
conference had gone ahead. Turkey’s enemies are now rejoicing.

SHAME on those that caused this mess. SHAME on those who kept quiet for 80
years when listening to the one-sided official position and who now say,
“This conference is one-sided,” when alternative positions were to be
discussed. I want to dedicate the following article which I wrote on
Tuesday, May 24, to our shameless “nationalists”, without any changes. On
this day, May 27, the exact anniversary of the day the DEPORTATION LAW was
legislated 90 years ago.

*****
My dear brother, Ilber Ortayli, who graduated one year after me from
university, is perhaps the most important historian of the generation after
Prof. Halil Inalcik’s era. He is one of the very few persons from Turkey
who are respected internationally. In addition, he is not the type who just
sits in an ivory tower, but he is a broadly intellectual, pleasant historian.

For the past eighty years, nothing was said about the Armenian subject,
other than the official government position. For the past eighty years,
anyone who dared to think a bit differently was branded a traitor. For
years, from TV stations to universities to primary schools, the position
was, in chronological order: 1) “The Armenian problem? What is that?” 2)
“They killed us, we didn’t kill them, or diseases killed them;” 3)
“Massacres were mutual, on both sides;” or 4) “Let the historians decide,”
as the current position says.

A scientific person does not know all the aspects of his science. It is
important not to talk about a subject not studied. Master Ilber showed
exceptional determination not to express unnecessary opinions. He kept
quiet for years. He did not get involved in this subject.

*******

Taboo is a subject about which no one dares to talk for fear of being
branded a “traitor.” But now there is a discussion on the Armenian Problem
on TV every single day. Let the “Last Taboo” rest in peace.

That’s how it is; everything comes to an end. No one will remember the ones
who branded the Bosphorus Dean, Prof. Ayse Soysal, as a “traitor” for
permitting the joint conference organized by Bosphorus-Bilgi-Sabanci
Universities regarding “Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of the
Empire” for May 25-27. She will be remembered with respect. Do you remember
Socrates, or the ones who murdered him? One day we will say: “We used to
have a last taboo. What was it?”

********

Master Ilber entered the Armenian Problem discussions at this point. He
said: “The invited names are all from the same team. This will not be a
healthy discussion” (Hurriyet, May 23, 2005). In fact, it never occurred to
him to raise the same objection when invited to all the official symposiums
for the past twenty five years.

His entry into the discussions was even more interesting when he said: “I
guess the legal issues will be best presented by English philologist Murat
Belge.” The person whom he called the philologist is Murat Belge, the
author of more than twenty books on political science and sociology.

This is not important for me as much as for Murat; however, what’s
important is the statement by a historian who determines that a philologist
cannot discuss legal issues. Let me give an example about people with
opinions about everything. A friend of mine stated during university exams
that: “The Treaty of Lausanne recognized only the Armenians, Greeks and
Jews as minorities.” After the
exam, I told him that he was wrong. All of us make mistakes, including me.
But we do not repeat the mistakes when reminded. This friend repeated the
same mistake again later. So, I had to patiently explain and document for
him that Lausanne Treaty recognized all non-Moslems as minorities. But he
kept on making the same mistake during the dinner reception at the Belgian
Embassy on December 2, 2004. As people were discussing the EU-triggered
reforms, he said it again, and I had to intervene quite explicitly, so that
the guest foreign minister would not form the wrong impression about Turkey.

*******

Ilber is right when he says that the May 25-27 conference involved people
of a different team. But it was not right for historian Ilber, who seems to
have been transferred to the official “Government Team” to comment on this
different team, which has been gaining tremendous momentum in the last few
years.

I repeat: Ilber Ortayli is perhaps one of our most important historians. I
would have expected him to look at this event not from the official
position, but from a historical perspective and say: “These people are all
from the same team. Just like the previous ones. In this conference
opposing opinions will be discussed and one-sided games will not be played.
Finally we will see a real match.” If he had said this, then everybody
would have deleted the word “perhaps” when talking about Ilber.

Let’s wait and see what the events will tell.

Ermeni Sorunu konferansi ve Ilber Hoca(-lar)
Baskin Oran
Agos and Birgun
May 27, 2005

Konferansi iptal ettirmekle, Türkiye, bir kez daha kendi ayagina kursun
sikti. Gözüktügünden çok daha demokratik oldugu izlenimini verme firsatini
kaçirdi. Simdi; yapilamamasi, yapilmasindan daha büyük gürültü kopartacak.
Türkiye düsmanlari bayram ediyor.
Sebep olanlar UTANSIN. 80 yildir tek tarafli dinlerken susup, alternatif
görüs çikinca “Tek tarafli ele aliniyor” diyenler UTANSIN. Üniversite
özerkligini rezil edenler UTANSIN. 24 Sali sabahi yazdigim asagidaki
yaziyi, hiç degistirmeden, tam da Tehcir “Kanun-i Muvakkat”inin çiktigi bu
27 Mayis günü, bu utanmasi gereken “milliyetçilerimiz”e ithaf ediyorum.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Benden bir yil sonra mezun Mülkiyeli kardesim Prof. Ilber Ortayli, Prof.
Halil Inalcik-sonrasi kusaginin belki de en önemli tarihçisidir.
Uluslararasi planda saygi gören nadir Türkiyelilerdendir. Üstelik, fildisi
kulesinde kazik gibi oturup kalan cinsinden degil; sözü-sohbeti çok hos
cinsinden, genis kültürlü bir tarihçidir.
Seksen yildir bu ülkede Ermeni konusunda resmî görüsten baska birsey
duyulmadi. Seksen yildir, biraz farkli düsüneyim diyen “hain” oldu.
Yillardir, TV’lerden üniversitelere ve ilkokullara kadar kronolojik
sirayla: 1) “Ermeni meselesi mi, o da neymis?”; 2) “Onlar bizi öldürdü, biz
onlari öldürmedik, ölenler de salginlardan öldü”; 3) “Katliam olduysa bile,
karsilikli oldu”; 4) “Bu konuyu tarihçilere birakalim” dendi. Hl bile
deniyor.
Bilimadami, kendi alaninin her konusunu bilemez. Önemli olan, çalismadigi
alanda konusmamaktir. Ilber Hoca, konusmayi çok sevdigi halde, bu nadir
görülen basireti gösterdi. Hep sustu. Bu konuya karismadi.
***
Tabu; agzini açan “hain” ilan edildigi için, kimsenin konusamadigi konudur.
Simdi TV’lerde her Allahin günü bir Ermeni tartismasi var. “Son Tabu” da
sizlere ömür.
Bu isler böyledir iste. Gider gider, bitiverir. Bogaziçi-Bilgi-Sabanci
üniversitelerinin 25-27 Mayis’ta ortaklasa düzenledigi “Imparatorlugun
Çöküs Döneminde Osmanli Ermenileri” konferansina yerleskesinde izin verdi
diye Bogaziçi Rektörü Prof. Ayse Soysal’a hain diyenleri kimse
hatirlamayacak, Hoca saygiyla hatirlanacak. Siz Sokrates’i mi
hatirliyorsunuz, onu idam edenleri mi?
Birgün söyle diyecegiz: “Yahu, bizim bir zamanlar bir son tabumuz vardi;
neydi ooo?”.
***
Ilber Hoca bu noktada Ermeni konusuna birdenbire girdi. “Davet edilenler
hep belli bir takimin isimleri. Meseleler böyle çok saglikli tartisilmaz”
dedi (Hürriyet, 23.05.2005). Oysa, yirmi bes yildir sadece resmî görüs
sempozyumlari yapilirken, bunu söylemek hiç aklina gelmemisti.
Üstelik bu giris, bir tür, cami duvarina hamle etmeyle karisik oldu:
“Hukuksal problemleri herhalde Ingiliz filologu Murat Belge tartisacak”
dedi. Filolog dedigi, sunca yildir siyaset bilimi ve sosyoloji üzerine
hepsi de özgün 20 kadar kitap yayinlamis Prof. Murat Belge idi.
Bu çok önemli degil ve üstelik beni degil Murat’i ilgilendirir; o da
ilgilendi zaten. Önemli olan su ki, hukuk sorunlarinin filolog tarafindan
tartisilamayacagini söyleyen bir tarihçinin hukuk konusunda fazla iddiali
konusmayan bir kisi olmasi gerekirdi.
“Herbokolog”” birinden canli örnek vereyim. Bu arkadas Mülkiye’de bir
yeterlik sinavi jürisinde “Lozan’da sadece Ermeniler, Rumlar, Museviler
azinlik sayilmistir” diye bir fikir serdetti. Sinavdan sonra, bunun yanlis
oldugunu kendisine söyledim.
Olabilir; basta ben, hepimiz ne yanlislar yapiyoruz. Ama, düzelttikleri
zaman tekrarlamiyoruz. Bu arkadas ayni yanlisi baska bir jüride daha
yineledi. Bunun üzerine, kendisini usulca bir kenara çekip Lozan’da bütün
gayrimüslimlerin azinlik sayildigini tekrar söyledim. Yazdiklarimin
künyesini de verdim.
Ne hikmetse, ayni seyi bir de Belçika büyükelçiliginde 2 Aralik 2004 gecesi
verilen yemekte yapti. Herkes AB reformlari konusunda fikrini söylüyordu;
sira kendisine gelince ayni fahis hukuk hatasini tekrarlayinca, hiç
istemezdim ama, konuk disisleri bakaninin Türkiye hakkinda yanlis bilgi
edinmemesi için isin dogrusunu dobra dobra belirtmek gibi tatsiz bir
zorunluluk karsisinda kaldim.
***
25-27 Mayis konferansinin belli bir takimin toplantisi oldugu hususunda
Ilber hakli. Ama, son birkaç yildir gittikçe hizlanan bir biçimde karsi
takima, “devlet takimi”na transfer olan tarihçi Ilber Ortayli’nin
söyleyecegi birsey degildi bu.
Tekrar ediyorum: Ilber Ortayli, Halil Inalcik-sonrasi kusaginin belki de
en önemli tarihçisi. Böyle birisinden, olaya devlet açisindan degil tarih
açisindan bakmasi ve söyle demesi beklenirdi:
“Bunlarin hepsi ayni takimdan. Su na kadarkiler gibi. Bu konferansta
karsit fikir ortaya konacagi için artik tek kale bitecek. Nihayet maç
görebilecegiz”.
Iste o zaman, büyük olasilikla, herkes Ilber’den bahsederken “belki de”
demeksizin bahsedecekti. Dur bakalim, tarih nasilsa gösterecek.

The Zoryan Institute is the first non-profit, international center devoted
to the research and documentation of contemporary issues related to
Armenian social, political and cultural life. To this end, the Institute
conducts multidisciplinary research, publication, and educational programs
dealing with Armenia, the Armenian Genocide, and Diaspora, within a
universal context.