I’m innocent
By FEHMÝ KORU

/fkoru2.html

Yeni Safak daily, May 31, 2005

I should have warned you long ago, but how could I have done it,
since I did not know then that I had something to warn you about. I
feel a little warning is due now: I am an “unruly intellectual” who
“backstabbed” the “national interests,” or I’m one of those who have
been labeled a “traitor.”

I did nothing to deserve that label apart from saying “yes” to
participating in a panel discussion organized by the three most
prestigious universities of Turkey.

The discussion was a part of a three-day conference on “The Armenian
Question.” I know that the topic itself is sensitive, but nevertheless
it has been tackled in many platforms by different scholars, and as is
customary for us journalists, we have commented on the matter widely.

Believe me, even now I’m at a loss as to why my opinions are considered
to be dangerous since I don’t know what I was going to say at that
panel discussion. I always postpone planning my speeches until the
last minute. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek seems to know me better than
I know myself; he labelled myself and my “co-conspirators” as being a
“back-stabbing bunch” in his speech to the Parliament. Sukru Elekdag,
from the opposition Republican People’s (CHP) Party, also did not
hesitate to call us “traitors.”

I beg to differ. I have not betrayed my country, never intended to
commit any kind of treason, yet here I am being portrayed as a traitor
in the columns of some prominent papers. I have been bombarded with
messages from people criticizing me for simply being amongst those
who would give their opinions on a sensitive topic. Intellectuals,
by definition, are duty-bound to raise any issues of importance and
put them to discussion disregarding all hindrances; this is what I
have always believed.

It has never been easy to discuss thorny issues in Turkey before
readying yourself for the worst. We have put our intellectuals
into prisons, forced some to take asylum abroad, and even those
who recited poetry were not immune from prosecution. Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan himself, who spent some time in jail, was a victim
of our harsh methods of dealing with those who never bend in front
of abject power. But to call more than 40 intellectuals “traitors”
is too much for today’s Turkey.

Now the conference on “The Armenian Question” is out of the picture
because it was postponed by the event’s venue, Bogazici University. The
intellectuals, academics, researchers, and journalists who were
supposed to take part in the conference have been left labelled as
“traitors.” In attending the conference, I was hoping to hear some
of the best historians speaking on what happened at that historical
moment in 1915, in order to make up my own mind. I now feel dismayed.

The only consolation in this depressing sequence of events is to
receive positive after-shocks. Prime Minister Erdogan put distance
between his government and Cicek. Erdogan denounced him when he replied
to question on the matter by saying that Cicek’s outburst was his
own opinion and did not represent that of the government. Parliament
Speaker Bulent Arinc reproached the postponement of the event on
the basis of “freedom of expression” during his visit to Washington,
DC. The Board of Higher Education (YOK) initially supported Cicek’s
criticism, although it has changed its position after having second
thoughts on the matter.

So what really happened?

The powers that be in this country always look towards intellectuals
with deep suspicion. They feel uncomfortable whenever they are not
in their own territory, discussing issues with unfamiliar faces,
getting unexpected reactions. From time immemorial, they, the powers
that be, tend to breed their own coterie of trustworthy people to
raise and discuss issues of high importance. They never let things
go out of their control. Governments change, parties come and go,
politician after politician takes central stage, but the official
line is never broken. When we talk about “the continuity of state
politics” in Turkey, we really mean it.

Of course I have my own opinion on the critical events which took place
90 years ago, but my approach to the issue is not to automatically side
with this or that interpretation of the events. I feel deeply sorry
for the loss of human life which occurred in that critical timeframe,
regardless of the numbers. Whether the human life lost before and
during the forced migration was only one person or one million people,
a matter which does not concern me greatly, I would not feel relieved
if only a limited number had died during that fateful period.

It might be terribly important how many men and women from each side
lost their lives in 1915, who instigated the carnage, and who issued
the instructions to that effect. Those are the areas into which
historians should delve and I would like to hear their thoughts. My
main approach to the matter is more compassionate and I think if
we start discussing the issue using our hearts rather than logic,
we would make headway in the issue’s resolution.

What happened in 1915 was probably the result of bullies from both
sides who took advantage of the sorry state of the collapsing Ottoman
Empire. I look at that period retrospectively and try not to hasten
my judgment, but what happened in May 2005 is in my time and thus
naturally it concerns me more. Furthermore, I am one of those who
now bears the label “traitor,” which makes the matter all the more
vital to me.

I should have warned you about my treachery before, but as your humble
columnist, I am sure you will forgive me.

>>From The New Anatolian, May 31, 2005

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