Aljazeera.net, Qatar
Jan 21 2007
Film tackles ‘genocide’ controversy
By Kris Evans in Los Angeles
BEE-45C2-BA33-3A0F63B4E3A9.htm
Serj Tankian, right, the lead singer of System of a Down
has condemned the Armenian genocide [Getty]
The killing of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist who
publicised the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians at the
turn of the 20th century, is likely to turn a spotlight on a dark
period of Turkish history.
Many Armenians say the killings, perpetrated in the twilight years of
the Ottoman Empire between 1915-17, were deliberate acts of genocide.
Turkey however says the Armenians died in mass communal violence, and
that many Turks also died in the violence.
Dink’s murder on the streets of Istanbul comes only days before the
release of a documentary by a Pulitzer prize-winning author who
teamed up with a rock band to raise awareness of the issue.
Carla Garabedian, an American film maker and former war
correspondent, is trying to pressure Western governments to
acknowledge that the killing of more than a million Armenians during
the break up of the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923 was an act
of genocide.
The US government, however, refuses to use the "g" word, as do the
governments of the UK and Turkey (Amnesty International states that
while the killings are a matter of fact, calling them genocide is a
matter of legal opinion).
The film Screamers is likely to raise the ire of those in Turkey who
argue that Ottoman citizens – Armenian and Turkish – died in great
numbers during the final days of the empire, and who characterise the
deaths as part of a much larger war.
Head banging politics
"Whether the deaths of Armenians or Muslims constitute genocide or
some other no less horrific crime, or no crime at all, should be
studied and openly debated by both sides"
Gunay Evinch, a Turkish-American Fulbright Scholar in international
law
Garabedian’s previous work includes the Emmy-award winning Beneath
the Veil, about women in Afghanistan, and Dying for the President, a
film during which she risked her life to sneak into Chechnya during
the height of the conflict there.
Now she has teamed up with System of a Down, a Los Angeles-based
metal band who are all of Armenian descent, two of which were born in
Lebanon and known in the record industry for embracing political and
human rights issues.
The documentary is interlaced with concert footage as well as
interviews with Turkish dissidents, intellectuals, and Samantha
Power, a Pulitzer-prize winning writer, whose book A Problem from
Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, was Garabedian’s inspiration
for the film.
But it is unlikely that the film, already being shown in Los Angeles
and opening in New York on January 26, will be screened in Turkey any
time soon.
Open debate
Gunay Evinch, a Turkish-American Fulbright Scholar in international
law, says: "Whether the deaths of Armenians or Muslims constitute
genocide or some other no less horrific crime, or no crime at all,
should be studied and openly debated by both sides.
"I also believe that the question of whether a crime has been
committed is a legal inquiry in which historians should serve as
expert witnesses."
Evinch and numerous other Turkish scholars argue that while, for
example, the Jewish Holocaust was the very definition of genocide –
and proven so in court – the Armenian issue is more complex.
System of a Down feature heavily in the
film and are political campaigners [EPA]
They also point to the strength of the Armenian lobby (both sides
like to highlight the other’s lobbying power), and argue that
Armenians and their supporters are opposed to a court determination
because a "public relations approach" is more likely to bring about a
conviction.
And if there were a court case?
Evinch says: "My own opinion is that Turkey would win the case on the
merits, and that all who seek the truth should explore the ICJ
[International Court of Justice] option."
No more debate
"We think we have a policy of ‘never again’ – never again will we let
the Holocaust happen. But we let genocide happen underneath our
noses"
Carla Garabedian, film maker
But for the director of Screamers, the moment for debate and
discussion has long since passed.
"Had they wanted me to have a debate on it, I wouldn’t have taken
part. I just don’t think you can be even handed about something like
genocide."
Consensus may never be reached between the two sides (although
letters have recently been exchanged between the Turkish and Armenian
premiers with regard to a joint study), but the documentary also
explores the West’s reaction, or non-reaction, to events in Darfur,
Rwanda and Halabja (a Kurdish town in north Iraq where thousands of
Kurds were gassed in 1988).
On this point, Garabedian says it’s no longer about Turkey but "about
us [in the West] and our foreign policy".
She said: "We think we have a policy of ‘never again’ – never again
will we let the Holocaust happen. But we let genocide happen
underneath our noses, we know exactly what’s going on and we have
made a decision we’re going to allow it to happen."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress