CUTTING THE GORDIONS KNOT – ARE THE QUESTIONS SINCE 1915 GOING TO BE ANSWERED?
By Irem Guney, JTW

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Feb 12 2007

The assassination of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has
stimulated the debates about the minority rights in Turkey as well
as the questions about facing the history regarding the year 1915.

The recent news about the mass grave in Nusaybin, a town in the
southeast region of Turkey, deepened the discussions not only between
Armenians and Turks but also between the international community
whose majority asks for the recognition of the "genocide" and the
Turkish people who mostly perceive the happenings as a tragedy for
both nations during the First World War and refer to the incidences
as the displacement of Armenians.

The genocide researcher Prof. David Gaunt from Sodertorns University
argued that these graves in Nusaybin town belong to Armenians and
Suryanis and took up the topic to the Swedish Parlament. Following
this, Prof. Yusuf Halacoðlu, the head of the Turkish Historical Society
addressed to Mr. Gaunt and other academics who are researching in this
field, in that he suggested cooperated field work on the graveyards and
to open up them together. Mr. Gaunt responded to this affirmatively
whereas his conditions such as absolute freedom in his work, the
allowance to interview those who have a knowledge about the graves,
and the entrance to other mass graves around Mardin were also accepted
by the Turkish Historical Society that is also willing to cover the
expenses and needs of the researchers who will start their work in
March. This project is going to be the first of his kind regarding
the international cooperation, says Mr. Halacoðlu.

Prof. Yusuf Halacoðlu also commented on the assassination of the
Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink and referred to it as an important
loss for Turkish society. Currently, the Turkish Historical Society
expects the final reply from Mr. Gaunt and his colleagues who, in
Halacoðlu’s view, should apologise if the outcomes would show that
the graves belong to neither Armenians nor Suryanis but Turkish
people. Halacoðlu finally stated that they would apologise if the
researches support the hypothesis of Prof. Gaunt.

The importance of this cooperation does not only lie in its
international character but also in its possible outcomes. The lack
of a mass grave is one of the mostly claimed points of the Turkish
side against the Armenian arguments. In this view, there must be a
mass grave for Armenians in the Eastern Turkey or in former Ottoman
Syria’s territories who were displaced in 1915 if one is talking about
genocide. In Turkish point of view, the hypothesis that most of the
Armenians were killed on their way is also not very plausible since
nevertheless there would have been a mass grave for so many people.

In the last 20 years, there had been some field work on the graveyards
led by the Turkish Historical Society and some universities like
Erzurum Ataturk University. However, in these projects there was no
Armenian researchers who refused the appeal of the Turkish Historical
Society regarding the cooperation.

Another crucial point in the research for the possible Armenian graves
is with respect to the route of the displacement. The significant
amount of Armenians who were directed to Syria-a province of the
Ottoman Empire at that time- should, in Turkish point of view, indicate
to the possibility of mass graves in Syria if there had been the
genocide against Armenian people. Yet despite its possibility there
has not been any opening up works in this region which, in Turkish
perspective, strengthens the position that Armenians want to reach
conclusions that are based on subjectivity.

The expected cooperation in Mardin would probably reveal important
results for both of the parties. On the other hand, one should not
expect a quick resolution after the research on the mass grave. As the
experience until today has demonstrated, no matter what the current
debates are, there is one certain point in the whole debate about
what happened in 1915. That it will continue for a long time.

–Boundary_(ID_QMK0CmwVxnds7euEWaUuNA)–