Epoch Times, NY
April 6 2008
Armenia: Overcoming the Past
How can a people overcome a history of genocide?
By Cesar Chelala
Special to The Epoch Times Apr 06, 2008
Photo: A view of a placard showing the picture of the
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was murdered in Jan. 2007
by a Turkish nationalist. The placard is part of a demonstration
calling on the EU to require Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian
genocide. (John Thys/AFP/Getty Images)
During a recent trip to Armenia, I was once again reminded of man’s
inhumanity to man, his brutality to fellow human beings. I also found
myself face-to-face once again with the power of memory and of hate,
and asked myself if there is any way to overcome the lingering and
pernicious effects of murderous acts.
In 1915, as the Ottoman Empire was in its death throes, over a
million Armenians were massacred, and many others were forced into
exile from the land that had been theirs for centuries.
More recently, in the 1970s in my own country, Argentina, the
military conducted what has become known as the "dirty war" against
those who opposed its dictatorship. In the process, the military made
"to disappear" thousands of people – as many as 30,000 – never to be seen
again or accounted for.
In the Argentine case, many years later, military officers – including
members of the former ruling junta – were tried and imprisoned. While
this action couldn’t bring back the "disappeared," it was a necessary
act of justice for their families and partial closure for their
losses.
But what about the Armenian hatred for the Turks, almost a century
after the devastating events of 1915? Can the antagonism be overcome
so that a civilized relationship between the two countries can be
brought about? It is obviously too late to bring those responsible to
justice. However, it should be possible to reach a level of
understanding between the two societies.
While in Yerevan, I spoke with Professor Mira Antonyan, director of
the Fund for Armenian Relief, about the effects of those events on
Armenians today. "The only thing that unites us now is our resentment
against the Turks for the events of the past. Being Armenian means
having sad memories," she told me. That feeling was shared by her
husband and a friend of both, who regularly trade with Turkish
businessmen.
I told them that I felt Armenians were in a quagmire, unable to move
forward because of the tremendous weight of history. "Perhaps you are
right," Mira’s husband answered, "but genocide is a very heavy burden
on our shoulders. We cannot just forget what happened. We cannot
erase our memory."
Broadly speaking, I believe that there is a generational divide on
the question. The older generation – those over 50 – insist on the need
for an apology from the Turkish government. The younger generations,
without rejecting the facts of history, feel the need to overcome
those memories. They believe that such visceral attachment to the
past is self-defeating.
Kamilla Petrosyan, a psychiatrist in her late 30s, told me how her
4-year-old son arrived home one day from kindergarten frightened to
death on learning that day about the 1915 massacres. "We have to stop
this culture of victimization," she said, "otherwise we will never be
able to move forward."
Recent events have shown that the Turks too are beginning to show
signs of the need to move forward. A number of Turkish intellectuals,
including last year’s winner of the Noble Prize for literature, Orhan
Pamuk, have made public statements to that effect. And, following the
assassination last year of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, some 50,000 people marched through the streets of Istanbul in
solidarity, and leading members of the present Turkish government
attended the funeral ceremonies at the Armenian Patriarchal Church.
What we now desperately need is a change of paradigm, to move from a
culture of violence to one of peace. Recent times have been
characterized by the use of violence over dialogue, and of aggression
over diplomacy. Very little has been done to build effective bridges
for peace.
Even limited initiatives, such as the one carried out by volunteers
from the American Peace Corps in Armenia for summer camps for
children from both Turkey and Armenia, are valid undertakings. In
talks with several Armenian schoolteachers, I found them eager for
contact with Turkish schoolchildren.
It is only by constructing bridges of understanding – particularly
working with young people, still untainted by the weight of the
past – that we will be able to change the present paradigm of violence
and war for one of collaboration and peace.
Dr. Cesar Chelala is the co-author of "Missing or Dead in Argentina:
The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims," a New York
Times Magazine cover story, for which he shared an Overseas Press
Club of America award.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress