DEFENSE MINISTER’S REMARKS ON NATION-STATE SPARK CRITICISM
Today’s Zaman
Nov 12 2008
Turkey
Remarks made by Defense Minister Vecdi Gönul on Turkey’s nation-state
building, which defended deportations of Greeks and Armenians from
Anatolia at the beginning of the last century, have been met with
harsh criticism from intellectuals and civil society organizations.
Gönul, who was in Brussels to participate in a European Union
defense ministers’ meeting, gave a speech at the Turkish Embassy
there on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk on Nov. 10. In his speech Gönul claimed that if Greeks and
Armenians were still living in the country, Turkey would not be the
same nation-state it is today. He hinted that Armenia is supporting
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Gönul also complained
that there was not even one single Muslim among the founders of the
İzmir Chamber of Trade. Gönul said on Tuesday that he had been
misunderstood.
Gönul was an unofficial candidate for the presidency in 2007. It has
been claimed that he had told his close circle that his wife does
not wear a headscarf and that his relationship with the military
is good so that he could become president. His role in the April 27
e-memorandum issued by the armed forces also led to questions. It was
claimed that Gönul knew about the e-memorandum but did not inform the
government at that time. On April 27, 2007, the General Staff posted
a declaration on its Web site in an attempt to discourage the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) from nominating Abdullah
Gul, minister of foreign affairs at the time, for the presidency. The
government decided to hold early elections after the e-memorandum.
Gönul, who is a former governor, claimed that reform efforts during
the last years of the Ottoman Empire were ineffective and were unable
to "save the country." He suggested that the "success" of the republic
lies in the nation-building process:
"If there were Greeks in the Aegean and Armenians in most places in
Turkey today, would it be the same nation-state? I don’t know with
which words I can explain the importance of the population exchange,
but if you look at the former state of affairs, its importance will
become very clear," Gönul said.
The Lausanne Treaty signed in 1924 called for a population exchange
between the Greek Orthodox citizens of the young Turkish Republic and
the Muslim citizens of Greece, which resulted in the displacement of
approximately 2 million people.
The Armenian population that was in Turkey before the establishment
of Turkish Republic was forced to emigrate in 1915, and the conditions
of this expulsion are the basis of Armenian claims of genocide.
In the same speech, Gönul hinted that Armenians are supporting the
PKK. "We cannot deny the contribution of those who consider themselves
the victims of this nation-building, especially the forced emigration,
to the struggle in the southeastern Anatolia," he said.
He added that in those days Ankara was composed of four neighborhoods
— Armenian, Jewish, Greek and Muslim — and claimed that after the
nation-building process, it was possible to establish a national
bourgeoisie.
Soli Ozel from Istanbul Bilgi University underlined that Gönul’s
remarks about nation-building are correct from a historical point of
view but are very unfortunate because they show that Gönul is not
aware of the loss Turkey has experienced due to the homogenization of
the population. Ozel underlined that Gönul’s hints about the Kurdish
question and forced Armenian emigration clearly show that the defense
minister does not understand the Kurdish question and the effect of
failed policies towards it.
Professor Baskın Oran said Gönul’s remarks are nonsense in all of
their dimensions.
"The expulsion of Greeks and Armenians led a delay of
industrialization for at least 50 years. There is no such thing as
a national bourgeoisie; naturally, the bourgeoisie are cooperating
internationally," Oran said.
According to Oran, Gönul’s remarks are also connected to the positions
of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Referring to recent claims
that the AK Party is losing its Kurdish supporters due to Erdogan’s
remarks on the Kurdish issue, Oran said, "The others in the party
are just following him."
Professor Dogu Ergil from Ankara University, a Today’s Zaman columnist,
said Gönul’s remarks are very unfortunate and that society is under
threat. "We are all threatened by discriminatory perspectives that
support ethnic cleansing," Ergil pointed out.
Ozturk Turkdogan, the chairman of the Human Rights Association (Ä°HD),
said Gönul’s remarks are a reflection of a very flawed understanding
of the nation-state. "The existence of different ethnicities in a
country does not mean a unitary state is impossible. Gönul’s remarks
reflect the ideas of World War II," he said.
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