TURKISH INTELLECTUALS ISSUE APOLOGY FOR PAST ATROCITIES AGAINST ARMENIANS

The New Zealand Herald
December 16, 2008 Tuesday

ANKARA, Turkey – A group of about 200 Turkish intellectuals yesterday
issued an apology on the internet for the World War I-era massacres
of Armenians in Turkey.

The group of prominent academics, journalists, writers and artists
avoided using the contentious term "genocide" in the apology, using
the less explosive "Great Catastrophe" instead.

"My conscience does not accept that (we) remain insensitive toward and
deny the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected
in 1915," read the apology.

"I reject this injustice, share in the feelings and pain of my Armenian
brothers, and apologise to them."

The apology is a sign that many in Turkey are ready to break a
long-held taboo against acknowledging Turkish culpability for the
deaths.

Historians estimate that, in the last days of the Ottoman Empire,
up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in what is
widely regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Armenians have long pushed for the deaths to be recognised as genocide.

While Turkey does not deny that many died in that era, the country has
rejected the term genocide, saying the death toll is inflated and the
deaths resulted from civil unrest during the Ottoman Empire’s collapse.

Nearly 2,500 members of the public also signed the online apology,
giving their support to the intellectuals.

Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk was prosecuted after he
commented on the mass killings in 2005.

Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist was shot outside his Istanbul
office in 2007, following his prosecution for comments he made about
the killings of Armenians.

Turkish nationalists have criticised the online apology and a group
of some 60 retired Turkish diplomats described the move "as unfair,
wrong and unfavourable to national interests".

"Such an incorrect and one-sided attempt would mean disrespecting
our history," the diplomats said.

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Action Party said:
"No one has the right to insult our ancestors, to present them as
criminals and to ask for an apology."

By late yesterday there were no public threats of legal action over
the petition.

"Many in Turkey today, in good faith, believe that nothing happened to
the Armenians. For many years, the official line has been that this
was a secondary event that occurred in the conditions of World War
I. But the truth is not so," Cengiz Aktar, a professor at Istanbul’s
Bahcesehir University and one of the petition’s organisers told Vatan
newspaper in an interview.

"It is a voice from the conscience. Those who want to apologise can,
those who don’t want to don’t have to," he said.

Gila Benmayor, a journalist and columnist for Turkey’s mass-circulation
Hurriyet newspaper said she signed the petition because she believes
"the time has come for change".

"Some things need to be spoken, need to be discussed and expressed
in an open way," she told The Associated Press.

She said she did not hesitate to sign the petition because the wording
was not controversial.

"The words were carefully chosen so as not to upset any side,"
she said.

"We are not betraying anyone. We are merely telling the Armenians
that we share their grief."

The apology comes at a time when Turkey and Armenia have taken steps
toward repairing ties.

The two neighbours have no diplomatic relations and their shared
border has been closed since 1993, when Turkey protested Armenia’s
occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkey backs Azerbaijan’s claims to the disputed region, which has
a high number of ethnic Armenian residents but is located within
Azerbaijan’s borders.

In September, however, President Abdullah Gul became the first
Turkish leader to visit Armenia, where he and Armenian President
Serge Sarkisian watched their countries’ football teams play a World
Cup qualifying match.