TURKISH REPUBLIC RATHER THAN TURKISH INTELLIGENTSIA OUGHT TO APOLOGIZE TO ARMENIANS
Karine Ter-Sahakyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.12.2008 GMT+04:00

Besides the quests of national identity there is also an internal
struggle going on in Turkey for future of the country that has fallen
into the clutches of Kemalism and can in no way get out of them.

The quests of national identity led Turkish intellectuals to an,
at first glance, highly unexpected action. For the last few days
the entire world press has been exclusively writing about confessing
"butchers", remorse, duty before your offspring – in a word, about
anything with reference to Turkey. Such burst of interest towards the
Turkish nation could also be observed 2 years ago, when Hrant Dink
was assassinated in Istanbul. People then carried placards saying
"We are all Hrant Dink", "We are all Armenians". And now Turkish
intellectuals call for apology to Armenians for the killings in the
Ottoman Empire in the years of the World War I.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ However, as always, the word "genocide" is not
uttered. On the one hand, the movement "Armenians, forgive us"
is, logically, aimed at touching the most sensitive cords of the
Armenian nation, who might unexpectedly accept the apology as if
nothing had happened. On the other hand, the appeal to apologize to
Armenians is highly criticized by not only nationalists, which was
quite predictable, but also by a part of the society who consider
such kind of statements to be halved. "It is a good starting
point, but not enough. Firstly, what do they mean by saying ‘Great
Catastrophe’? Let’s name it. It is genocide. Secondly, the state has
to apologize," said Aytekin Yildiz, Coordinator of the Confrontation
Association. However, in its confession the Turkish nation cannot
be considered to have reached the point of calling a spade a spade
until Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Turkey is revoked. Under
the present circumstances any of those more than 5000 signatories
can be taken to court ant moment. By the way, it is exactly what the
retired diplomats suggest now.

Ex-ambassadors severely criticized the internet campaign of public
apology to Armenians for the events of 1915 and consider that Turkish
intelligentsia should not apologize to the Armenian nation for the
Genocide. The diplomats issued Monday a statement in which they
characterized the campaign as "unfair, wrong and unfavorable for
national interests." According to the Hurriyet Daily News about 60
retired ambassadors and diplomats signed under the statement. "Such an
incorrect and one-sided attempt would mean disrespecting our history
and betraying our people who lost their lives in the violent attacks
of the terror organizations in the final days of the Ottoman Empire,
as well as during the formation of the Republic," says the statement
signed by Sukru Elekdag and Onur Oymen. Authors of the statement also
remind that Armenia has rejected Turkey’s suggestion on forming a
commission of historians to investigate the events of 1915.

The diplomats’ letter, as well as the nationalists’ threats to punish
the intelligentsia representatives, in our opinion, suggest that the
Government does not intend apologize. Besides the quests of national
identity there is also an internal struggle going on in Turkey for
future of the country that has fallen into the clutches of Kemalism
and can in no way get out of them. Even the Islamist party of Gul and
Erdogan is still unable to outweigh the influence of the Joint Staff
on the country’s policy. Prime-Minister Erdogan is a pragmatic and he
perfectly realizes where the military will finally lead Turkey to,
but he is still unable to stand against them. Thereupon, the online
petition of the intellectuals may play a great role. According to
Antonio Ferrari, Journalist of the Corriere della Sera and author of
an article about the online petition of the Turkish intellectuals,
Prime-Minister Erdogan and President Gul’s silence on the apology
campaign can be regarded as their interest in the initiative, directed
to intimacy between Turkey and Armenia.

The only "oddity" in all this story is that the petition has not
been signed by Orhan Pamuk, Taner Akcam, Elif Safak, Ragip Zarakolu –
those who for publicly mentioning the Armenian Genocide were brought
to trial under Article 301 and were forced to leave Turkey.