COLUMNISTS JOIN ARMENIAN APOLOGY DEBATE
Turkish Daily News
December 18, 2008 Thursday
The debate over the campaign launched by a range of professionals and
intellectuals to apologize for the Ottoman killings of Armenians has
spread to the columns of the country’s dailies. Meanwhile, a counter
online signature campaign has emerged, by a group calling themselves
"The Real Turkish Intellectuals."
Turkish columnists widely criticized the apology campaign. Erdal
Safak from daily Sabah argued the campaign would do more harm than
good because it "would be evaluated as a confession of genocide,"
and "would harm the proposal to establish a history commission to
investigate the 1915 events."
Ertugrul Ozkok from daily Hurriyet said he considered the campaign a
joke, asking who would apologize for the Turkish diplomats murdered
by the ASALA terror organization, or the Turks and Kurds who were
slaughtered by Armenian gangs in 1915.
Nuray Mert from daily Radikal argued the campaign aimed at "scraping
the Turkish intellectuals from their historical shame and to make
them feel good and civilized." She also questioned the apology part of
the statement asking, "On whose behalf and to whom should I apologize?"
"I am really disturbed by the act of apologizing to a nation in the
name of national or ethical belonging. This is no different than
bragging about ones nationality. Therefore, I would like to sign the
text without the apology part," she wrote.
The new Web site "ozurdilemiyoruz.com" (we do not apologize) opened by
a group calling themselves "The Real Turkish Intellectuals," posted
a statement saying "we do not have any apology for anybody. We only
have a call to account from those who murdered our ancestors and
brothers." More than 2,000 people have signed the statement so far.