BRYAN ARDOUNY: IRREVERSIBLE TREND COMMENCED IN TURKEY

De Facto
Dec 18, 2008

YEREVAN, 18.12.08. DE FACRTO. "An irreversible trend has commenced
in Turkey," said Bryan Ardouny, Armenian Assembly of America
(Assembly) Executive Director. DE FACTO received the information
at the Assembly. "Over 12,000 people in Turkey want history to
be recorded truthfully, having already signed the internet-based
petition apologizing for what they call the ‘Great Catastrophe’
that befell the Armenians of Ottoman Turkey in 1915. This public
apology is a first step in that direction and will inevitably
lead to Turkey coming to grips with its genocidal past." To note,
this movement arose in response to the January 2007 assassination
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, a strong advocate of
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, who publicly spoke in Turkey of the
"Great Catastrophe" that Ottoman Armenians suffered in 1915, as the
Armenian Genocide. Dink was prosecuted under Article 301 of Turkey’s
Penal Code for "insulting Turkishness" by raising the issue. As a
first step on the path toward affirmation of the Armenian Genocide,
these intellectuals have asked the public in Turkey to sign a petition
stating, "My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to
and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians
were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share,
I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and
sisters. I apologize to them." News accounts report that Turkish
President Abdullah Gul has not opposed the campaign, while Turkey’s
Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that he will not join
the group of Turkish intellectuals who issued the apology, adding "if
there is a crime, then those who committed it can offer an apology. My
nation, my country has no such issue." However, momentum is building
and support continues to increase dramatically. Within a few hours
of the apology’s release, over 2,500 people added their signatures
and made encouraging comments. Cengiz Aktar, professor at Istanbul’s
Bahcesehir University said that it was "our aim to empathize with the
grief of our Armenian brothers," calling on all Turks to "think and
talk openly about how, and why, the Armenian people disappeared from
a land they inhabited for 4,000 years." This process was encouraged
in 2003 by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ),
which concluded that "the Events [of 1915], viewed collectively,
can thus be said to include all of the elements of the crime of
genocide as defined in the Convention, and legal scholars as well
as historians, politicians, journalists and other people would be
justified in continuing to so describe them." Noting the inauguration
of President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph
Biden next month and Obama’s statement from October which read, "Joe
Biden and I believe that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation,
a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented
fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence," Ardouny
said, "They are both on record as supporting Turkey’s reconciliation
with its past, and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. Coupled with
Obama’s recent selection of Senator Hillary Clinton as Secretary of
State, the Obama-Biden Administration has an opportunity to clearly
affirm the Armenian Genocide and, at the same time, help Turkey reverse
its policy of denial. It will also send a message that the U.S. will
no longer shelter Turkey from criticism if it continues to persecute
leading intellectuals by invoking Article 301 of its Penal Code."