Assyrian International News Agency
Jan 2 2009
Turkey Inches Toward Genocide Recognition
by Abdulmesih BarAbrahem
Midyat, Turkey (AINA) — The head of the pro-Kurdish DTP (Demokratik
Toplum Partisi — Democratic Society Party) in Turkey, Ahmet Türk,
toured the south-east region early this week and visited the Assyrian
Cultural Association in Midyat. He was accompanied by other DTP
members of the Turkish parliament from Mardin, Diyarbakir and
Sanliurfa, Emine Ayna, Aysel Tigluk, and Ibrahim Binici. At the
Assyrian Club he met with the vice-chairman Yuhanna Aktas and other
Assyrians.
According to various Turkish news sources (AINA 12-30-2008), Türk
apologized to the Assyrians in context of the events of 1915: "Sensing
the pain of the events in our hearts, we feel that we need to
apologize. In Turkey, apology is becoming quite a fashion
recently. However, ours is something very different," he said.
Recently, a group of 200 Turkish intellectuals launched an Internet
campaign to apologize for Ottoman war crimes committed at the hand of
Turks against Armenians during World War I (AINA 12-12-2008). The
language used does not refer to the term genocide, as favored by the
victims, though it is certainly helping to erode the biggest taboo in
Turkey, as the campaign initiator Baskin Oran puts it. The language
speaks of "the great catastrophe" but Assyrians as victims — 750,000
(75%) were killed in the genocide — are not mentioned. Meanwhile at
least 25,000 Turks have signed the petition, prompting calls of
treason by Turkish nationalists and media. The Turkish Prime Minister
Mr. Erdogan himself has called the petition a "mistake" (AINA
12-18-2008).
Mr. Türk continued his statements at the Assyrian association in
Midyat with the following remarks: "We are ready to apologize for
wrong doing. This is not to reduce the importance of the events. The
events should be not brought up to the agenda by a simple apology. We
are the people of this region and soil. Our struggle is aimed to allow
people to live in brotherhood."
Closing his remarks, Mr. Türk said: "Without forgetting that Kurds
have been abused in the past to act against others, it is important
that we study the history and derive lessons. Probably we, as Kurds,
have our stake in the killing of this (cultural) richness. Today, when
we see Armenian and Assyrian brothers, and look at them, we feel
shame."
Subsequently, the DTP delegation led by Türk visited the Assyrian
monastery of St. Gabriel and met with Bishop Samuel Aktas. The
monastery has recently came under attack by neighboring Kurdish
village leaders, who are close to Erdogan’s ruling party (AKP), aiming
at grabbing monastery’s land via fabricated lawsuits (AINA
12-24-2008).
Clouded and Undifferentiated View
Mr. Türk’s apology is definitely welcomed as a gesture of friendship
by Assyrians. In fact, it is not the first time that a Kurdish leader
has apologized for Kurdish crimes committed against Assyrians during
World War I. Putting Mr. Türk’s statement in context of the Apology
Campaign of by Turkish intellectuals, it is a courageous step by a
party leader of the Turkish parliament.
In his statements, Ahmet Türk does not use the term genocide, and,
like many Kurdish nationalists, compares the "suffering" of the Kurds
in Turkey to the suffering of the Armenians and Assyrians in the past
and especially to that of World War I, saying, that "Kurds today live
the same pain." This confirms still an undifferentiated historical
view with regards to the great losses that Assyrians had during World
War I; apparently his suggested studies of history and the lessons to
be learned from that need to go further.
In an interview with BBC and CNN in November of 2008, Mr. Türk used
the word genocide for what is happening to the Kurds in Turkey, later
on emphasizing that he did not use the word to support any Armenian
claims. Triggered by protests of Collective VAN, a French-based
Armenian initiative (Vigilance against the Holocaust Denial), a press
controversy began in Turkey following the use of the term that is
still taboo in Turkey.
According to Collective VAN, Ahmet Turk is best positioned to know
what a genocide is, since he is the grand-son of one of the heads of
Hamidiye regiments (Hüseyin Kanco of Mardin), established by the
Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II in 1894; they were responsible for
perpetrating massacres against Armenians and Assyrians in the eastern
provinces. These para-military regiments consisted of Kurdish chiefs
who actively participated in the massacres against Christians in
1894/96 and again later in 1915 during the genocide unleashed by the
Young Turkish government against the Christian population.
Despite being very well informed about the reality of the genocide,
Collective VAN accuses Türk of manipulating the issue. In 2007 Ahmet
Turk complained to Turkish television because DTP was not invited to
the commemorations of Victory Day on 30/08/2007. He vehemently
criticized the decision, stressing that the Turks had obtained the
victory thanks to the Kurds — because it is "understood that the
Kurds had helped clean the Armenian people," according to Collective
VAN — and the Kurds were excluded from the festivities.
Abdulmesih BarAbrahem was born in Midyat, Tur Abdin in the Turkish
part of Mesopotamia and emigrated with his parents to Germany in the
mid-1960s, wherehe completed his education and received his M.Sc. from
the University of Erlangen/Nürnberg in the field of Computer
Science. Early 1970s, he organized the first Assyrian conference in
West Germany, which marked the beginning of organized public Assyrian
activities in Europe. He has published numerous articles on Assyrian
topics. He is currently President of the Trusty-Fund of the Yoken Bar
Yoken Foundation.