DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT, BACK TO THE WALL’: A CONVERSATION WITH ORAL CALISLAR
By Andy Turpin
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April 16, 2009
ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)-On March 16, Radikal columnist and Turkish
journalist Oral Calislar spoke to the Weekly about the current state
of Armenian Genocide politics in Turkey just prior to President Barack
Obama’s recent visit to Turkey and Iraq.
Speaking about Turkey’s current ruling government under Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Calislar stated, "Turkey is now in a changing
position with the AKP in power but there are many Kemalists still in
the army. They wanted to prevent the AKP from taking power but they
couldn’t. Now the AKP has brought Turkey closer to Western standards."
Of his own record as a voice of Turkish dissent, incarcerated by the
state in the 1970’s alongside historian Taner Akcam for his views in
support of Armenians and Kurds, Calislar said, "For many years I was
a Maoist. I spent 10 years underground and 7 years in jail. At this
point, though, I’m closer to the Islamic party on many issues. It
is a pity, but it is true. On the Armenian issue this government is
closer to my views."
He expanded, "This government is not in favor of the apology campaign
[initiated in December 2008], but they do want to do something on
the Armenian issue. But if recognition [of the genocide] comes from
the U.S. this year, it will affect Turkish policies negatively. The
problem now is relations."
Asked whether Turkey and Armenia should open their common border for
commerce and passage, Calislar stated, "I am very supportive of Turkey
and Armenia opening up the borders. I went to Armenia several times in
favor of this. I was also one of the first signers of the apology. I
think 90 percent of the world believes it was genocide, but in Turkey
there was a total blackout period. Now books are being written here
on the subject but we need time. The Turkish people need time."
Commenting on the role Hrant Dink’s assassination has played since
2007, he said, "Millions of people cried for him. He was a very
effective and important figure and we used to travel around Anatolia
speaking in many panels together."
Asked whether he feels safer today from ultra-nationalists in Turkey
who seek to silence dissenters through violence, he noted, "Well
tonight, for example, I will eat dinner at a function with President
Abdullah Gul and I will bring my bodyguard. But in general I do feel
safer than I have before."
Much of this feeling of increasing safety is from the ongoing Ergenekon
trials, in which Turkish security forces have made sweeping dragnet
arrests of political figures and intellectuals they have alleged
are members of the "Deep State," seeking a coup of Turkey’s present
government.
He added, "Many of these people are killers and the majority of the
bad killers have been put in jail. My name was on their list of people
to kill, too."
Asked whether he was currently under any indictments or in any court
proceedings involving the infamous Article 301 statute that had made
it a crime to "insult Turkishness," Calislar said, "I was before,
because of my articles and declarations [regarding the Armenian
Genocide] but not today. Although now the state wants to open up
cases against the signers of the apology. But 30,000 people signed
the apology. What can they do?"
The number of those in Turkey that recognize the genocide is
increasing, he said, and "step by step things are changing. Now at
least 10 percent of Turkish people think it was genocide. That’s a
huge improvement."
Of his own projects, Calislar has written a new book called Alevi Lands
that will come out this year in Turkish. "The Alevis [ethnic Kurdish
minority] are about 10 million in Turkey and have hidden their identity
for so many years but are now looking to secure minority rights,"
he explained. "My wife, Ipek Calislar, also has a new book coming
out called, Mrs. Ataturk, about Ataturk’s wife Latife Hanim or Latife
Hanimefendi, that will be published in English, German, and French."
"They tried to open a case against her, too," he said of the Article
301 prosecutors, "because she recounts a story of how Ataturk once
disguised himself as a woman during the war to escape capture by the
Allies. But what can you do, this is reality."