Providence Journal-Bulletin (Rhode Island)
April 18, 2009 Saturday
Turkey must confront past on its own
by LISA D{-i}CARLO
WELLESLEY, Mass
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S recent address to the Turkish Parliament was
indicative of the general post-Bush sea change in international
diplomacy. He chose the higher path, in hopes that Turkey will do the
same.
By describing Turkey as a progressive, secular democracy with a
diverse population in which all members deserve to be regarded as
equal citizens, he gave a nod to the efforts of the current
administration to recognize minority rights, while assuring members of
those communities that they were seen, heard and considered.
He also sent a clear message to the E.U. that the surest way to
support Turkey s evolving position on human rights and a more
democratic society was to applaud its accomplishments thus far,
recognize its importance in the region, and embrace the possibility
that including it in the club might be the best decision for everyone
involved.
There was much applause. The good United States was back, singing the
praises of the good Turkey.
The Parliament whispered warmly in a palpable chorus of validation
before the very first press question came forth to abruptly rip the
needle from the record.
How, a Chicago Tribune reporter asked, does the president feel about
acknowledging the Armenian genocide, given his support for the
eponymous bill during his time in the Senate? Obama needed no time to
collect his thoughts. He responded by stating that while his voting
record reveals an opinion that still rings true for him, the more
significant opinions will come from Turkey and Armenia. He advised the
world to let Turkey and Armenia proceed in their current journey of
sorting through past tragedies.
I read the following day in The New York Times that the Armenian
Diaspora felt betrayed by Obama’s statement. I thought of slain
journalist Hrant Dink, too, and how many diaspora Armenians felt
betrayed by his opposition to France s decision to make genocide
denial a criminal offense. Hrant Dink was on to something.
As an ethnic Armenian who was born and raised in Turkey, he brought a
perspective that was mindful of the position of many of his
co-nationals. Hrant Dink saw firsthand how influential the Turkish
state was. He lived in a shifting landscape of cultural and ethnic
whitewashing, historical rewriting, and top-down amnesia. The result
was a society disconnected from its cultural legacy, ignorant about
the continuing existence of ethnic others, and altogether uninformed
about historical events that are widely discussed in the rest of the
world.
Hrant Dink understood that the most meaningful acknowledgement of past
wrongs would have to come from Turkey itself. Like other Turkish
nationals, he understood that outside proclamations would not have any
effect on the national school curriculum.
Acknowledgement under duress would not force the people of Turkey to
love one another. It would make them resentful of the Western
arrogance, and this would certainly have negative repercussions for
Turkey s indigenous foreigners. Blame it on a reaction to more than 85
years of feeling occupied, at least in the area of the psyche, by a
Western power.
The first state-sponsored 24-hour Kurdish language TV station opened
this year. The Ottoman archives are now open for international
scrutiny. These changes don t signify an end to ethnic discrimination
any more than Obama’s election signifies racial tolerance in the
U.S. They signify important beginnings.
Hrant Dink would be relieved to hear that the leader of the free world
prefers to let Turkey and Armenia be the masters of their own process
of acknowledgment, grief and acceptance of the facts. The Armenian
Diaspora should have their acknowledgment. Let it be based on genuine
nation-state soul-searching and not paternalistic coercion.
Lisa DiCarlo is an assistant professor of anthropology at Babson
College. She is the author of Migrating to America: Transnational
Social Networks and Regional Identity among Turkish Migrants.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress