JUSTICE, DIGNITY, AND SECURITY: THE MANIFOLD REASONS WHY REPARATIONS ARE NECESSARY
SEROUJ APRAHAMIAN

Asbarez
/2009_1
Thursday, April 23, 2009

When it comes to discussion of the Armenian Genocide, there is one
topic that has, for far too long, been the proverbial "elephant in
the room." Although the topic is on virtually everyone’s mind, it
tends to be left largely unaddressed or ignored for one reason or
another. This topic is, of course, that of reparations.

For some, the idea of reparations is a radical "dream"; an impossible
and fanatic proposition which takes away from the more feasible
task of achieving recognition. It is taken for granted that the most
Armenians can reasonably hope for is acknowledgment and an apology
from Turkey. Among many such individuals, the cause of reparations
is looked upon with automatic disapproval and disdain. Hence, the
topic itself is barred from any serious consideration.

On the other side of the spectrum, there are those who maintain
that recognition without reparation is meaningless; that the Turkish
government must pay for the crimes it has committed and not be allowed
to walk away scot-free. In this case, also, we find many who consider
the matter so straightforward, that they see no need in discussing
it further or elaborating upon the reasons why reparations are so
fundamentally needed.

We argue that, not only are reparations far from being an unreachable
goal, they are the only practical means for effectively bringing the
Genocide issue to any sort of a just resolution. Given its crucial
importance to healing the wounds created by the Genocide, it is
imperative that the merits and meaning of reparations be properly
explained and expounded upon. This article will attempt to lay out
some of the many reasons why reparations are so essential.

Justice

At the core of why reparations are necessary is the concept of
justice. A colossal crime was committed against the Armenian nation
and our moral instinct demands that we redress this in an adequate
fashion. This major wrongdoing must be compensated for in order to
restore some semblance of balance and normality.

To illustrate, let us imagine for a moment that someone tortures,
rapes, and murders your family; invades and occupies your home; steals
all of your wealth and belongings; desecrates your family heritage
and possessions; and expels you by force from your home. Not only
does the perpetrator refuse to give any compensation to your family,
he aggressively denies that a crime ever even took place. The blame
is deflected, instead, upon you and your offspring–who must struggle
to even mourn or remember their family–while the criminal portrays
himself in public as the victim.

After all of this, would it be enough for the criminal to simply
give you an apology and say he will no longer inflict any further
mistreatment on you? Of course not! It would be perfectly reasonable
for all of us to want some sort of reparations; some form of payment
for the damage that has been done.1

In this vein, the Turkish government has a moral responsibility to
pay the huge debt it owes to the Armenian people. Just because Turkey
has, as of yet, not paid this debt does not mean that the debt itself
disappears.

On the contrary, it is the Armenian people who are continuing to bear
the brunt of this debt through the loss of years of human and material
capital, dispersion in the Diaspora, the compromise of our historic
homeland, a small and landlocked Republic, psychological suffering,
and economic hardship. Indeed, a great deal is already being paid–the
problem is that it is largely the victim rather than the perpetrator
who is doing the paying.

For this reason alone, some form of reparations proportionate to the
suffering caused by the crime is a must for anyone concerned with
upholding justice and repairing the wounds wrought by the Genocide. As
explained by genocide scholar Taner Akcam in a recent commentary about
discussions of the Genocide within Turkey, "The process of healing
a past injustice must take place within the realm of justice, not
[just] freedom . . . Today, however, in many democratic nations in
the West . . . Injustices of the past are freely discussed, but the
wounds from the past continue because justice remains undone. All of
the powerful states’ relationships with former colonies; the massacres
and genocidal episodes from colonial periods; slavery in America, etc.,
all of these remain unresolved in the realm of justice. Therefore,
even if the %u218Armenian problem’ were to be discussed freely in
Turkey it would nevertheless remain unresolved."2

Dignity

Closely related to the issue of justice is the maintenance of human
dignity for the Armenian people.

It is well known that one of the principal features of genocide is
the denigration of the target population’s humanity. Once again,
as Akcam points out:

"Every large-scale massacre begins by removing the targeted group from
humanity. That group’s human dignity is trampled on, and they begin
to be defined by biological terms like %u218bacteria,’ %u218parasite,’
%u218germ,’ or %u218cancerous cell.’ The victims aren’t usually defined
only as something that needs to be removed from a healthy body: they
are socially and culturally demeaned, their humanity removed. . . Our
humane duty is to restore the dignity of these victims and show them
the respect they deserved as human beings. Reparations and other
similar moves to heal past injustice work to restore the victims’
dignity and gain meaning as a way of repairing emotional wounds."3

To ask that the Turkish government merely grant us an apology
without demanding that they do anything significant to rectify our
suffering–or worse, to seek "reconciliation" without addressing
the Genocide at all–is the ultimate form of surrendering our human
dignity. Giving up our rightful claims and simply seeking to have the
perpetrator acknowledge what we already know to be true is equivalent
to forfeiting our rights as a people; and, hence, indirectly accepting
the success of the Genocide itself.4

Pursuing such an outcome will prove to be even more detrimental to
the dignity, self-respect, and self-determination of the Armenian
people than not having the Genocide recognized at all.

Security

Finally, the matter of reparations has profound meaning for the
security and viability of the Armenian Republic.

Let us not forget that the motivation behind the Genocide itself was
to destroy Armenians as an entity in the region. The present borders
of Armenia were purposely designed under pressure from Turkey as a
way of reducing the country into one incapable of surviving on its
own. Such a policy of aggression was fueled by an institutionalized
prejudice against Armenian national self-determination which continues
to manifest itself in Turkish society to this day.

Changing this reality will require more than a mere symbolic apology
or recognition of historical facts. It will require meaningful
compensation and tangible measures which ensure Armenia’s long-term
sustainability, as well as programs to tackle the hostile attitudes
in Turkish society against its neighbors and minorities.

As scholar Henry Theriault has pointed out, recognition alone is no
guarantee of improved relations or a change in Turkey’s adversarial
stance. Indeed, Ankara could stand up tomorrow and admit the historical
reality of the Armenian Genocide, only to retract its statement
or worsen relations the day after. In his words, "The giving of
reparations, especially land reparations, transforms acknowledgment
and apology into concrete, meaningful acts rather than mere rhetoric."5

In addition, reparations are an important deterrent for future
governments in Turkey–and potential perpetrators of genocide around
the world–from repeating similar atrocities in the future. Failure to
implement any sort of punishment for an act as horrific as genocide
sends a signal to despots everywhere that they can commit such acts
with impunity. This is certainly the lesson Turkish leaders have
drawn as they have gone on to suppress and carry out massive ethnic
cleansing operations against their own Kurdish minority.

As Armenians, we have a moral responsibility to prevent future
atrocities and end the cycle of genocide. To give up our demands
for reparations and simply seek an apology for the Genocide would be
worst than not having it recognized at all. This is because we would
be helping Turkey tell the world that a state can commit genocide,
admit to it, and subsequently face no consequences whatsoever.

Resolution through Reparations

For these, and a host of other reasons, it seems clear that a lasting
solution to the pain, loss, and enmity created by the Armenian Genocide
will necessarily require large-scale reparations on behalf of the
Turkish government. Otherwise, any hope of genuine reconciliation
and regional stability will remain a hollow illusion.

To those who would still argue that, despite the merits, forcing
reparations from Turkey is a hopeless and impossible dream, we would
remind them that a mere twenty years ago, the same would have been said
about those seeking the independence of Armenia. It would have been
equally "unrealistic" to imagine then that a Turkish Nobel laureate
and countless dissident intellectuals would be openly questioning
Ankara’s narrative on the Armenian Genocide.

Today, the world is more aware than it has ever been about the facts of
the Armenian Genocide, and we see the Turkish government increasingly
on the defensive when it comes to this issue. The momentum towards
moving beyond recognition and securing compensation for the countless
losses incurred during the Genocide is also increasingly gathering
pace. Thus, rather than being an impossible dream, the attainment of
reparations appears, in many ways, the most probable in recent memory.

Furthermore, as we have shown, seeking recognition without reparation
is potentially more harmful than not attaining recognition at all. As
such, achieving reparations remains the most critical means for
securing a just and lasting resolution. Concurrently, to turn away
from reparations would be a disservice to all those who have suffered
from the Genocide and those who continue to struggle to overcome it.