IN HARVARD EXPLICATING TURKS, ARMENIANS AND PAIN

Hurriyet
Nov 18 2009
Turkey

The Boston – Tsai Auditorium located in Cambridge, Massachusetts is
a Harvard University campus. I was handed a flyer while entering a
hall for a panel* entitled "Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation" held on
Monday evening.

What an interesting heading, it had.

"Harvard University is losing prestige by serving the mass-murderer
Turkey." The headline from the magazine USA Armenian Life criticized
the university administration due to the panel it organized. Two
points were important. Both were interesting. Both reminded me of
nationalist remarks that have been made in our country. Both were
the products of a similar way of thought.

Dr. Pamela Steiner, senior fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian
Initiative, has exerted tremendous efforts for about a year in order to
bring this panel to the fore. She is, at the same time, granddaughter
of Henry Morgenthau, U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman State in 1915.

"Ambassador Morgenthau must have turned over in his grave," people
have said in criticism of Steiner. I smile, and remember:

"Even Cemal Pasha’s bones must have been aching in the grave," we
often hear from nationalist circles in Turkey if the state adopts
a different attitude against the official line of politics. Another
criticism is also voiced in the editorial. "How could you equate the
pain Armenians suffered at the hands of the Ottomans with the pain
of others? How could you make such comparison?"

We hear a similar question in Turkey, too. "How could you forget the
pain we felt over our diplomats assassinated by ASALA?" No, I don’t
forget any of them. Who can forget anyway?

In the panel, I also talked about my grandfather Cemal Pasha and
about how I felt when I took the bad news that my dear, young,
journalist friend Bahadır Demir had been killed by an old Armenian
man in January 1973 in Los Angeles. I mentioned the tragedy of Turks
and Muslims after they were forcefully removed from the Balkans and
the Caucasus in the 19th and early 20th centuries, in addition to
the pain of Turks and Kurds living in Anatolia in the following years.

"Pain is incomparable!" I stressed. "It is wrong to compare pain. When
you do this your hearts turn off," I said. That’s why I talked about
the slain Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink and how he managed
to conquer our hearts slowly.

Besides, I said it is vital to open borders for a Turkish-Armenian
normalization process, but we cannot do this without opening our
hearts and resorting to our consciences. Dear Hrant once said:

"Let’s learn how to respect our pains first."

And I added, "Let’s learn our pains. Let’s have respect for our pains
and let’s share them."

This is not a comparison of all sorts of pains experienced in the
past. This creates enmity and hatred throughout the pages of history.

I said the biggest mistake while seeking peace is to give into sorrow
and the past.

I added that we need free discussions. With that, I mean, through
cultural dialogues, Turks and Armenians will get closer. For this
reason, focusing over genocide discussions wouldn’t help. That would
even put free talks into a deadlock and only fanatics and nationalists
on both sides would be happy.

Dear Hrant had said:

"Understanding comes first, not denial or acknowledgment…"

He also knew that this is possible through democracy and freedoms,
because he very well knew that painful pages of history could only
be learned in a free discussion environment. Yes, that’s the way it is.

As I answered questions and gave examples from my own life, I said how
we Turks have been denied the shameful pages of history, how seriously
we are kept in the dark. I noticed Taner Akcam, a Turkish academic
who studies the Armenian question, in the first row while delivering
my speech. When I had asked him what he wanted from Istanbul before
I hit the road, he sent me a one-word e-mail:

"Simit…" (Turkish bagel)

So, I told this too in the panel. Dink had unlocked our hearts to the
Armenian conflict by his speeches, articles and the terrible price
he paid with his life. And dear Akcam has begun to set our minds
free through his books and articles since the early 1990s. Don’t
forget this.

There is something called confrontation with history. Getting
over nationalism is something similar. Without trying it, neither
communities nor people can become mature. If we really want peace
and calm, let’s not be afraid of history. It will not come and get
us! I will continue with Harvard-related articles for a few more days.

* The panel was organized by Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation;
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, The Weatherhead Center for
International Affairs; The University Committee on Human Rights
Studies; The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, The Kennedy School
of Government.

– Mr. Hasan Cemal is a columnist for the daily Milliyet in which this
piece appeared Wednesday. It was translated into English by the Daily
News staff.