IT WAS CHAOS, BUT NOT GENOCIDE
By Kevser Korhan, Calgary Herald

nocide/2715179/story.html
March 23 2010
Canada

Re: "Talking Turkey about the Armenian genocide," Tim Giannuzzi,
Opinion, March 18.

Turkey has no intention of making "everyone forget" about its history.

There is no debate that hundreds of thousands of Armenians fell victim
to wartime chaos and widespread violence during the dying days of
the Ottoman Empire. To claim that this was an organized attempt at
mass extermination is to play fast and loose with the facts. It is
not just Turkey’s government that objects to the genocide label; it
is also rejected by respected western scholars such as Bernard Lewis,
who teaches history at Princeton University and was the recipient of
the 2006 National Humanities Medal.

There is a legitimate scholarly debate around this matter. Turks
reject being accused of a crime which they believe, on the basis of
information available, they have not committed.

Even in the 20 parliaments where the Armenian ethnic lobbying
proved successful, significant numbers of parliaments voted against
pro-Armenian bills. Are we to write history according to how
parliaments vote? Who needs historians then? Are we to leave crimes
to be ascertained in parliaments, rather than courts?

Tim Giannuzzi fails to point out that Turkey and Armenia have made
serious steps toward reconciliation and normalization of their
relationship.

Last year, both countries agreed to set up a commission to address
Armenian-Turkish relations during the First World War; this includes
the opening of Turkish and Armenian archives. Canada could play a
vital role in providing support toward reconciliation between Turkey
and Armenia.

Kevser Korhan, Ottawa Kevser Korhan is president of the Council of
Turkish Canadians.