‘POLITICIZED DISCOURSE DISTORTS DEBATE OVER ARMENIANS’

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 25 2010

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hayko Bagdat has said the air of negativity
that exists within the mentality of many in Turkey regarding Armenians
is obscuring the true identity of that people.

Bagdat is a spokesperson for the Friends of Hrant Group, established
in the memory of slain Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink.

"There is a concrete definition of ‘Armenian’ in our minds — and
there’s a negative emphasis that has been attached to it. It must be
asked, just who are these Armenians?" he commented in an interview
with Today’s Zaman, questioning whether this negative perception is
a result of experience or a willful attempt to create such an attitude.

Armenians are a group of people who have a civilization and who have
lived in Anatolia for a long time, and who until recently had no other
homeland, Bagdat said, adding that a century of mental manipulation
has led many to forget this.

"Let’s not forget with the Armenian issue that first and foremost we’re
talking about people. States can do this, but I don’t understand how
everyday people can view the Armenian issue from the point of view of
an official, dominant ideology. People aren’t states. We should set
everything aside and just feel upset over the people who died. Right
now, Turkey is the [regional] country in which the least Christians
live. But it wasn’t like that a century ago," he said.

Bagdat said that the state tried to designate the Armenian issue
as one that involves foreigners, recalling that in fact there
are Armenians native to places like Malatya and Trabzon who are
citizens of this country. He also criticized the state for focusing
all of its concentration on what US President Barack Obama might say
regarding the issue on April 24 — touted by defenders of the Armenian
"genocide" position as a day of remembrance — instead of the Armenians
here. Calling the influential Armenian diaspora important for Armenians
worldwide but not exciting to him personally, Bagdat commented:
"You can’t do this by getting an invitation to a dinner held by
George Bush’s Republican Party, and attending and then investing in
his campaign and getting him to say ‘genocide.’ Bush recently killed
1.5 million people. Is calling what Bush did a genocide or not calling
it a genocide going to be of any benefit to humanity whatsoever?"

Bagdat also spoke about the recently uncovered Cage plan — an alleged
military plan to destroy the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) through the assassination of prominent non-Muslim figures in
Turkey — saying that the current dominant ideology in Turkey wanted
to perpetuate its own existence through killing Christians. Bagdat
said that the assassination of Dink brought down this sort of official
state ideology in part because the Turkish people for the first time
grieved over a fellow citizen who was an Armenian. Bagdat called for
an abolishment of political and academic language on such issues,
saying that a "mentality initiative" was necessary to change minds. He
also commented on the ongoing Ergenekon trial, saying it would be an
important test of where the nation stands and in which direction it
is heading.