TURKISH, ARMENIAN INTELLECTUALS TO MEET FOR CLOSER DIALOGUE

Hurriyet
March 31 2010
Turkey

According to Ragıp Zarakolu, many of the forums about the events of
1915 have only started to take place in Turkey since the year 2005,
which he called "the year zero for Turkey. Photo: Hasan ALTINIÅ~^IK

Intellectuals from Turkey and Armenia are set to gather in the Turkish
capital on the anniversary of the 1915 killings of Armenians during
the last days of the Ottoman Empire.

The meeting is set to occur at a time when the historic normalization
process between the two countries has stalled.

Turkish and Armenian intellectuals will meet in Ankara on April 24
and 25 to discuss the events of 1915 and attempt to improve dialogue
between the two nations in an event organized by the Ankara Freedom
of Thought Initiative.

"We believe the problem between the two nations will be solved
only by dialogue," Sait Cetin, a writer, human-rights activists and
one of the organizers of the forum, told the Hurriyet Daily News &
Economic Review.

"Matters that concern us in the first degree are being discussed in
the capitals of the world because we cannot manage to talk [about
them] ourselves. The sincerity of the West is arguable, and Turkey
has an attitude of denial," Cetin added in a March 22 e-mail interview.

Participants in the forum will talk about the events leading up
to the 1915 killings, which Armenians refer to as "genocide,"
as well as their political implications. Topics of discussion are
set to include "The Armenian issue from a historical perspective,"
"From [the Committee of] Union and Progress to Kemalism – official
ideological denial and termination of the issue," "The Turkification
of the capital" and "The Armenian issue: How to handle it?"

Writer Temel Demirer underscored the importance of such dialogue in
order to ensure a more peaceful future, saying that the official
ideology in Turkey has tried to cover history up. "We, as Turkish
intellectuals, want to face the truth," he told the Daily News in a
phone interview.

When asked about possible reactions, Demirer added: "I do not blame
people who say the genocide did not happen. If there is such a thing
called freedom of speech, everybody should show respect to each others’
freedom of expression."

Cetin said the event had originally been planned to take place Jan.

19, the anniversary of the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink, but the group had difficulty finding a suitable location
in Ankara for that date.

"Actually, it is good that [the meeting] coincided on this date," he
said, referring to April 24, the date on which Armenians commemorate
the "genocide."

"We are going to present a perspective as different as we can for
Ankara and Yerevan on the solution of the historical problems,"
Cetin added.

‘Genocide’ resolution

The normalization process between Turkey and Armenia hit a new obstacle
after a U.S. House of Representatives committee endorsed a resolution
calling on U.S. President Barack Obama to label the 1915 killings of
Armenians as "genocide."

Ragıp Zarakolu, a founding member of the Human Rights Association
and the owner of Belge International Publishing, said that the voting
in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 4 had the atmosphere
of a football match.

"Such a tragic event becomes a political issue because the Turks and
Armenians cannot solve it among themselves," he said.

According to Zarakolu, many of the forums about the events of 1915
have only started to take place in Turkey since the year 2005, which
he called "the year zero for Turkey. It is the year many taboo topics
started to be discussed. It was impossible before that."

The forum will to take place in the hall of the Construction Engineers’
Chamber on Necatibey Street in Ankara.

In addition to Cetin, Demirer and Zarakolu, the 20 scheduled attendees
include Sevan NiÅ~_anyan, an academic, linguist and writer; Professor
Baskın Oran, a political scientist; and Khatcig Mouradian from the
U.S.-based Armenian Weekly.

According to Cetin, the discussions at the forum will not be limited
the events of 1915, but will also include what happened before and
after, as well as contemporary reflections on the subject.