SEMINAR ON NATIONALISM AND GENOCIDE: THE CASE OF TURKISH NATIONALISM AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Kurdish Aspect
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April 14 2010

Speakers: Recep Marasli, the author of the book " Armenian National
Democratic Movement and The 1915 Genocide"and Dr. Choman Hardi

Chair: Dr. Surhan Cam of Cardiff University

Date and Time: 22nd April 2010, @ 19:00pm

Venue: KLT, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University
of London

Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Organised by Kurdish Studies and Students Organisation (KSSO) and
Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS)

Dr. Choman Hardi will open the seminar with a brief talk on
Nationalism and Genocide. Then Mr. Recep Marasli will talk about
Turkish nationalism and the Armenian genocide.

Genocide and Facing Historical Facts

Most of our planet is inhabited by multi-ethnic, multi-national and
multi-cultural groups of people. However the nationalist doctrines
and ethnic chauvinism combined with a policy of homogenization that
pushes all other ethnic entities to a secondary and dependent position,
are key forces that contribute to policies of genocide. For example
until the 20thcentury, the Ottoman Empire was significantly preserving
its multinational, multiethnic, multicultural nature. However the
conversion of this multi-national, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural entity
to the Turkish ethnic supremacy in the form of "nation state" was only
possible through systematic destruction and extermination policies.

The lives of some ethnic groups (Armenians, Assyrians-Syrians and
the Pontic Greeks) have beendestroyed through genocide, massacres,
direct/ indirect dispossession, and deportation in order to construct
a Turkish nation and facilitate the Turkisation of Anatolia. The
genocide of 1915 was the apex of this political process when the
Turkish nationalists annihilated the oldest inhabitants of Mesopotamia
and the ancient Near Eastern region. According to differert sources,
one and a half million Armenians have been killed (see Marashlian
1991, NoÃ"l 1994, Gaunt 2006, Henham and Behrens 2007,Schaefer
2008, Schaller and Zimmerer 2008) during systematic destruction and
extermination policies of Turkish nationalists. It is also the result
of such a political reality that the Kurdish nation today suffers
from ethnic discrimination, displacement, assimilation and genocide
(Fernandes2007) and linguicide(Hassanpour 1992). Despite an extremely
long-running political struggle and conflict it continues to remain
an internationally unrecognised and oppressed nation whose rights are
constantly denied. In this atmosphere of political confrontation it is
important for people to understand history of systematic destruction
and extermination policies of Turkish nationalist and their nation
building process.

Mr. Marasli states that he has started his research in prison "with
my desire to learn what actually happened. But during the research
I came to the conclusion that the fates of Armenian, Greek, the
Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriacpeople,Kurds and Arabs in this region are
interwoven and their history needs to be studied in relation to each
other. I attempted to analyse the shift from a multi-cultural region
to a single national, mono-cultural wasteland

How have these societies encountered a future, after experiencing
such a large scale of historical and social destruction? What kind of
problems has this destruction caused for different ethnic groups and
for the restructuring of the Turkish Republic? What role does this
historical tragedy play in the ethno-national conflicts and problems
experienced today?

The lack of analysis and condemnation of these tragic events plays
an important role in the repitition of the ethnic and national
discrimination, oppression and anhilitation policies in the 21th
century.

How can ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, assimilation and
intersectional national discrimination policies be prevented? How
can we change the mental structures implicated in these large scale
crimes against humanity? What are the obstacles and opportunities to
challenge the mental structure of nationalism?"

Mr. Marasli states that "when discussing historical events, of course,
what we really want to find out is how we can establish fair, equal
and peaceful societies. I believe that facing the facts of our own
history bravely and condeming genocide in everyday life including in
political, social, cultural practices and developing international
intervention policies against possible genocide can only help us to
create a more secure and peaceful world"

The UK Kurdish Studies & Student Organisation is a non-political body
that strives to promote greater awareness of the Kurds, their political
and cultural situation in the Middle East and as a significant minority
community in the UK.