AKP’S STANCE ON ARMENIANS WORRIES CHRISTIANS

Al Monitor
April 14 2015

Author: Fehim TaÃ…~_tekin
Posted April 14, 2015

Early in its rule, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government
raised expectations that Turkey was willing to face its past. But
now, as the 100th anniversary of Armenian genocide approaches,
the government, let alone facing up to the past, has indulged in
a frenzy of casting shadows on the genocide observances and moved
Turkey’s traditional Gallipoli celebrations, normally held March 18,
to April 22-24.

How do Christians in Turkey and the Middle East judge the AKP
government’s course of action?

The effect of Turkey’s refusal to confront the historic tragedy on
relations with countries that received the Armenians is not usually
discussed. The much-vaunted Turkish model had lost some of its glitter
because of Turkey’s reluctance to take steps to face the past and
develop solutions to the questions of its own Christian minorities.

Sure, the AKP’s initial attempts to normalize with Armenia melted
some of the frost with the region’s Christians. But when — in the
course of Arab uprisings — Christians were targeted by radical groups
supported by Turkey, that positive atmosphere was shattered. With
Christians once again forced to abandon their homes in Iraq and Syria,
their co-religionists in Turkey began to dread a return to their
fearful days.

“The AKP government is a major disappointment”

When I asked a Christian entrepreneur from Aleppo trying to make
a new start in Istanbul his views about Turkey before and after
the Arab Spring, he said, “For us, the AKP government is a major
disappointment. Just as Syrian Christians were beginning to feel
sympathy for Turkey before the Arab Spring, Turkey did everything
possible to turn this sympathy into animosity. Your officials actually
worked hard to make Christians remember their old grievances. Believe
me, we don’t trust them. We don’t know what is going to happen to us.”

Syrian Armenian author Hrach Kalsahakian told Al-Monitor, “Since the
Arab Spring, life has been tough for Christians. Their numbers have
dwindled even more in Syria and Iraq. Sure, Muslims are feeling the
pain also. The Syria situation is enormously complicated. AKP policies
have not helped in solving these problems. The Turkish government did
not prevent extremist fighters from entering the peaceful Armenian
town of Kassab. These extremists could not have entered Syria with
their guns unless the AKP government allowed them.”

“Christians were delighted” — at first

Journalist-producer Harout Ekmanian, who left Aleppo and moved to
the Armenian capital, Yerevan, explained how the Christian attitude
toward the AKP has changed: “At the beginning, like other groups
in the Middle East, the Christians were also delighted. But after
the Arab Spring, the AKP government exposed its sectarian-religious
colors and forgot about its aspiration for regional peace. With the
AKP government’s overt and direct support of the Muslim Brotherhood
and other fanatical Islamic movements, Christians were marginalized.”

Can Turkey inspire its neighbors without first accounting for the past?

“Never,” Ekmanian replied. “Following the political and social
upheavals in the Middle East, Turkey adopted a sectarian and
provocative approach and revived historic negativities. This
shows how halfway measures and flimsy displays of goodwill are not
enough to establish lasting good relations. In the Middle East to
build dependable, good neighborliness one needs to face the past,
recognize it and bear its physical, social, political and financial
consequences.”

Armenians worried again

Journalist Serdar Korucu said the AKP government first promised a new
era for Christian minorities in Turkey and secured the support of the
Istanbul Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. But then there was a reversion
to an old Turkish pattern, and the reopening of the Theological School
of Halki at Heybeliada was disallowed.

Korucu drew a disturbing picture of the Armenian community for
Al-Monitor: “Armenians, because of their painful past, are fluttering
like pigeons. History has taught Armenians that on this soil steps
forward may easily be followed by steps backward. At the beginning
of the 20th century, Armenians were the most ardent supporters of the
revolutionary Committee of Union and Progress [CUP]. They paid for it
with the Adana massacre of 1909 engineered by partisans of the sultan.

Six years later Armenians became the targets of the CUP genocide.

Armenians lived through similar steps backward in the 2000s also.

Although there have been some positive steps in restoring properties
of religious foundations, there are many issues that shake Armenian
confidence, such as the claims that the forces that attacked Kassab
were supported by Ankara, the targeting of the ancient church of
Deir ez-Zor by the [Islamic State] said to be supported by Turkey
and changing the date of the Gallipoli observances to overshadow the
Armenian genocide anniversary.”

In short, Turkey has been unable to develop a new approach to the
Armenian tragedy. Rekindling the pains of the past, and adding
to them, have been Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s murder (still
unsolved after eight years), the use of Turkish territory by jihadist
groups that captured the Armenian town of Kassab last year, Ankara
still ignoring Christians’ basic demands, neglecting to act on the
normalization with Armenia because of Turkey’s demand that Armenia
evacuate Nagorno-Karabakh and the conviction of many that jihadists
in Syria who have been targeting Christian communities are supported
by Turkey.

From: A. Papazian