100TH ANNIVERSARY OF ‘MEDS YEGHERN’

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 13 2015

by Sahin Alpay

On April 24, Armenians the world over will commemorate the 100th
anniversary of “Meds Yeghern” (the Great Catastrophe) that befell
their Ottoman forefathers during World War I.

On this occasion I want to share my views on the Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation which, despite some positive steps taken in that
direction in recent years, unfortunately remains a distant prospect.

The forceful deportation by their own government of Ottoman Armenians
from their historic homeland in Anatolia to – then-Ottoman — Syria
resulted in one of the greatest tragedies in recent history. At least
half of an estimated 1.2 million deported Armenians perished on the
way, due to massacres, famine and epidemics. The deportation of nearly
the entire Armenian community (except for those living in Istanbul and
Izmir) in retaliation for the rebellion of a nationalist-separatist
minority among them cannot be justified on any grounds. The Republic
of Turkey, which has tried to cover up the dark pages of its history,
should face up to its past, extend a formal apology to Armenians, pay
indemnities for their confiscated properties and offer citizenship
to their descendants. The expression of condolences by then-Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the families of the victims last year
was a step taken in the right direction, but surely does not suffice.

Armenian nationalists categorically insist that Turkey recognizes the
“genocide.” It is debated whether what befell Ottoman Armenians can
be rightly designated as genocide according to the broad and ambiguous
definition adopted by the United Nations genocide convention of 1948,
which is definitely not retroactive. It also needs to be considered
that the Armenian tragedy is only one of the tragedies faced by
Ottoman peoples in the process of the dissolution of the empire,
including millions of Muslims forced to flee their Balkan homes. What
was inflicted on Ottoman Armenians was surely a “crime against
humanity,” but is not easily comparable to the Holocaust. Armenian
nationalist-separatists had staged an armed rebellion against the
Ottoman state, taking sides with Russia. Many Turks and Muslims,
including public servants, tried to save Armenian lives. Large numbers
of Armenians fled to Russia or stayed on by converting to Islam. Turks
and Kurds, too, fell victim to mass killings by Armenian nationalists.

The above reasons are why the vast majority of Turkey’s citizens may
never be prepared to accept what befell Ottoman Armenians as genocide,
although growing numbers see the need to apologize for the great
tragedy, called “Meds Yeghern” by Armenians until 1965. Categorical
insistence on the recognition of an “Armenian genocide” is the main
obstacle to Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. Recognition resolutions
and laws to criminalize the denial of the Armenian genocide passed in
Western parliaments are perceived as an affront and blackmail by the
vast majority in Turkey. It is very unfortunate that the protocols
signed between Ankara and Yerevan in 2009 for the normalization
of relations through the establishment of diplomatic ties and the
opening of borders have remained on paper. This is surely partly due
to the continued occupation by Armenia of a large part of Azerbaijan,
making close to a million Azerbaijanis refugees in their homeland.

Those who are sincerely interested in Turkish-Armenian normalization
should focus their efforts on helping Turkey confront its history
and demanding the implementation of the protocols, rather than the
recognition of genocide. Thomas de Waal, the number one expert
journalist on Turkish-Armenian affairs, rightly emphasizes the
following in his excellent analysis of where we stand today:
“Armenians need to be able to finally bury their grandparents and
receive an acknowledgment from the Turkish state of the terrible fate
they suffered. These steps toward reconciliation will surely become
more possible as a more open Turkey begins to confront its past as
a whole. If that can be made to happen, everything else will follow.”

(“The G-Word: The Armenian Massacre and the Politics of Genocide,”
Foreign Affairs, January-February 2015.)