TURKEY’S GALLIPOLI DATE CHANGE ANGERS ARMENIAN COMMUNITY
Irish Times
April 17 2015
Gallipoli commemoration moved to clash with centenary of Armenian
massacre
by Constanze Letsch
Turkey has been accused of belittling the imminent centenary of the
Armenian genocide by advancing its Gallipoli commemorations to the
same day.
The anniversary of the 1915 military operations on the Gallipoli
peninsula has always been marked on April 25th, the day after
commemorations of the massacre of more than one million Armenians in
the Ottoman empire.
This year, however, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited state
leaders to join him in Gallipoli on April 24th.
“This is a very indecent political manoeuvre,” said Ohannes Kilicdagi,
a researcher and writer for Agos, an Armenian weekly. “It’s cheap
politics to try to dissolve the pressure on Turkey in the year of
the centennial by organising this event.
Britain’s Prince Charles and Prince Harry, Australian prime minister
Tony Abbott, and New Zealand prime minister John Key have all confirmed
they will attend events at Gallipoli. As part of the programme on
April 24th, services will be held at several military cemeteries.
At the same time, hundreds will gather on Istanbul’s Taksim Square,
where a commemoration of the Armenian genocide has been held since
2010. Another rally will be held in the eastern city of Diyarbakir,
an important centre from where the state governor oversaw the mass
killings in 1915. The main event will be held in Yerevan, the capital
of Armenia.
The Turkish government’s efforts to divert international attention
from the commemoration of the massacre have been called “disgraceful”
by Armenians.
Overshadow centennial
“It’s not just Gallipoli,” said Nazar Buyum, an Armenian columnist.
“Someone also had the audacity to suggest the organisation of a
Gallipoli memorial concert in an Armenian church in Istanbul for 24
April. The government does everything to overshadow the centennial
of the genocide this year.”
Turkey refuses to accept responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds
of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman empire.
Professor Ayhan Aktar of Bilgi University in Istanbul, who has
long researched the denial of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, was
not surprised by the government’s decision to move the date of the
Gallipoli events.
“Turkey has been putting forward the Turks dying on World War I
battlefields for 97 years, arguing that, yes, Armenians might have
died, but so did our ancestors,” he said. “This move just continues
this line of defence. It’s indecent, and a disgrace.”
While the Armenian state leader and many Armenians abroad expressed
outrage at Turkey’s diplomatic gamble, the reaction in Turkey has
been rather muted.
Part of the reason, Mr Kilicdagi says, is the persistent fear of
violence against the Armenian community in Turkey.
“Even though the situation has somewhat improved, and even though
solidarity with the Armenian community has increased, many have
learned to live with the constant fear,” he said. “It has become
almost a reflex. Armenians are still a vulnerable group in Turkey.”
After Ankara’s announcement to shift all official commemorations
of Gallipoli to April 24th, critics pointed out that no significant
military event took place at Gallipoli that day and that Armenians
had greater claim to it because April 24th, 1915 was when Ottoman
authorities began arresting Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul.
Condolences
Hopes of an Armenian-Turkish thaw were raised last year, when Mr
Erdogan extended condolences to the grandchildren of all killed
Armenians. But this year’s actions have alienated the 100,000-strong
Armenian community in Turkey.
“After Erdogan’s words last year, this was a big disappointment,” said
Nayat Karakose, programme coordinator at the Hrant Dink Foundation,
which promotes Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and culture.
“We expected a more positive step than to try and shift the
international focus away from Armenia’s effort to raise awareness
about the genocide.” – (Guardian service)