TURKEY RIGHTS GROUPS DEMAND APOLOGY, COMPENSATION, AND RESTITUTION FOR GENOCIDE

10:08, 20 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Armenian Weekly – Human rights organizations in Turkey, under
the umbrella group “100th Year – Stop Denialism,” have issued the
following statement:

An indelible, massive crime was committed in these lands, 100
years ago–a crime that will remain irreversible, irremediable,
and unforgivable. During the genocide of 1915, Armenians and other
Christian peoples of Asia Minor, among them Assyrians and Rums, were
targeted by a systematic politics of extermination, and destroyed
along with their social organizations, economy, arts and crafts,
and historical and cultural heritage.

Our initiative “100th Year – Stop Denialism” was established to
commemorate the genocide on April 24, in Istanbul and Diyarbakır. The
initiative brings together (in alphabetical order) the Anatolian
Cultures and Research Association (Aka-Der), Human Rights Association
(HRA) – Committee against Racism and Discrimination, Nor Zartonk,
Platform for Confronting History, Turabdin Assyrians Platform, and
Zan Foundation for Social, Political, and Economic Research. Our
initiative is also supported by the Gomidas Institute (London),
the Armenian Council of Europe, and Collectif Van (Paris), whose
representatives will be joining us.

Shame and responsibility are the basis of the “100th Year – Stop
Denialism Initiative’s” conceptualization of the commemoration. We
believe that any commemoration of the crime of genocide on these lands
will have to express the responsibility of genocide denial itself,
and the shame felt by the descendants of the peoples who have had the
opportunity for growth, development, and enrichment in the absence
of-due to the absence of-the peoples who fell victim to genocide.

While this understanding constitutes the ethical core of our acts of
commemoration on April 24, our concrete demands are for recognition,
apology, compensation, and restitution.

Our initiative’s commemorations begin at 11 a.m. on April 24, in
front of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts on Sultanahmet Square,
where we will hold a moment of silence in memory of the victims. This
building was known as the central prison in 1915; individuals from
the Istanbul Armenian community, including intellectual leaders,
were arrested in their homes, detained here, and then sent off to
the HaydarpaÃ…~_a train station.

After the moment of silence, we will begin our “Genocide March,”
walking in silence from Sultanahmet to Eminönu, and then crossing
over to HaydarpaÃ…~_a by sea. The detainees of April 24, 1915, were
deported from HaydarpaÃ…~_a to the depths of the country–in actual
fact, to their deaths. Here, our “Genocide March” will end with
another commemoration.

>From HaydarpaÃ…~_a, we will proceed to the Ã…~^iÃ…~_li Armenian
Cemetery to commemorate Sevag Å~^ahin Balıkcı, who fell victim to
a ethnic-hate murder on April 24, 2011, while on mandatory military
duty in Batman, and express our support to the Balıkcı family in
their pursuit of justice.

Before and after the events of the “100th Year – Stop Denialism
Initiative,” the constituents of the initiative will participate in
two other events. Representatives of the Armenian Council of Europe,
who were invited to Istanbul by the HRA Committee Against Racism and
Discrimination, will hold a commemoration on Beyazıt Square at 10 a.m.

on the same day, April 24. Members of the HRA Committee Against Racism
and Discrimination, human rights defenders, and activists against
genocide denial will participate in the commemoration of 20 Henchak
Party leaders and members who were executed by hanging on June 15,
1915-yet another mass execution, of symbolic import, during the period
of the Armenian Genocide.

A protest march organized by Nor Zartonk will start out at 6:30 p.m.,
from Galatasaray Lycée and head toward Taksim Square, followed by a
100th year commemoration event led by the Platform for Commemorating
the Armenian Genocide, at 7:15 p.m., at the Taksim end of Istiklal
Street.

Concurrently, in Diyarbakır, the Human Rights Association Diyarbakır
branch and the Gomidas Institute are jointly organizing a commemoration
of Armenian and Assyrian victims in the ruins of Surp Sarkis Church
at noon on April 24, with support from the Diyarbakır Bar Association
and the Zan Foundation.

The struggle for genocide recognition and against denialism will
end neither on April 24, 2015, nor on Dec. 31, 2015. Until the
state of the Republic of Turkey and the majority following official
ideology recognize the crime and take steps toward compensation for
the irreversible and irremediable losses, we will persevere in our
pursuit of justice for the genocide victims of Asia Minor and for
their descendants, who are dispersed around the world or who continue
to live under the conditions of genocide perpetuated by denial.