ASCRIBING USAGE OF WORD "GENOCIDE" TO ATATURK MAKES SCANDAL IN TURKEY
By H. Chaqrian, translated by A.M.
AZG Armenian Daily #209
14/11/2007
Turkey
In the previous publication about the digest of Kemal Ataturk’s
speeches, "Azg" informed that the word "massacre" was altered to
"genocide" in the text of the book. It roused a great scandal
in Turkey, which would seem quite natural, unless one certain
circumstance. The digest was published in 1987, and the "mistake"
was noticed only 20 years later.
However, the scandal caused by the phrasings, brought forward
reciprocal accusations by several figures in turkey. Vice-Speaker
of the parliament of Turkey and head of the Commission for Culture,
Arts and Publishing Nevzat Pakdil organized a press conference, during
which he stated that the Turkish Company of Language is responsible
for the mistake.
According to "Tercuman" newspaper, Nevzat Pakdil said, "The
debatable digest was made in 1987 and edited by Sedat Tunzer,
councilor to the head of the Parliament of Turkey. The digest
was approved by the Turkish Company of Language, after which the
parliament published it. If you study the vocabularies, published by
the aforementioned company in 1984, 1988 and 2005, you will notice
that the word "genocide" is used there to explain the Arabic word for
‘massacre’. Therefore the structure responsible for the confusion of
terms ‘massacre’ and ‘genocide’ is the Turkish Company of Language".
It is noteworthy, that the Turkish Company of Language, as well as
the Turkisah Company of History, were established by the personal
initiative of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.