BLOOD IS SILENT
By Ergun Babahan
Turkish Press
Dec 19 2008
SABAH- Yesterday we unfortunately neglected a statement by Canan
Aritman in which the Republican People`s Party (CHP) Izmir deputy
linked President Abdullah Gul`s statement about the `apology campaign`
concerning Armenians to his mother`s ethnicity. This is a clear example
of fascism. This mentality, which attributes a person`s criticism of
unfair treatment to ethnicity alone, also claims that the group the
critic feels attached is given a free pass on mistakes. But people
espousing all sorts of ideologies live in countries. When one of these
people comes to power and makes a mistake, the whole nation can`t be
held responsible, because the person holding state power monopolizes
all sorts of power.
The deportation of Armenians (during World War I) is something which
happened in this land, just like the capital tax, the Thracian
incidents, the massacre in Kahramanmaras, etc. To confront these
incidents, one doesn`t need to be an Alawite, Greek Cypriot, Jewish
or communist, but rather a democrat, someone who believes in the rule
of law and defends human rights and dignity. A member of a Turkish
party which calls itself `social democrat` and which claims to be
promoting reconciliation through welcoming members wearing chadors
thus questioned a historical incident through a racist stance. Aritman
linked the stance about the Armenians` deportation to having Armenian
blood in one`s veins.
Our nation has people of many different ethnicities. We shouldn`t
judge a person by the ethnicity of their grandparents, but on their
humanitarian stance and position on racism. Being a human requires
questioning the mass deportation of a group of people. Whether it was
right to do this is another question. But it`s disgraceful to fail
to acknowledge the right to question it, along with a racist stance
towards people who respect this right. We can say only one thing to
Mrs. Aritman: Blood is silent, but the conscience speaks volumes.