BELIEVING IN SOMETHING WITHOUT QUESTIONING IS NEVER RIGHT
By Kerem Sahin
Tufts Daily
hing-without-questioning-is-never-right-1.2185346
March 9 2010
It’s hard to start an article about a very sensitive issue. You may go
against the world and be right, but still people will get angry. Then
how can I approach this? Outright denial is never constructive, even
when you have enough solid evidence to know that what you believe
is the truth. I am writing because I feel the responsibility to
represent a different angle to Tufts students: one that is being
ignored, either deliberately or out of ignorance.
The issue at hand is the so-called "Armenian Genocide." Throughout the
years that have passed since World War I (WWI), the issue has become
a much more of a political and emotional issue rather than that of
a historical one. It’s used against Turkey in its attempts to join
the European Union or with regards to other political issues. Many
nations such as France and Greece, and 44 U.S. states which have
considerable Armenian minorities or value the opportunity to get
leverage against Turkey, have acknowledged that such a genocide
occurred. It is no surprise that the most vocal U.S. state about this
issue is California, which has a sizeable Armenian minority. On the
other hand, nations such as Israel, Denmark and the United Kingdom
are not among the countries to acknowledge the genocide claims.
The international knowledge of the issue is close to minimal, if
not nonexistent. Almost all of the people that are voting for the
recognition of the so-called "Armenian Genocide" appear to only know
one side of the story while ignoring many facts in order to keep this
story intact. In fact, there are many facts that Western nations are
either ignoring or these facts are denied to them.
The reason I bring this issue up is because I came upon an "Armenian
Genocide Commemoration" event on TuftsLife last semester. I attended
this event to ask two questions, but seeing that the majority of the
attendees were elders, I didn’t want to disrespect their emotions. In
addition, the other half of the people in the room were sleeping
because the lecturer of the event was practically reading her
presentation from a paper which was hardly based on the events of WWI.
I left early because I thought that having a poorly presented lecture
in a commemoration ceremony is worse than someone confronting it.
I realized that people take this claim of genocide as the truth without
questioning its credibility or even trying to learn something about
it. I have two very simple questions that alone shake the credibility
of the issue and demonstrate that it is not as apparent as the
Holocaust is, a claim many "Armenian Genocide" defenders make.
My first question is about the base of the genocide argument. In 1920,
Aram Andonian, a French-Armenian, published a book called "The Memoirs
of Naim Bey". This book contained the "Talat Pasha telegrams" partially
based on the Armenian argument that the Ottoman government ordered the
killings of Armenians. These documents, which are purported to be the
proof that the Ottoman government executed Armenians, were suggested
to be forgeries by Å~^inasi Orel and Sureyya Yuca in 1983. In Orel
and Yuca’s book called "The Talaât Pasha Telegrams: Historical Fact
or Armenian Fiction?" they analyze the documents on the basis of
signature types, dating and language and found them to be forgeries.
Simply put, why would the Armenians feel the need to forge documents
to back up their argument if it’s so compellingly recorded and proven
to be true?
The second question regards the history of Armenians themselves. The
first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Armenia, Hovhannes
Katchaznouni, was a member of Armenian Revolutionary Federation,
which served a key role in the formation of Armenia as a separate
state. He published a critical report in 1923 called "The Federation
Has Nothing More To Do." In his report, he claims that Armenians had a
part in the escalation of the violence throughout the empire and points
out the massacres done by Armenians against Turks. Unfortunately, his
report was banned and collected to be destroyed in Armenia. In 2005,
this book was found in Russian archives by Mehmet Perincek and started
to be published in many languages. Quite simply, why would the very
man who fought for Armenia’s existence undermine the "genocide" claim?
I have no doubt that there are more things that are being mistakenly
left out. A very brief research on the issue from the Internet and
written sources would show that small but important facts like those
that I have mentioned in this article are not pointed out at all. This
summarizes the overall treatment of the issue in the Western nations.
Only one side is heard, and only one side is remembered. It is
important to remember contentious events like this one, but we should
remember all sides of an issue. We’re living in a world where only
the loudest voices are heard. Until all are, I will keep raising
questions that need answering.
—
Kerem Sahin is a junior majoring in electrical engineering.