Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Ipek Çalislar
By MassisPost
Updated: March 6, 2015
By Hambersom Aghbashian
Ipek Çalislar (born in 1947 in Istanbul), is a Turkish prominent
journalist and writer. After finishing her high school (Ã`sküdar
American High School), she received her education at Ankara
University, Faculty of Political Sciences. She lived in
Hamburg-Germany, 1990-1992, where she researched about `Homosexuality’
and `women and Islam ` issues. In 2003 she visited Iran with her
husband where they met Iranian intellectuals and wrote their book
`Iran: A Man Dictatorship’ in 2004. Ipek Çalislar has worked at the
Turkish Cumhuriyet daily for 12 years and served at the Association
for Education and Supporting Women Candidates (KA-DER), which defends
equal representation of women and men in all fields of life, also at
PEN Turkey. Her first literary book `Latife Hanim’ has been translated
into 11 languages, including Bulgarian, Arabic, German and Albanian.
She wrote also `Halide Edip: Biography of Sigma Women (2008).’ (1)(2).
Ipek Çalislar was tried for her bestselling biography of Atatürk’s
first wife, Latife Hanim, under Article 5816 of the Penal Code for a
passage that described the founder of the Turkish Republic escaping a
life threatening situation in the guise of a woman and she was
acquitted.(3)
A group of Turkish intellectuals signed a petition against a Denialist
Exhibit in Denmark, an exhibition which was planned by the Turkish
embassy to support their point of view concerning the Armenian
Genocide. `Don’t Stand Against Turkey’s Democratization and
Confrontation with its History! ‘ was the message to the Royal Library
of Denmark who has given the Turkish government the opportunity to
present an `alternative exhibit’ in response to the Armenian Genocide
exhibition. Ipek Çalislar was one of the Turkish intellectuals who
signed the petition.(4)
In December 2008, two hundred prominent Turkish intellectuals released
an apology for the `great catastrophe of 1915³. This was a clear
reference to the Armenian Genocide, a term still too sensitive to use
so openly. The signatories also announced a website related to this
apology, and called on others to visit the site and sign the apology
as well. The complete, brief text of the apology says ‘ My conscience
does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the
Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in
1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the
feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to
them.’ Ipek Çalisla was one of the intellectual who signed the
petition which in few days was signed by over 13,000 signatories.(5)
According to , under the title `24
April, the anniversary of the 1915s events, will be remembered this
year in Turkey, too.’, Taraf Newspaper of 20th April 2010 wrote ‘ A
group of intellectuals, among them Ali BayramoÄ?lu, Ferhat Kentel, NeÅ?e
Düzel, Perihan MaÄ?den and Sırrı Süreyya Ã-nder, for the first time in
Turkey, will commemorate this year on 24 April as the anniversary of
the events of 1915, under the leader-ship of `Say Stop!’ group. The
commemoration will start in front of the tram station in Taksim
Square. The group will be dressing in black and carry photos of
massacred Armenian intellectuals who were deported from that station.’
the following abstracts are from the text of the commemoration
activity, `This pain is OUR pain. This mourning is for ALL of US. In
1915, when our population was just 13 million, 1,5 to 2 million
Armenians were living in these lands¦. In April 24, 1915 it was
started `to send them’. We lost them. They are no longer available.
They have not even graves. But the `Great Pain’ of the `Great
Disaster’, with its utmost gravity EXISTS in our pain’. The text was
signed also by Ipek Çalislar.(6)
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