SCHOLAR RAGIP ZARAKOLU COULD FACE JAIL TIME
By Fred Ortega, News-Press and Leader
Glendale News Press, CA
April 24 2006
Publisher who acknowledges Armenian Genocide could be punished back
in Turkey.
When Turkish scholar and publisher Ragip Zarakolu returns home from
his visit to the United States, he could be facing some serious jail
time — all because he has written about a subject that many countries
consider a historical fact.
But Zarakolu, who was in Glendale over the weekend and spoke at
several Armenian Genocide memorial events, takes it all in stride. As
director of Belge International Publishers in Istanbul, he has been
engaged in an ongoing battle with the Turkish government for more
than 30 years, mainly because he has continued to publish and research
what he considers to be an essential truth: his country’s history of
injustices and atrocities against minorities including the Armenians,
Greeks and Kurds.
His latest books, two volumes about the Armenian Genocide, have
been labeled as “insulting and undermining the state” by Turkish
authorities. If convicted, he could face six years in prison. The
Turkish government to this day denies the genocide took place,
a position that has been condemned by many countries in the world
— but not in the United States, where the government has yet to
officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.
It would not be the first time Zarakolu goes to jail for his
convictions. In 1971, a military junta imprisoned him for three years
because of previous works he had published. Both he and his late wife,
Ayse Nur, were jailed by the Turkish government, and their publishing
offices were firebombed by right-wing groups.
But it is all worth it to Zarakolu, who sees his actions as simply
his duty to his fellow man. He described his efforts to expose what he
characterized as Turkey’s past atrocities as benefiting both those who
suffered under them, the Armenians, as well as the Turks themselves.
“We Turks must accept the Armenian Genocide took place in order
to build a true democratic country that provides the opportunity
for different cultures and beliefs to coexist,” said Zarakolu, who
has worked with Amnesty International on human rights issues in his
country since the 1970s and is a founding member of the Turkish Human
Rights Assn. “We must do this for Armenians, but also for ourselves,
for new generations and to prevent future tragedies.”
Zarakolu lived side-by-side with members of Turkey’s minority
populations at an early age. Growing up on the Prince Islands near
Istanbul, he said many of his Turkish family’s friends were Greeks,
Jews and Armenians.
But even in a seemingly tolerant society, no one openly talked about
the horrors of the past, he said.
“It was a silent period, and both sides did not want to speak of it to
save the children from bad memories,” said Zarakolu, who nonetheless
learned of the Armenian Genocide from his mother, who witnessed some
of the horrors first hand. His grandmother had even taken in Armenian
orphans in an effort to save them from extermination.
With the seed of the reality of the genocide planted in his head by
his mother, Zarakolu went on to Istanbul to study. There, he witnessed
a pogrom against Greek residents of the city and other minorities,
an event that further increased his resolve to speak out in favor of
his fellow countrymen, Turkish or otherwise.
The military coups in Turkey of the 1970s and 1980s helped remind
the people of the horrors committed in the past, he said.
“It raised empathy among the people,” he said. “At that time I began to
focus on studying the Armenian Genocide, and I had to conduct research
outside of the country because of the government’s censorship [and]
I could not find any documentation in Turkey.”
Zarakolu, who is wrapping up his tour of the United States courtesy
of the Organization of Istanbul Armenians Cultural Committee, has
impressed many with his ongoing efforts on behalf of his country’s
minorities. Glendale Councilman Ara Najarian called him nothing less
than a hero.
“He is one of the most courageous men I can think of,” Najarian said.
“Even in the face of hostility and incarceration at home, the fact
that he is not afraid to call what happened in 1915 a genocide makes
him one of the true heroes of the Armenian people.”
Former Glendale Mayor Larry Zarian, who interviewed Zarakolu during
a special airing of his weekly show “The Larry Zarian Forum,” said
Zarakolu’s actions were humbling and an example to all of humanity.
“This is bravery on the part of someone who doesn’t have to do this,
someone who can remain silent like many in his country and throughout
the world, and sell books and live a happy life,” said Zarian, whose
mother was a genocide survivor and who died before seeing the Turkish
government own up to the atrocities, her lifelong dream.
“This is someone who is committed to what is right, who is willing to
put his life on the line for the truth, and how can you thank someone
for that?” Zarian added.