Montreal Mirror, Canada
Feb 15 2007
No shame in slaughter
Turkish scholar Taner Akçam confronts the 1915 massacre of Armenians
as his native country continues to deny it
STEFAN CHRISTOFF
The histories of Turkey and Armenia are deeply intertwined. Dating
back to the Ottoman Empire, the Armenian Orthodox Christians, a
prominent minority community, specialized in commerce, often working
as intermediaries for merchants from Europe and the eastern empire.
But in the early 20th century, as momentum and support for Armenian
independence expanded, Armenians faced mounting repression from
Ottoman authorities. During the explosive events of World War I,
Ottoman repression resulted in genocide, with an estimated 1.5
million Armenians massacred and expelled from the crumbling empire.
The Armenian genocide persists as a matter of international
controversy, one that Turkish activist and scholar Taner Akçam
continues to confront. As one of the first prominent Turkish
historians to call the slaughter of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
between 1915 and 1917 a genocide, Akçam’s work has garnered
international attention. His celebrated new book, A Shameful Act: The
Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility,
incorporates archival material from British, German, U.S. and Ottoman
records. Akçam will be delivering two lectures in Montreal this
weekend.
Official silence
`An official recognition of the Armenian genocide must take place in
Turkey,’ Akçam tells the Mirror. `The Armenian diaspora seeks a clear
recognition of this historical injustice, which present-day Turkish
pro-democracy advocates must support.
`Despite the international attention toward my book, there has not
been one single book review published in Turkey,’ he says. `People in
Turkey can’t touch the book publicly due to pressure from government
authorities.’
Akçam is not new to controversy. The historian and professor at the
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of
Minnesota fled Turkey as a political refugee in the 1970s. After
receiving a 10-year prison term for producing a student journal that
focused on Turkey’s treatment of the Kurdish minority, Akçam was
declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International in 1976
and eventually granted asylum in Germany.
`I was part of the 1968 generation, a common student movement in all
of Europe and throughout the world,’ says Akçam. `In Turkey, this
student movement had multiple targets, including the U.S. war in
Vietnam and democratization in Turkey, an important U.S. ally until
today.’
In 2004, the Canadian federal Liberal government presented and passed
an `acknowledgement resolution’ within Parliament concerning the
Armenian genocide. However, Conservative Foreign Affairs Minister
Peter MacKay recently tailored the Canadian acknowledgement of the
Armenian genocide. MacKay’s new position includes a statement in
support of a recent Turkish proposal to create a joint investigative
commission with Armenia concerning the events surrounding the
genocide, which the Armenian Foreign Minister dismissed as a
`smokescreen.’
Democratic demands
Turkey currently faces multiple political crossroads. As negotiations
on European Union accession continue, pro-democracy activists
continue to mount pressure on the government to recognize the
Armenian genocide. Akçam argues that its open acknowledgment is
essential to allow an honest discussion of Turkey’s past, while
opening contemporary political space to address the treatment of
minorities today.
`Recognizing the Armenian genocide is a crucial point in the process
of building a vibrant Turkish democracy,’ says Akçam. `Although the
genocide occurred almost 100 years ago, it remains central to the
Armenian identity and directly relates to how Turkey treats its
minorities today, especially Kurds.’
Both the Turkish government and military continue to publicly deny
the Armenian genocide, while grassroots political pressure to
recognize the genocide has grown in recent years. `Turkey is facing a
political fight between two forces. On one side, the democracy
movement – a civil movement without central organization – and on the
other side, the unelected authoritarian military bureaucracy which
until now has refused to relinquish its grip on power,’ says Akçam.
`The current government is caught in between these two political
forces.’
Last month, Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink was
assassinated in Istanbul, allegedly by a Turkish ultra-nationalist.
Days after Dink’s death, hundreds of thousands gathered in Istanbul
to denounce the murder in one of the biggest demonstrations in
contemporary Turkish history.
`The Armenian diaspora should follow closely the current developments
in Turkey and build ties with the democracy movement,’ says Akçam.
`Turkey’s movement for democratic change views the recognition of the
Armenian genocide as part of its struggle, which is one of the
messages I will be bringing to Montreal.’
Akçam will speak on Friday, Feb. 16, at McGill’s Chancellor Day Hall
(3644 Peel), 5 p.m., and on Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Society of
Armenians from Istanbul (2855 Victor Doré), 6 p.m., both free. For
more information, call (514) 398-3001 ext. 09950.
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