By
(Originally published in Kuwait's Arabic language daily “Al Qabas” on 26th March 2005, then appeared in the 31st March 2005 issue of English language daily “Kuwait Times“).
The ninetieth anniversary of the well-known massacres against the Armenians during WWI on 24 April 1915 by the Turks will be in few days.
Ninety painful years have passed since that sad day that began with orders from some oppressive rulers to arrest prominent Armenian dignitaries who lived within the
Many gruesome stories speak about the way the leaders were liquidated including members of parliament, lawyers, writers and creative personalities who played major roles in the interest of the Turkish government in international arenas for decades, and how they were brutally killed. Some were killed with picks breaking their heads and there were those who became hysterical out of fear when their offices were stormed while composing music using pianos.
As for the Armenian people as a whole they faced the first genocide in the twentieth century. They were forcefully removed from all cities and towns where they lived in
They were able to achieve their Turanian expansionist goals by scattering the people who formed the majority in that sensitive border area and repatriating Turks instead. They also occupied additional strategic sites such as the summit of
I do not wish, in this limited area, to narrate historical events that became well known by all and recognized in many major countries such as France, Italy, Canada and other European and American countries, as well as small countries (that we consider great) such as Lebanon and Uruguay, rather I wish to concentrate on the regretful phenomena of the stubbornness of the modern Turkish government of denying the events on the international level and not recognizing the right of Armenians for compensation and turn the Armenian page for ever, and look for a new relation built on cooperation between the two people who are linked with 800 years long friendship and neighbourhood.
The current Turkish government denies the massacre and does not wish to make up with its past, rather contrary it resorted to a campaign against the Armenians by reversing facts and promoting the idea that the Armenians are the aggressors and they killed the Turks during that time.
They began giving lectures at the official level internationally without any regard of the ethics of credibility. They published images of mass graves claiming they were made by Armenians to distort facts.
Who can believe that an occupied and oppressed people for many centuries, just like other people under the Ottoman rule can harm the empire's subjects, and that this empire with all its glory cannot protect its citizens from the unarmed Armenians. This is a failed attempt to deceive the free people of the world, who know the truth for a century, headed by the Arab people and the Europeans.
Grandchildren of the Armenians who are convinced with the culture of brotherhood and peace seem to say that they are ready to reconcile if Turkish authorities returned their moral and material rights. They say that the Turkish government should also recognize the massacres their ancestors inflicted on the Armenians. The Turks should show noble wishes to negotiate with the Armenian state. I believe that a courageous initiative by the Turkish government at this particular time will be a realistic, wise and very effective and will make a difference on
I do not believe that the European community will accept to admit Turkey to Europe's club before it provides enough knowledge and civilized maturity besides other matters including the importance of admitting mistakes as an establishing member have done, namely Germany, who admitted openly the killing of the Jews by the Nazis, the ancestors of the current civilized Germans, who respectfully stood in front of the monument of Jewish victims in Poland represented by Chancellor Schroeder, as well as the courageous statement by the German President in Israel about his country's responsibility for the Holocaust. That apart from the billions of German Marks paid to the Jews after WWII as compensations.
This is what the international community and Armenian people expect from Turkish leaders: a respectful stand in front of the monument commemorating one and a half million victims in the Armenian capital and a similar statement by the President. So will he do that?
The Turkish Ambassador in
Dear Mr. Alyan,
I have read the article entitled “
Therefore, I will not elaborate on the views and political analysis of the writer regarding
The author says “… rather I wish to concentrate on the regretful phenomena of the stubbornness of the modern Turkish government of denying the events on the international level and not recognizing the right of Armenians for compensation and turn the Armenian page for ever, and look for a new relation built on cooperation between the two people who are linked with 800 years long friendship and neighbourhood”.
In this regard, HE Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey and HE Deniz Baykal, leader of the major opposition party in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, made a joint call to the Armenian side recently in order to form a joint commission, composed of Turkish as well as Armenian historians and scholars in order to conduct a research in the Ottoman and related states' archives. The Armenian side's reply was indeed noteworthy. Armenian Foreign Minister Oskanyan stated that the events of 1915 were duly researched by historians and the only step to be taken was Turkish Government's recognition of the so-called genocide.
The Armenian side is very well aware of the fact that there is no single document proving that the Ottoman Rule of the time ordered a massacre or so-called genocide.
On the other hand, I indeed wonder which country would be as willing as
See Arabic version of this text here.
