por Bernhard Zand
TURKEY'S MEMORY LAPSE
Armenian Genocide Plagues Ankara 90 Years On. This weekend, Armenians commemorated the 90th anniversary of the genocide of 1915. But Turkey has yet to recognize the crime - the first genocide of the 20th century. By refusing to use the word "genocide," Turkey could complicate its efforts to join the European Union. Genocide in Armenia: Many Turks view the perpetrators as their fathers. Typhoid, the Russians, imperialism and Kaiser Wilhelm II in far away Berlin -- all were responsible for the mass deaths of Anatolian Armenians. At least that's the case if you read the official Turkish history books. According to the Turkish version, the only group that didn't bear any responsibility were the Ottomans, the great-grandfathers of modern-day Turkey, which is now on the cusp of joining the European Union. On Sunday, Armenians all around the world remembered the 90th anniversary of the start of the genocide. This year brought the last decennial memorial in which survivors of the crime, one of the worst of the past century, will still be alive to attend. Never before has the international pressure on Turkey as stronger as it is now for Turkey to address its own history. And Ankara's political elites have never been more steadfast in their efforts to defend the myths Turkey has used to explain the crime or to stamp critics as traitors. The assertion that what happened to the Armenians was genocide is "categorically unacceptable," said Yüksel Söylemez, the chairman of a group of former Turkish ambassadors who are seeking to promote the official Turkish version of events abroad. Turkish president Ahmet Necdet Sezer said the accusations are baseless and "upset and hurt the feelings of the Turkish nation." It is wrong, he added, for our European friends to press Turkey on this issue." At least one of the arguments of the modern apologists evokes the same motives of those which led to the order to deport the Armenians: the leaders of the declining Ottomon Empire saw themselves in 1915 as surrounded by enemies on all sides and created a case for the self-defense of the state. It's an argument that is still used by modern Turkish defenders today. Be it the Kurds, the Armenians, Greece, Europe or even the US -- inside, like outside, the country has nothing but opponents, they claim. "From the first day of its existence," Ankara Chamber of Commerce chief Sinan Aygün said, time and time again people have tried to "unsettle and destroy" Turkey [...].
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,353274,00.html
JPTF 2007/02/27
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