Richard Fuchs
In the German Reichstag on September 29, 1916, the diplomat Gottlieb von
Jagow had to give parliament an account of the terrible events in
Turkey, then the Ottoman Empire.
It was about mass displacement and executions taking place in the
eastern region of Anatolia. The German Empire was a colonial power there
at the time and also an ally of the Ottoman government, which had
previously initiated a mass persecution of Christian Armenians before
the onset of World War I. "We did everything we could," stated Jagow in
defense of Germany's passivity.
This silent acquiescence toward the mass murders has been the subject of the International Historians Congress in Berlin.
Depending on estimates, 300,000 to 1.5 million Armenians were murdered
by the Turks.
and refer to it as genocide. Yet in modern-day Turkey, the state that
replaced the Ottoman Empire, the human suffering of that era is still
officially seen as "a war–related dislocation and security measure." The
number of victims is still a matter of dispute in Turkey, making
reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia difficult.
Germany knew and turned a blind eye
The 160 historians in Berlin were focused on Germany's
complicity in the Armenians' suffering. According to the Armenian
historian Ashot Hayruni from the State University of Yerevan, the
Germans are seen as accomplices because of their silence and cold
indifference.
The German government just stood by and watched as the young Turkish
government expelled Armenians from Turkey to the deserts of Mesopotamia,
a region now in modern-day Iraq, Kuwait and Syria. And Germans claimed
that they did not want to interfere, even though they were very
well-informed.
Historian Christin Pschichholz from the University of Potsdam has no
doubts. After having read files at the German Foreign Ministry, she
concludes that, "the German government had extensive information about
the destructive policies regarding the Armenian population in the
Ottoman Empire. Death marches, executions and forced labor: German
diplomats painstakingly took note of everything happening around them at
that time.
Historical witnesses were quite aware of the atrocities, as illustrated
by a dispatch sent on July 7, 1915 by the German Ambassador in
Constantinople (now Istanbul) to the Imperial Chancellor. It said, "it
is the declared intention of the government [meaning the Turkish
government] to destroy the Armenian race in the Turkish Empire."
Historian Rolf Hosfeld at Lepsiushaus, a highly regarded
research institute in Potsdam, says, "the statement that genocide took
place on Ottoman territory in 1915 and 1916 has been officially known to
the German government for over 100 years. "
The way Germany handles the subject of the Armenian genocide does not
directly reflect on Germany's complicity at that time. German government
officials have always avoided using the word genocide when speaking of
Armenia. Instead, they speak of massacre and dislocation.
In February 2015, the Linkspartei, German's far-left party, asked
parliament about the use of terms regarding the persecuted Armenians in
Turkey and the government decided to continue using the same
terminology. The reason given was that it did not want to jeopardize
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. The German government's policy:
categorizations should be left to academia.
Armenia, together with more than 20 other countries, and the majority of
the historians at the Berlin convention have classified the events as
genocide, in accordance with the UN Genocide Convention of 1948.
About a year ago, the former Premier and now President of Turkey, Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan, broke the decade-old silence of Turkish officials on
this subject. He apologized (*) to the victims and their descendants and
spoke of the "inhuman consequences" of the Armenians' expulsion. He did
not speak of genocide.
Inglorious role
Former East German civil rights activist and former member of
parliament for the Social Democrats, Markus Meckel, was in the Bundestag
when the Armenian issue was first discussed 10 years ago.
Even then, no resolution regarding Turkey could be adopted if it
contained the word genocide. After a great deal of discussion, an
ensuing paper stated that the Germans apologized for the "inglorious
role" of the German Empire. It was not possible to say more. Even in
communism, said Meckel, history was defined by politics.
Yet Germany could send an important political signal by recognizing the
suffering of the Armenian people as genocide. He says, "Anyone who does
not use this term is basically giving the suffering and the catastrophe a
lesser meaning."
Historian Ashot Hayruni from the State University of Yerevan thinks it
is the German government's obligation and says, "It is important that
the German government adopts a decision in which the genocide is
recognized and condemned as such."
To Yerevan with a small German delegation
According to DW sources, the German parliament plans to
remember the victims of the Armenian genocide with a debate. But there
is little cause to believe that anything will change in an argument
about remembrance culture.
Quite the contrary: now there is a dispute as to who will represent
Germany at the main memorial service in Armenia on the 100th anniversary
of the genocide on April 24 this year. The expulsion of the ethnic
group began at Istanbul's Haydarpasa station on April 24, 2015.(**)
Until now, the German Foreign Ministry claims that it is still checking
to see who will officially represent Germany in the Armenian capital.
Insiders are expecting that Germany's reticence on this issue will be
underscored by the absence of high-level politicians. It is possible
that only the German ambassador will attend the service, whereas France
will be represented by the president himself, Francois Hollande.
Historian Jürgen Gottschlich has called this 'scandalous.'
"Deutsche Welle," March 6, 2015
(*) Unlike this statement, the last paragraph of Thomas Seibert's report for "Deutsche Welle" from Istanbul on April 23, 2014 makes perfectly clear that the former Prime Minister and current President of Turkey has never, ever "apologized to the victims" (the victims were killed and the survivors have almost all disappeared). It reads: "Kurd party BDP, among others, called on the prime minister to go a step
farther: They would like to see the Turkish state officially apologize
to the Armenians" ("Armeniaca," emphasis added).
(**) Of course, he means "April 24, 1915" ("Armeniaca").
No comments:
Post a Comment