El genocidio armenio

El pasado 24 de abril se cumplieron 107 años del intento de exterminio del pueblo armenio por parte del Estado turco a partir de 1915. Más de un millón y medio de armenios fueron perseguidos y asesinados en lo que el papa Francisco calificó como “el primer genocidio del siglo XX”. El negacionismo turco respecto de su responsabilidad en el genocidio implementado como política de Estado, desde los tiempos de Kemal Atatürk hasta nuestros días, debe ser un llamado de atención en particular para sus aliados en la OTAN.

El presidente turco, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, quien hasta hace muy poco tiempo cortejaba y alentaba a Rusia en sus aspiraciones geopolíticas, confiando en obtener dividendos gracias a la pasividad de Occidente, ahora ha saltado el cerco. Lleva a cabo, junto a su canciller, Mevlüt Cavusoglu, una política exterior que solo puede ser catalogada de macabra. 

Armenian-Turkish lawmaker targeted as Erdogan courts far-right

Amberin Zaman

 

Turkish prosecutors are seeking to lift the parliamentary immunity of an ethnic Armenian lawmaker in order to prosecute and potentially jail him, marking a further escalation of the government’s assault on free expression.

Prosecutors in Ankara have invoked Article 301, which criminalizes insulting the Turkish nation, and Article 299, which penalizes insulting the Turkish president, against Garo Paylan of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the largest pro-Kurdish bloc in the Turkish parliament.

Is Gulen an Armenian?

Pinar Tremblay

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly told the world and his people that the words “Islam” and “terrorism” should not be used together, because Muslims cannot be terrorists. Indeed, Erdogan has insisted that students who attend Turkey's religious imam hatip high schools would never become terrorists. Yet the man Erdogan accuses of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt is none other than the president's former close friend and ally, Fethullah Gulen, a Sunni imam. This has made the situation rather uncomfortable for the president and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. Acknowledging that Muslims might deliberately hurt and even murder other Muslims is not easy in general for the majority of Turks, so what can be done to address this uncomfortable reality?

Why Turkey wants to silence its academics

Fatma Müge Göçek 

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After the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, one of the first actions of the Turkish state and government was to purge thousands of academics and deans from office.

In a crackdown that rapidly spread across civil and military services, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the closure of thousands of private schools and many universities. Some 15,000 employees at the education ministry were fired, while more than 1,500 university deans were asked to resign.

So, why did Turkey’s government go after academics, and how were they able to force so many to resign?

I am a sociologist who grew up in Turkey and went through its university system. Even after moving to the United States, I have been in close contact with academia in Turkey – organizing many academic events with Turkish universities and collaborating with faculty.

I believe that the answer to the above question lies in the unique design of the institutions of higher education in Turkey.

Turkey's coup may have failed – but history shows that it won’t be long before another one succeeds

Robert Fisk

 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan had it coming. The Turkish army was never going to remain compliant while the man who would recreate the Ottoman Empire turned his neighbours into enemies and his country into a mockery of itself. But it would be a grave mistake to assume two things: that the putting down of a military coup is a momentary matter after which the Turkish army will remain obedient to its sultan; and to regard at least 161 deaths and more than 2,839 detained in isolation from the collapse of the nation-states of the Middle East.

Armenian animosity rekindled through PKK terror

Pinar Tremblay

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu gave a searing speech Feb. 27 on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the eastern province of Bingol. In his speech he accused the Kurds of taking advantage of the situation in the southeastern border towns of Sur and Silopi. "They are collaborating with Russia like the Armenian gangs used to do. They are opening a diplomatic mission in Moscow," he said.

Erdogan ends discussion on 'Armenian opening'

Mustafa Akyol

While world leaders recalled the deportation and mass murder of Ottoman Armenians a century ago that many define as genocide, others recalled on or about April 24 a lost opportunity that could have been the start of a reconciliation between Turks and Armenians: the “football diplomacy” that began between Ankara and Yerevan in 2008, and subsequent “protocols” the two capitals signed in Zurich in October 2009.

Had that “Armenian opening” worked out, Turkey and Armenia would have an open border and diplomatic relations. Moreover, there could even be some convergence in the two nation’s utterly opposite perceptions of history.

White House omits 'G-word'

Barbara Slavin

 

Once again, the Obama administration has shied-away from using the word genocide to describe what befell Armenians in Turkey 100 years ago.

Despite Obama’s pledges as a presidential candidate to use this term, his White House — like those before it — appears reluctant to offend a NATO ally on the front lines of so many conflicts in the Middle East.

Instead the Obama administration speaks obliquely of the “1915 atrocities” that “extinguished” 1.5 million lives — without saying who was responsible for the killing. But academics and think-tankers in Washington say there is growing recognition that the deaths of Armenians in Turkey during World War I was the result of a genocidal campaign by Ottoman Turkish authorities that began with mass deportation of Armenians from Istanbul on April 24, 1915.

Nueva teoría turca: "No cometimos genocidio a propósito"

Vartán Matiossián

Después de las declaraciones del Papa y del Parlamento Europeo de la semana pasada, ni siquiera las declaraciones del 13 de abril del vocero de la O.N.U. Stephane Dujarric en nombre de Ban Ki-Moon, Secretario General, le dieron demasiado respiro a Turquía. Aunque los medios turcos debieron haberse regocijado al informar que Ban Ki-Moon califica los hechos de 1915 como un “crimen atrocidad” (atrocity crime), lo cierto es que esta expresión no es lo que creen que es, simplemente un “crimen atroz”, como la tradujo, por ejemplo, el diario “La Jornada” de México (13 de abril de 2015). (La misma interpretación equivocada, en media docena de formas distintas, apareció en los medios de Armenia y la Diáspora en armenio). Si el portavoz de la O.N.U. y, por extensión, su jefe, hubieran querido decir “crimen atroz”, hubieran usado atrocious crime y no “atrocity crime”.

Armenian genocide: To continue to deny the truth of this mass human cruelty is close to a criminal lie

Robert Fisk
 

At seven o’clock on Thursday evening, a group of very brave men and women will gather in Taksim Square, in the centre of Istanbul, to stage an unprecedented and moving commemoration. The men and women will be both Turkish and Armenian, and they will be gathering together to remember the 1.5 million Christian Armenian men, women and children slaughtered by the Ottoman Turks in the 1915 genocide. That Armenian Holocaust – the direct precursor of the Jewish Holocaust – began 100 years ago this Thursday, only half a mile from Taksim, when the government of the time rounded up hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and writers from their homes and prepared them for death and the annihilation of their people.

Turkey angered by pope's use of 'G-word’

Cengiz Çandar 

Less than two weeks before the centennial of the Armenian genocide, the leader of the world's billion Catholics made remarks that shocked the Turkish government and gave a dramatic boost to those who believe genocide was committed in 1915. 

Pope Francis offered the comments during his April 12 sermon at St. Peter’s Basilica, attended by Armenian dignitaries including Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Catholicos Karekin II, the highest religious authority of the Armenian Apostolic Church. “The first, which is widely considered the first genocide of the 20th century, struck your own Armenian people. Bishops and priests, religious women and men, the elderly and even defenseless children and infirm were murdered,” he said.

Gallipoli Centenary Marks Another Snub for Turkish Minorities

Sibel Hurtas

 

The Gallipoli observances were guided by anti-minority narratives and actions that were enflamed by comparisons between the Gallipoli centenary and the approaching 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, when he was the foreign minister in 2011, said: “We will inform the whole world about 2015. Contrary to what some claim and disparage, we will tell the world that this will not be the anniversary of a genocide but of honorable resistance of a nation at Gallipoli.”

Turkey Cancels Gallipoli Commemorations?

The commemoration ceremonies marking the centennial of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I have been canceled, reported Sunday’s Zaman on February 21, 2015. The paper revealed that the reason for cancellation is the low number of heads of states who agreed to attend Ankara for the ceremonies that were scheduled to take place on April 24—Armenian Genocide commemoration day.

The Turkey-Armenia Protocols: The End

In a statement issued on February 16, 2015, Armenian President Serge Sargsyan said he had asked National Assembly speaker Galust Sahakian to return the protocol to him. This marks the announced end of the protocols brokered by the United States and Russia, with the intermediation of Switzerland, in 2009.
On April 23, 2009, an agreement of “mutual understanding,” defined as a “roadmap,” had been agreed upon by Armenia and Turkey assuring the world that mutually beneficial relations between them were forthcoming.
In the days leading to the signing of the proposals, Sargsyan made a tour of several Armenian communities around the world, including New York, Paris, Beirut, and Los Angeles, only to be met with scorn and outrage.
Public outcry had virtually no swaying influence on the resolve of the Armenian authorities, and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian alongside his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu signed the protocols in Zurich on Oct. 10, 2009.
On April 22, 2010, only seven months after signing the accord, Sargsyan made a statement, in which he made it clear that the political majority in the National Assembly considered statements from the Turkish side unacceptable, “specifically those by Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, who has again made the ratification of the Armenia-Turkey protocols by the Turkish parliament directly dependent on a resolution over Nagorno-Karabagh.”
In his letter, Sargsyan says that prior to embarking on the process of normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations, the Armenian side had taken into account all possible future developments. The president stressed that just as they were prepared for the regulation of relations via the ratification of the protocols, they were also prepared for their failure. “…We had nothing to hide and it will become clear to the international community, as to who is responsible for the last closed border in Europe…” the letter reads.
“Almost six years have passed since the signing of the Armenia-Turkey protocols. During this entire time, Armenia has always illustrated a consistent position regarding the implementation of the protocols. However, it is necessary to point out the absence of political will by Turkey’s rulers, and the distortion of the spirit and letter of the protocols and the continual discussion of preconditions. Parallel to this, on the cusp of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the policy of denialism and the editing of history has gained more impetus,” Sargsyan’s letter states.
The President said that he has used every opportunity to raise this issue, including from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly in September, 2014 when he made some tough statements about Turkey’s intransigence and unwillingness to ratify the protocols.
“It pains me that Armenia’s entreaties were not heard by the leaders of Turkey. Thereby, I have taken a decision to recall the Armenia-Turkey protocols, signed on October 10, 2009 in Zurich, from the National Assembly.”

Textbooks and the Armenian Genocide in Turkey: Heading Towards 2015

Taner Akcam

 

Education is extremely centralized in Turkey. All issues, including setting policy, the administration, and content of education are decided and implemented by the national government. Textbooks that are to be taught in schools are either prepared by the Ministry of National Education (MEB) or must be approved by the Ministry’s Instruction and Education Board.¹ For this reason, there’s a direct connection between the books taught in schools and the Turkish government’s policies. The content of history textbooks, in particular, reveals firsthand information about government policies and goals.

The MEB made elementary and middle school textbooks available on the internet for the 2014-15 school year. Anyone can now download and read these books.² I did a quick review of the history books that are to be taught this year, to see what is being taught to our children about the Armenian Genocide. I have to characterize what I found as both shocking and saddening.

Pope Francis hopes for better ties between Turks, Armenians

Semih Idiz

 

Turkish-Armenian relations were back on the agenda again, if only momentarily, after Pope Francis expressed his “dream” last week of seeing the border between the two countries reopened to contribute to reconciliation between the two estranged nations.

Prospects for the pope’s dream, however, looked dim as Turkish analysts indicated that little progress has been made in resolving the issues that divided the sides. Meanwhile, Ankara is bracing itself against the campaign by the Armenian diaspora in the United States to make 2015 the year when the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 under the Ottoman Turkish government is finally recognized by Washington as genocide.

El Papa Francisco después de su visita a Turquía y el genocidio armenio

En la conferencia de prensa que concedió a bordo del vuelo que lo trajo de regreso a Roma desde Estambul, después de su visita a Turquía entre el 28 y el 30 de noviembre, el Papa Francisco también se refirió al genocidio armenio. La corresponsal de "La Nación", Elisabetta Piqué, escribió en la edición del 30 de noviembre:

El presidente turco asegura que los musulmanes descubrieron América

José Miguel Calatayud

 

América no fue descubierta por Cristóbal Colón en 1492 sino por “navegantes musulmanes” tres siglos antes, según ha asegurado este sábado el presidente de Turquía, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Navegantes musulmanes habían llegado a las orillas de América en 1178. En sus diarios, Cristóbal Colón se refirió a la presencia de una mezquita sobre una montaña en Cuba”, ha dicho el mandatario en un discurso televisado durante la ceremonia de clausura de la primera cumbre de Líderes Musulmanes Latinoamericanos, que se ha celebrado estos días en Estambul.

Mahcupyan’s Appointment: A New Step in Genocide Denial Policy?

Aline Ozinian

Turkish Sabah newspaper, which has come to be considered in recent years as the mouthpiece of the ruling Justice and Development Party, announced the appointment of Etienne Mahcupyan as Chief Advisor to Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on October 25. Sabah “adorned” the news of the appointment with the fact that after Erdogan’s “constructive” April 24 message this was yet another important step, this time taken by Davutoglu, toward the “normalization” of relations between Turkey and Armenia (the term used in Armenia-Turkey protocols), by appointing an Armenian as his Chief Advisor.

This appointment was regarded in Turkish press as an important step which would assist Davutoglu in his policy on minorities and the improvement of Turkey-Armenia relations. At the same time, Mahcupyan denies the Armenian-Turkish orientation of his appointment, giving a wider role to his activities. Mahcupyan said that it was a compelling proposal which he gladly accepted. In the meantime, Turkish media is emphasizing his Armenian roots, underscoring that the AKP managed to bring even an Armenian to the position of chief advisor to the Prime Minister.

ISIS Draws a Steady Stream of Recruits From Turkey

Ceylan Yeginsu

 

Having spent most of his youth as a drug addict in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Turkey’s capital, Can did not think he had much to lose when he was smuggled into Syria with 10 of his childhood friends to join the world’s most extreme jihadist group.

After 15 days at a training camp in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto headquarters of the group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the 27-year-old Can was assigned to a fighting unit. He said he shot two men and participated in a public execution. It was only after he buried a man alive that he was told he had become a full ISIS fighter.