Yes, it was a meeting, but not a “historic meeting” as posted by the Friends of Hrant Dink, the organizers of an academic event entitled “Closing the Divide.”
The event was designed to build cultural bridges between the Armenian Diaspora on one side and the Turkish people on the other, to traverse a colossal gorge, not divide, created by centuries of slavery, abuse, colonization of Western Armenia, and pogroms, which peaked with the infamous genocide of 1915-23.
The meeting took place in, of all places, the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center (ACEC) in Watertown, Mass., a hub of the Armenian cultural activities.
The luminary in this event was the principle speaker, Hasan Cemal, who was to talk about his “recent trip to Yerevan and the memories about his grandfather [Jemal Pasha].” Additional reflections were to be articulated by two professors, Taner Akcam of Clark University and Asbed Kotchikian of Bentley University.
I am not sure what the organizers were trying to accomplish. Some 25 million of Turkey’s population, the Kurds, knew firsthand about the genocide because they witnessed it, actually committed the killings, or else kidnapped our daughters and later married them to their sons. Most Turks are aware of the genocide, and they rationalize it because, as Ataturk’s propaganda has it, the genocide was a necessary policy carried out to protect the Vatan (Fatherland) from Russian invasion (which was supposedly exploiting the rebellious Armenians to divide and defeat Turkey).
Yes, the people of Turkey—the Turk, the Kurd, the Lezgis, the Chechen, the Greek; the Sunnis, Shiites, and the Alevis—all know about the Armenian Genocide. Most importantly, the governments of Turkey have known about the genocide from the beginning, yet have refused to face the reality, and have muzzled the Turkish intelligentsia and people of conscience from discussing Turkey’s criminal past.
Inhabitants of Turkey know about the genocide. They all felt it on their skin when their doctors, pharmacists, professors, architects, the artisans and other skilled workers were no longer there, overnight. The same was felt in Iraq, when the Jews left to Israel in 1949.
I know a Turkish doctor from Elazig (Kharpert region, Mamourat el-Asiz) who swore to God he overheard this conversation between two elderly Turks, sitting outside a mosque chatting about old times. One of them said: “I asked Avedis to come to my house for protection. Me and my friend killed this giavour oghlu giavour (infidel, son of infidel). I took his jacket and my friend took his shalvar, and we dumped the body.”
It is accurate to say that the Armenian Diaspora knows Turkey better than Turkey knows the Diaspora. Armenians do not trust Turks and the Turkish government. Their so-called “Europeanization” is only a veneer; the real Turkey has been exposed in many ways, many times. In the early 90’s, they let the people of Armenia freeze to frost when they prevented oil from reaching the country. People cut trees to cook and get some warmth to avoid hypothermia. The Turks blockaded passage of international food aid to starving Armenia; and when they gave in to international pressure, they exchanged the donated good quality wheat with a cheaper one, before it got to Armenia.
Turgut Ozel, the president of Turkey at the time, contemplated “hitting Armenia with a couple of missiles, and claiming mistakes for doing it.” Two days later he died, and Armenian folklore considers that as God’s punishment.
These are only a fraction of the facts that paint Turkey’s portrait with us; there is much more. The Turkish government and people of Turkey must come clean; they must wash their hands of Armenian blood. People-to-people dialogue, though well intentioned, will not bridge the gorge, despite Cemal’s attempts to find common ground. Shared food recipes for dolma and chigkufta, make a weak bridge leading to a recipe for yalanci dolma (fake, meatless, stuffed grape leaves): It is a naive diplomacy. The message, which is noble in itself, is not practical because rapprochement between our two peoples, does not and will not change the policies of the Turkish government, which is driven by its own agenda of hegemony of the region, and by the big power’s designs over the Caucasus.
It is evident that the issue is political. The dynamics of this game will change in favor of understanding and friendship, if Turkey quits resisting the recognition of the genocide and acknowledges its reality, and if Turkey quits de-facto support of the Azeris on Karabagh. After that, we can talk about the borders.
Hasan Cemal, who has been badgered by Turkey because of his book The Kurds, is the wrong messenger for the message he is advocating. First, he is in the wrong place; he should sell his ideas in Turkey, not in the Armenian Diaspora. Second, intellectuals can never change policy; neither can he. Intellectuals rarely get to a governing power anywhere (an exception is Vaslav Haavel in Czechoslovakia). Similar writers and intellectuals in Turkey—like Yasar Kemal, Ayse Nur, and her husband Ragip Zarakolu, even the lighthearted Aziz Nesin, to name a few—suffered and still suffer the wrath of the reactionary governing establishment. Third, he carries a big chip on his shoulder. He is the grandson of a war criminal “Sakalli (Bearded) Jemal Pasha,” who as the third member of a criminal gang formed of Enver, and Talat, members of the Ittihad ve Tarraqi (CUP-Committee of Union and Progress), shared the responsibility of implementing the genocide. He also committed war crimes against the Arab intellectuals in Aleppo by holding kangaroo courts, then hanging 12 of them headed by Dr. Abdul-Rahman el-Khalil, within 24 hours of the lower court’s decision; he did not allow them appeal, as required by law, and did not wait to obtain the approval of Istanbul, as required. In the Arab annals, he is known as the saffah (blood-thirsty, indiscriminate executioner).
Now, I am not naive enough to saddle Hasan with his grandfather’s criminal past. I have no doubts about his decency and sincerity; however, that enigma will never disappear if he does not condemn his grandfather’s deeds, outright. That is a bitter pill to swallow, but that is the means to fortify his message. Otherwise this whole project could be construed as being Yalanci Dolma Diplomacy.
Dr. Henry Astarjian
Latest posts by Dr. Henry Astarjian (see all)
- Astarjian: A Quadruple Historic Bypass - February 2, 2015
- Astarjian: Hypocrisy or Ineptitude? - September 28, 2013
- Armeno-Kurdish Relations: Love Fest or Divorce Settlement Meetings? - August 19, 2012
Mr. Herny Astarjian is right when calling Sarksyan-Nalbandyan diplomacy a sort of ‘Yalanci Dolma’ diplomacy, where Mr. Sarksyan is the Qyandrbaz and Mr. Nalbandyan is the Yalanci. In fact, Mr. Kocharyan is the Dollma though he thinks he is a hairy-bear. Does Mr. Astarjian know that this situation, that in Armenian tradition is called “Chari verjy,” is the consequence of 10/27/99.
jeshmarid@yahoo.com
Hye, Dr. Astarjian,
Once again, we see that some Turks simply cannot admit to the crime of Genocide. This is, in part, due to the educationsl system in Turkey, which omits the truth, and, in its place, instills a false narrative of a Turkey that can do no wrong. There are also issues of national character at play, with Turks demonstrating a powerful resistance to any challenge to their Ottoman legacy and the founding myths of the Republic. As a result of these and other factors, we see a Turkish leadership fixated on denying the Armenian Genocide and obsessed with subjugating Armenians to an inferior status – whether geopolitically, psychologically, historically, morally, academically, etc. – Manooshag
Dear Dr. Astardjian,
Thank you for your straight to the jugular article. I missed your writings very much.
Every time I meet a Turk and say my parents were survivors of the genocide, they look me in the eye and say they know nothing about it. They know!
Dear Mr. Henry Astarjian speaks right from our hearts in the Diaspora. We know only too well what the Turks can and have done so much malice to our truly intelligent and progressive Armenian nation. You only speak the truth dear Mr. Astajian and I wholeheartedly agree with you. If the grandson of Jemal Pasha, Hasan Cemal is sincere in his endeavors, then first he must come out and condemn his grandfather from all his crinimal acts. Agree with us about the facts of the Armenian Genocide carried out by the 1915 Turkish government, then we can talk with Mr. Hasan Cemal.
Dear Henry,
You have done it again.But as a rule I pick on the best of your comments.
In your last paragraph addressed to grandson of Jemal one of the Master mind criminals of the Trio,you <ARE ACTUALLY GIVING FREE VERY GOOD ADVICE to Mr. Hassan Jemal.Take it or leave it Mr. Hassan.The ball is in your side now!
One more thing though, exactly like I commented on your previou spost couple weeks ago,not only Hassan Jemal but even (it was , re Taner Akcam´s article) all these “emissaries” ought to first appeal, nay Plea with their government to accept the facts as they are.To come and peach (Lo Lo gartal) to us in Diaspora or even in Homeland(lately) does not ,will not succeed.
I also remember that exchange of wheat on way to Armenia, as an old time friend Levon Surikian was one sent in from a U.S establishment to supervise the exchange…
Hama Haigagani SIRO,
bgaytzag palandjian
I walked out of that presentation when Hasan said that we should just be “a little more patient “and wait to see if any Turkish government will accept responsibility for the genocide. I thought it was most disgraceful, and made mockery of our beloved parents and grandparents for all that they had suffered and endured.
Dear Sonya jan, I wish every other Armenian present had done the same thing you did! Walk out of that presentation when Hasan said that (we should just be “a little more patient” and wait to see if any Turkish government will accept responsibility for the genocide).
I just wish that every Armenian present had your wisdom and your justified good soul.
One more thing Sonya jan, when you walked out of that presentation, not only you made my own paternal grandparents and great grandparents’ along with their childrens’ poor souls happy, not only you made my maternal great grandparents’ souls along with their childrens’ souls happy, but you made the rest of 1.5 Million Armenians’ souls happy that they did not even had a grave for their wreched bones which have been scattered all around their own anscestral homeland for thousands of years. Thanks to Hasan Cemal’s grandfather, Jemal Pasha, Talaat Pasha and Enver Pasha of the Turkish government of 1915.Â
I thank you again dear Sonya for your good sense and your morality.
Spending 31 years working behind the scenes in human rights I find it a sad commentary that Armenia and Armenians have not taken some kind of public lead in international human rights, or; international criminal human rights, children’s rights, women’s rights, trafficking of humans across international borders, etc. You seem to speak loudly to yourselves and I think among yourselves. But the world is falling apart as we speak and you have to get in line if you want me to listen. My opinion is perhaps only one small voice but: I understand that stature and clarity of one’s position within the international community begins and ends with service to the world community at large.
And: The fact that I have found this rather obscure comment sight should speak volumes about my interest in the Armenian Genocide. So I say and offer to you: Perhaps you can help persons like myself clairify issues for other oppressed throughout the world, becoming a 21st century image of the suffering servant so elequantly written about in the Bible.
“Yalanci Dolma” superbly expressed! It also reflects the ignorance of history played out in a recent NYTimes editorial regarding Switzerland’s myopic stand on Turkish and Kurd minorities(some 30,000) requesting Minarets. The Times editorial took the government to task for their stand. I ask whatever happened to the centuries old Armenian churches in Turkey? What is still happening their in the removal of Armenian words from buildings?. “Yalanci Dolma” should be translated into “Never accept or trust the word of a Turk.”
“I ask whatever happened to the centuries old Armenian churches in Turkey?”
Look at the dire situation of old churches in Armenia. Read this http://hyemedia.com/2009/12/04/urgent-effort-needed-to-save-monuments-from-destruction-in-armenia/ and see for yourself. Still speaking of ignorance, are you?
David, your comments are ti the heart of the matter for us as Armenians. We expect the world to
rally behind us in our request for justice; yet as a community we are relatively inactive when it came to Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Darfur. We are appalled when the Jewish community, as victims of genocide, do give the Armenian community its full support, but what have we done for
other victims and potential victims of genocide. We are reluctant to support others because our own
misery, from the frustration and anger caused by denial, has drawn us inward.
I have been active in the Armenian community all my life. I share the pain of Seervart, Sonya and others, but our anger will not convince the Turks to end denial and the global community needs our voice. We should be the loudest voice over the atrocities in Darfur. Are we? If not, how can we expect other to support us.
Turks come forward to help reconcile and break the dangerous isolation of our two peoples(really how many Armenians even know any Turks) and we challenge their motivation, are insulted by their approach and lead with our anger and hatred. From a pure political perspective, its sad and shows our naivety. We must become convinced that the world of politics is not driven by emotion.
I will not honor my grandparents by insulting Turks and projecting an image that three generations later we are fueled by hatred. I will honor them by perpetuating our heritage and our faith, which are inseparable. As a Christian, I cannot hate. We can work for our cause and not be full of hate. Our lack of interaction continues the stereotypes and constrains our progress. Just as we should be the strongest voice to end the terror in Darfur, we should also be encouraging the change going on in Turkish society. That was Hasan’s message and it is our best hope. If we lower the hate index, we might hear the message.
Stepan, Much as I share the Christian spirit of your message, it is a fallacy to believe that it is hatred what fuels Armenian frustration. It is rather about the inability to heal our wounds for our disappeared country and for our unburied martyrs. We cannot put the cart ahead of the horse. Turkey has not acknowledged its crime, hence the impossibility to move forward. Turkey has not apologized so we can forgive. These people who are coming forward are saying nice words. Nobody is turning them away and nobody is rejecting them. Then again, when your nation has been exterminated and 94 years later a relative of those who perpetrated the massacre come to say a few words of condolence you really can say nothing more than “Thank you” and get back to work. These mild words of sympathy do not amount to turkish state policy, they do not reflect a general change of heart among turks on the Genocide, and that will not happen until the turkish state recognizes the Genocide. You may understand the security implications of having next to Armenia an unrepentant and unpunished genocidal state. turkey has been rewarded by the Genocide. Don’t forget that. They don’t, as you may see if you read some of the posts by people who appear to be turks. Forgiving wrongdoers on our personal lives may amount to a good deed and may have practical benefits, but forgiving as state policy, by Armenia or any other country, when the offending party is not even acknowledging any wrongdoing –to put it mildly– can be suicidal: the United States did not forgive Pearl Harbor in 1941, and has not forgotten. It did not forgive 9/11, and it attacked Afghanistan, and it has not forgotten. The fact that we did not and could not respond to the Genocide at the time it occurred does not exempt us from the need for justice. People from the outside might think that Armenian organizations are cranking up anger among Armenians, yet you know how a small minority are actively involved with community organizations but a vast majority of Armenians, individually and without prompting from any organization or party, feel instincitvely the urge to get turkish acknowledgment of the Genocide. That’s because the wounds have not healed. When a third generation only Armenian in a remote Venezuelan village still writes a letter urging for acknowledgement of the Genocide –a random example I know– you realize that something bigger is at play than an organized campaign.
I also beg to disagree with you when it comes to Armenian participation in help and denounciation of other tragedies. If you are a Diasporan Armenian, you may know the huge challenges we face to maintain our culture alive here, our dying language –the very fact that we are now communicating in English attests to that– and yet again, Armenins have been extremely active in alerting the US Congress, administration and the public generally about Darfur. Check it out for yourself. I do not know of any other single community that has been as actively involved as the Armenian one on Darfur.
Thank you Avo jan as you took the words right out of my mouth and from my very thoughts. Another food for thought to Stepan. How would Jewish people feel if for 94 years the Germans didn’t accept the Haulocaust and they lied and denyed the Haulocaust. Then if they payed 5 Million dollars to one US congressman and 3 Million dollars to another US congressman to deny the Haulocaost. How would the children of their survivors feel? That’s how we the children of the Armenian Genocide survivors feel. Very much deceived and very much taken advantage; in short taken to the laundromat.
Avo and Seervart….. your points are well taken. We are all frustrated by years of deceitby supposed allies, denial byenemies and decades of injustice. Our frustration, nomatter how justified, isnot going to win the struggle.The world will judge and support us based on political currency and
our ability to influence the outcome. Morality has little todo with it as evidenced by the Turks being in a position of strength simply based on their geopolitical position. Iwill never offer an argument that our position the last 94 years is an incredible injustice…perhaps unprecedented.
The passion is to be admiredand it does serve a useful purpose to motivating our new generations, I wonder sometimes where all is going? We all Turkey to admit their crimes, but to me it is even more important that we know where we are going after that. I have siad many times on this
board that I believe that Turkey will admit to its crimes and that they will do it when it is in their interests. We need to help make it in thier interests. That requires careful deliberation and yes…even a relationship… all in the name of justice. They will work their agenda and we must work ours.
Avo, you are correct on the open wounds and the impact of no closure. As a second generation born in America, I vividly remember the day I became aware of the genocide and the feeling of
injustice I have felt since that day. Iam sure both of you have had similar experiences. It is what keeps our hope alive and allows us to have these mild debates(which are really expressions of how much we all care). Keep the faith!!
Well, I think Astarjian is awesome! Keep pluggin away!