Below is the response of Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian to the letter of IAGS President William Schabas on the issue of the historical commission.
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Prof. William Schabas, Ph.D
President, International Association of Genocide Scholars
Washington, D.C.
Nov. 13, 2009
Dear Mr. Schabas,
I am grateful for your letter and the concerns raised in it.
We, in Armenia, are well aware of the unbiased scientific research conducted for many years by your association on the crime of genocide, including the genocide of Armenians, and we attach great importance to it. Your contribution to the cause of the international recognition of this crime and keeping the international community informed regarding the issue is invaluable.
Today, Armenia has chosen the path of establishing normal relations with Turkey without any preconditions. Nevertheless, any relation with neighboring Turkey does not question the fact of the Armenian Genocide and deprivation of homeland. The genocide of Armenians committed by Ottoman Turkey in 1915 is an acknowledged fact and must be recognized and condemned by progressive people.
As for the matter of the establishment of the inter-governmental sub-commission aimed to discuss the historical dimension, envisaged by the protocols signed by Armenia and Turkey, I should assure you that it is not a commission of historians. The purpose of that commission is to give an opportunity to Armenian and Turkish peoples to find common grounds for mutual trust and dialogue. I fully agree with your approach that the contribution to the elimination of the consequences of the genocide should be the goal of the sub-commission’s work, and the fact of the genocide itself can in no way become a subject of discussion within the agenda of the commission.
With this exact perception, we signed the protocols with the Turkish side, and this was what I stated in my address to the nation prior to the signing.
Once again, I thank you and the International Association of Genocide Scholars for conducting principled, unbiased, and objective activity, and would like to assure you that the Republic of Armenia, alongside you and other organizations conducting scientific research, will be in the vanguard of those pursuing the cause of the struggle against the crime of genocide. We believe this is the moral duty of every nation that survived genocide.
Sincerely,
Serge Sarkisian
Mr. Sarkisian states that the purpose of establishing “an inter-governmental sub-commission” is to “give an opportunity to Armenian and Turkish peoples to find common grounds for mutual trust and dialogue.”
How may I ask can such an “inter-governmental sub-commission” provide an “opportunity to Armenian and Turkish peoples to find common grounds for mutual trust and dialogue” when archaic laws like Articel 301 of the Turkish Penal Code undermine the very nature of dialogue, trust and truth?
Who are they trying to fool? Dikrnagertsi makes a good point above.
So am I to believe now that turkey signed the protocols knowing that the inter-governmental sub-commission is not a commision of historians to re-examine the fact of the Armenian genocide?
Armenian officials just don’t get it.
How can a so called commission promote dialogue between two groups of people on a topic, when one group of people (the Turks) are blatantly threatened with lawsuits, harassment and even murder for talking about that topic? What a joke.
Turks living in Turkey need to understand the truth about the Armenian Genocide from dialogue between honest Turkish scholars and the Turkish government. When this happens, dialogue, trust and respect between Armenia and Turkey will be based on truth and will be a lot more fruitful and much easier.
Until then, trying to build “mutual trust and dialogue” between Turkey and Armenia or Armenians and Turks is a waste of time and resources.
The “an inter-governmental sub-commission” should be used by Armenian side as a platform to bring up the so feared G-word in Turkey as much as possible. Then ordinary Turks out of curiosity or controversy will do some research of their own by reading about the events of those days in various sources. Without communication you cannot change anyone’s ideas.
The Turks are going to make sure that the “commission” deals with every instance of where an Ottoman Armenian ever killed a Turk or rebelled or went over to the Russian side during WW 1.
I have a question for readers:
Has Serge Sargsian or any Armenian president prior to him, ever done anything *significant* to advance the issue of the Armenian genocide? (The answer is NO. Therefore, it is dishonest of Sargsian to write what he wrote about the joint commission: “consequences of the genocide should be the goal of the sub-commission’s work”).
Sargsian hasn’t even the slightest idea what the “consequences of the genocide” are. Have you ever heard him discuss reparations as one of the consequences of the genocide? No. Destruction or seizure of property, money, bank accounts, land, churches etc.? No.
This is a topic that I am amazed that the Armenian American press has never gotten into – namely, to what extent is the Genocide part of the foreign policy of the Republic of Armenia.
Please listen because I am going to make a charge here now. I claim that the Armenian Weekly has never truly examined this issue. NEVER. In other words, the most elementary question of whether the Armenian government has ever truly, in actual practice, to any appreciable degree, had the greatest calamity in Armenian history (the Genocide) on its agenda has never been discussed by the Armenian Weekly or any other Armenian American paper to any appreciable degree.
Now, maybe you can point to one or two instances – maybe a MENTION or two – in the years since independence (1991) but aside from that, nothing. The media has never asked and answered this question. The media has simple assumed that the Armenian government is quite sincere but that it has not gotten around to doing much about it.
The Armenian American media has really let down on this most elementary of points. You know, it is not enough for the Armenian government to simply SAY that Genocide is part of its agenda. Why has our media never talked about this? Why hasn’t there been an editorial telling Sargsian to put his money where his mouth is? Where, may I ask, IS the Genocide on Armenia’s agenda? I see nothing. Please don’t point to an April 24 March in Yerevan. That is not a POLICY. Neither is having some historian from Armenia attend a genocide conference in Timbuktu. Neither is inviting a foreign dignitary to the genocide memorial. Neither is simply mentioning the G word. That is NOT a POLICY. Policy is a PLAN and ACTION on that plan.
I charge the Armenian American media with reckless neglect.
I agree with all of the comments above. You people make very good points indeed. The so called turkish government is dead set against the Genocide word ever being used let alone looking into it without politically maneuvering, pressing and making a mockery of the so called turkish derived biased commission. It is all Politick an nothin else. The turks will make sure the Genocide is blatantly denied one more time and how in the world a DENIALIST government can have any say in the matter? I would like to ask Sergik that? Why in the world he can let a DENIALIST government to re-do a commission when an unbiased and truthfully historical and ethical commission has been looking into this and doing their homework for more than 30 years now? How could Sergik let a DENIALIST government walk all over the respectful historical commission and instead work with a belligerent backward killer of a government such as turkey? He is just B.S.ing and that is all. Who are you kidding Sergik? Wake up and smell the coffee, we are not children and we were not born yesterday. Serge Sarkisyan is simply letting the major three countries of world to dictate him as they please and walk all over Armenia and letting turkey once more get away with murder.
Armenia agreed to form a “commision” without any pre condition that will not take us anywhere, they should have eliminated the article 301 then set up “commision” because no progressive people can participate or comment about the reality of Armenian Genocide from Turkey. People like Elif Shafak, Orhan Pamuk, Hrant Dink and many more have been prosecuted, threatened and assasinated. Get rid of 301 and then Serj is right.
It is of course a disgrace that article 301 exists at all in a democratic country. On the other hand, probably too much is being made of it. Similar laws protecting national or religious symbols and values exist in every country as far as I know. When 301 is gone, there will be something similar in its place, maybe less ambiguous, but the fact is, there will be something. Of course, there will always be nationalists who will use and abuse whatever small leverage they can find in similar laws to silence others.
More imporantly, 301 has not stopped the national discussion, however heated it may be, on this topic. Yes, those who are pushing unpopular or unconventional ideas may be subject to derision and abuse, but the fact is, people opine rather freely, there are many meetings and conferences held every year with many outside experts participating. To my knowledge, no one has been jailed or prosecuted for calling “tehcir” genocide, no one has ever been jailed or punsished solely for this reason.
On the other hand, one could go to jail directly for contradicting Armenian myths in some supposedly free and democratic countries.
What kind of hypocracy is this to push to make it illegal to contradict the Armenian view point while criticising 301?