Opinion
Mamigonian: ‘Divide et Impera’: The Turkish-Armenian Protocols
The Armenian Weekly
April 2010 Magazine
In the discussions surrounding the Turkish-Armenian protocols that have taken place throughout the last year, there has been a disappointing, yet hardly unforeseeable, tendency to oversimplify matters and draw a clear-cut picture with “practical,” pro-protocols Armenians on one side, and “hawkish” diaspora “fanatics” who are dead-set against the protocols and any normalization with Turkey on the other side. We can see this as a minor refine
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What is most troubling is when you read the animosity from the Turkish side towards Armenians.
Like it will never go away.
Thank you Mr. Mamigonian for pouting out the trap of Divide et impera.
Genocidal-Turkey and Turks are not a position to lecture others on human rights, freedom, justice and democracy.
Genocide acknowledgment without accountability is hollow and meaningless.
Just because an Armenian demands the return of lands that Turkey illegally took away from Armenians by way of genocide does not make an Armenian a nationalist.
Just because an Armenian demands reparations for the property taken away from Armenians by way of genocide (houses, farms, schools, businesses, colleges, buildings, personal property and personal wealth) does not make an Armenian a nationalist.
Also, just because an Armenian demands restitution for the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage by way of genocide (historical sites, fortresses, monuments, cities, towns, churches and monasteries) does not make an Armenian a nationalist.
And, just because an Armenian demands the return of the territories of the first Armenian republic (1918-20) – then recognized by the US, UK, France, and Japan – that Mustafa Kemal attacked continuing with the genocide where the Young Turks left off, does not make an Armenian a nationalist.
And finally, just because an Armenian demands the return of Nakhichevan and Artzakh which was part of Armenia when it joined the Soviet Union, and only separated from Armenia in 1921 due to Genocidal-Turkey’s insistence of Stalin, does not make an Armenian a nationalist.
And just because an Armenian demands justice for the two million lives that were brutally taken away from us by genocidal-Turks does not make an Armenian a nationalist.
Just because an Armenian rejects the protocols-trap by genocidal-Turkey with its on-going genocide (1915-2010) by imposing a hostile border blockade, forcing over 1 million Armenians to leave Armenia seeking economic survival in foreign lands – does not make an Armenian a nationalist.
Genocide is a crime that has no statutory llimitations. The moral, personal, psychological, and political impact does not dimish with the passage of time. Is the Armenian diaspora “bad” for keeping the genocide issue alive for 95 years?
Dear Marc Mamigonian,
Maybe we can start a discussion on these questions on the Armenian Weekly web-pages, as I believe that you got some of my points wrong and misrepresented the gist of my argument. It goes without saying that your suggestion that I have become an executor of ‘Divide and Rule’ politics says more about your own sense of vulnerability than about my political views.
1. I do agree with you that the distinction between good and bad Armenians is highly problematic and I apologise if I have fallen into this trap. I also believe, however, that I do have a right to criticise ARF policies without being labeled a collaborator of Turkish government policies. What’s the point of any dialogue if criticism is answered with ad-hominem arguments?
2. My view on the role of the ARF and the ‘Stop the Protocols Campaign’ is based above all on the website of the campaign, which -when I read it- was suffused with a belligerent language of retribution and aggressive nationalism out of tune with the 21st century (though mirroring some Turkish nationalist websites). You may challenge me on the fact that I have relied on the this particular source, but after all, this was the official outlet of the campaign, and my description of its outlook and language is accurate. This is not to say that I equate Turkish and Armenian nationalisms and gloss over the victim/perpetrator divide. I do not.
3. Your critique would have been more convincing had you mentioned the following argument, which I expressed very clearly in the article and which is why I wrote it in the first place: The Protocols are ‘real-politik’ at its best, and the current Turkish government has a tendency to use all such ‘real-politik’ instruments to defer the agenda of genocide recognition. The ‘Joint History Commission’ is a sham and will either never take of or be dissolved eventually. All this is unfortunate and not what I would be hoping for in terms of government action.
My argument is, however, that once the borders are open, once more Turks and Armenians can talk to each other, and as I say clearly, once more Turks visit the genocide memorial in Yerewan, societal processes will facilitate the conditions of change. Do not underestimate the impact on Turks visiting Tsitsernakaberd. Or the impact on liberal Turkish activists visiting Armenia (and vice versa).
I do believe that it is the Armenian and Turkish people who have to face their tragic history together (and then hopefully move on) if in different ways as the descendants of victims and perpetrators. Even though also these categories are problematic and often become insufficient when real individuals meet each other. I.e. a Kurdish tribesman, whose grandfather was at the forefront of the genocidal killings might have lost half his family during the Kurdish War of the 1990s. All these personal histories are messy and need to be addressed by real people. Official recognition can help, but many activists in Turkey and people like myself, prefer to do whatever it takes before waiting for official Turkey to make a move. And there is a reason to this insistence on civil society and public debate as the prime site for recognition.
Turkey has a relentless and unforgiving state. Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians, Alevis, Socialists…. They have all been subjected to state violence and oppression over the last century.
The bottom line is : Do you seek genocide recognition from a Turkish state that is still caught in the mindset and policies of 1915 in its daily politics? Or do you support societal change (and even join forces with activists) in Turkey that will one day result in a thorough reckoning not only with the genocide but with a century of violence against ‘Others’? The choice is between an official act of recognition that may satisfy the ARF but will have little impact on how the country operates and the prospect of a Turkey that faces its past (and this, without doubt includes genocide recognition), and can be home again for Armenians and other communities, who were expelled and prosecuted. You choose.
Once again Marc has written an important and insightful article for the Armenian Weekly! The only comment I would add is that the view that Armenians must “give up” something in order to simply have such an agreement with Turkey is the same old racism that has existed for centuries and continues to view Armenians has less than human and unworthy to be treated as equals with Turkey and Turks. Worse, when one fights this racism, they are the ones branded “nationalist”. Students of history will understand that such views have their origins over 100 years ago.
Mr. Oktem,
It is refreshing to hear a more truthful and constructive point of view for a change but understand for centuries the Armenians had to carry the great heavy yoke placed upon them against their will by successive Turkish regimes. Whether the Sultan system or the genocidal “young Turks” or even the new incarnation of the Republic of Turkey all have been a great burden that the Armenians had to carry. All have been unfriendly and all have been a danger to the very existence to Armenians themselves which still continues to this day. To further put the burden on the Armenians to somehow be “responsible” for the change required within Turkey to come to terms with it’s horrible past is fantasy at best and only further puts the heavy yoke on the wrong shoulders. The Armenians were not equal partners in history but rather victims of racist opportunistic mentality that continues today. The “dreaded” Dashnaks looking back, were the only intelligent group as they took up arms to defend themselves while every other Armenian who stayed “loyal” was eventually murdered. So please excuse the Armenians who have looked squarely at history and have no trust of Turks or their intentions. If the Turks themselves can’t change the denialist mindset how can the “boogieman traitor Armenians”, as taught to your youth, supposed to change that? There can be no real peace without acknowledgement and justice or any border opening will truly be hollow and believe me history will and does repeat itself.
Mr. Oktem,
Any communication between Armenians and Turks is better than no communication, and should be welcomed. I commend you at the least for your courage to accept the truth of what has happened to the Armenians by the hands of the Turks. However, even you are instinctually leaning towards a softer way out for Turkey. You are supporting the idea of reopening the borders and giving the two nations an opportunity to intermingle and understand each other’s pain, etc. I do not need to remind you that the borders were closed by “Turkey” to retaliate for the fact that Nagorno Karabagh did not succumb to the ethnic cleansing that the Azeris had planned for it, and to the shock of everyone not only survived the Azeri attack but it also won the war. Would have Turkey boycotted Azerbaijan had Azerbaijan succeeded in ethnically cleansing the Armenians? Turkey is not only punishing Armenia because Karabagh, a historically Armenian land given to Azerbaijan by Stalin, wants its independence, but it is using this pretext to destroy Armenia’s chance to stand on its feet, and is forcing the Armenian population to emigrate. No court gives the perpetrator of a crime the chance to get to know his victims and the opportunity to understand the victim’s pains unless the perpetrator acknowledges his crime and apologizes for it. No court allows the perpetrator of a criminal act to exonerate himself by criticizing and putting the blame on the victim. There will be no honest starting point, unless the crime is accepted and addressed. How can anyone invite the murderer of his family into his home, when the murderer has not redeemed himself? It is simply “scary”. Turkey needs to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, pay reparations, return lands simply because all of the above were illegal acts that need to be punished and addressed, period. The closing of the borders, the language of the protocols, and the threatening of countries who are recognizing the Genocide are crystal clear testimonials of the fact that Turkey has not veered an inch from its mission to destroy the Armenian people and its history. Why is a “historical commission” even mentioned in the Protocols, whose objective was to reopen borders and normalize relations, if according to Turkey the borders were closed in solidarity to Azerbaijan over the “Karabagh” issue. The closing of the borders itself is illegal. No one knows the Turks better than the Dashnaks. For years, the Dashnaks tried to get equal rights for the Armenians by trying to work with the Turks, and for years they were lied to, ambushed and duped. If it were not for humane Turks and the self defense of the Dashnaks, there would be no Armenia today. There is zero trust in Turkey, because the Turkish government has shown zero remorse for the killing of 1.5 million regular citizens and the stealing of their properties and lands, and there is zero evidence that Turkey has changed its policy vis a vis Armenians. All there is on the table is more crushing concessions being imposed on the Armenians, reminiscent of the humiliating laws imposed on them in the days of the Ottoman Empire, like cruel taxation, no representation in courts, no right to sue a Muslim, rapes, and massacres galore. Yes there are reasonable and intellectual Turkish minds such as yourself trying to do the right thing, however, the elephant in the room is that in the mean time a huge crime is still going unpunished. You do a wrong, you pay for it. You do not dance around, and take the time to destroy evidence, and bank on people forgetting what has happened. The denial and cover up are not only by themselves illegal, inhumane and cruel, they are also the continuation of the Genocide.
K, I agree with your straightforward, pull no punches, comments to Oktem. I especially agree with the tendency of many Turks to dilute responsibility and than ask Armenia to “go the distance” toward normalization without first providing an admission of guilt and offers of reconciliation. First things first. I am sure that Armenia will be willing to make concessions in a gesture of forgiveness and to promote peace, once verifiable security and some semblance of good will can be established. But I doubt this can happen if Turkey doesn’t first “come clean.”
Oops, I need to clarify my comment above which was poorly phrased: I meant to say that I agree that there is a tendency among many Turks to dilute responsibility…..etc., not that I agree with the tendency.
ALL SAID,FEW IF NAY HAVE DWELT UPON ONE MAJOR ISSUE,WHICH IS THE RIGHT OF A PEOPLE TO FIGHT FOR ITS TOTAL FREEDOM.WHETHER UNDER TURKISH -OTTOMAN RULE OR OTHER..
ARMENIANS IN THIS RESPECT SHOULD ALSO POINT OUT TO PERSONS LIKE OTKTEM THAT SIMILAR OCCURRANCES ARE THERE TO BE TAKEN INTO VIEW.SUCH AS:-
NORTH AFRICAN KHALIPOHATES INVADED CONQUERED AND RIULED FOR OVER 600 YRS OVER THE IBERIAN(Spain mainly)PENINSULA…THEN A SPANISH PRINCESS UNITED THE SPANISH PRINCES-IN SECRET MEETINGS AND GOT WELL ARMED AND DROVE THE INVADERS OUT!!!!
If Aarmenians did not come close to that and succeed,it does not mean that ARMENIANS DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO WORK TO THAT END.WE DID HOWEVER LIBERATE IN 1918 WHATEVER WAS POSSIBLE PLUS RECENTLY NK OUR ARTSAKH.TURKS MUST BE INTRODUCED TO SUCH OTHER NATIONS´HISTORIES AS WELL AND COMPREHEND THAT ALL TALK-DISCUSSION HERE IS NOT ONLY GENOCIDE RECOGNITION-A VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE FOR US ARMENIANS- BUT ALSO OUR RIGHT TO HAVE OUR INTEGRITY RESTORED AS A NATION/STATE.
KURDS ALSO HAVE THE RIGHT TO BY AND BY WROK TOWARDS THAT AND IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME THAT THIS WILL ALSO POP UP TO THE CHAGRIN OF THE PRESENT RULERS OF GREAT TURKEY…THEY KNOW IT.
ALL ELSE CAN BE WORKED -EVEN IN THEIR FASHION,I.E. BY AND BY…
Who did not revolt against the Ottman Turks?
The Greeks revolted; the Bulgarians revolted; the Romanians revolted; Ukrainian threw the Turks out; the Serbs revolted; the Croats revolted; the Slavs revolted; the Albanians revolted. Hmm, the Arabs revolted in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa.
Even the “Young Turks” revolted against the Ottoman Sultan.
So what if Armenians revolted?
Turkey sided with Germany in World War I against the allies. Turkey remianed neutral in WWII and tacitly fsupported Nazi Germany, and only switched sides at the end of the war, when it became apparent that Nazi Germany was losing.
Turks living in the Russian Empire rebelled and revolted against the Russians and sided with Ottoman Turkish Sultanate.
Boyajian and Shantagizoum you are right on.This is another point Mr. Oktem can give us a Turkish prospective on. How is it that Turkey is behaving very democratically vis a vis all the other countries that broke away from the falling Ottoman Empire. How is it that Turkey recognizes the sovereignty of Bulgaria, Serbia, Syria, Lebanon, now Israel etc., holds no grudge against these countries, does not call them traitors, Nationalists, liars etc but cannot handle the idea of a returned Western Armenia, a free Republic of Armenia and an independent Karabagh? Turkish commenters on this site have pointed out that Western Armenia was ruled by them for 600 yrs therefore it was theirs. But the other countries were also ruled by the Ottoman empire for 600 yrs. Why aren’t they insisting that Serbia, Bulgaria, Lebanon etc are also their lands? From the books that I have been reading, the following is the reason: those lands were far. Turkey let go of them when it lost the war. The last country that it was holding was Armenia. The difference between Armenia and the other territories is that Armenia was also where the Turkish nation lived. Letting go of Armenia would have been pretty much a death sentence for the Turks who had come from central Asia 600 yrs ago. They needed to hang on to it. Further, they did not want the “Armenian Problem” to hinder them ever again. They wanted to form a “legitimate” country comprised of a homogenous populatio formed mostly by Turks. The solution was the Armenian Genocide. You get rid of the native people, you give their properties and lands to Turks, you forcefully convert their women and children to Islam, you kill their men and their leaders, and voila you have your own country and a homogenous mostly Turkish muslim people. The Armenian Genocide is the biggest thorn in the side of Turkey. Its diplomats deny it, often making fools of themselves by making unbelievably denialistic comments, simply because as the Turkish government puts “it is a national security issue”. And there is the case literally. Recogning the Armenian Genocide will mean accepting the fact that Turkey is built over Western Armenia. This is the difference with the other countries, and this why I think it is being resisted so.
Sorry for the misspellings and errors in my last comment. I was sending it from my phone and missing some of the letters apparently. Bottom line, the 95 year injustice of the Genocide is so horrendous that it is impossible to swallow. To grow up listening to the inhumane experiences and survival stories of our grandparents, and then to be told that the Genocide was not proven, is psychological torture for us the descendants of the survivors. It tears our identity apart. We do not know how to give voice to our mostly deceased grandparents who experienced the Genocide firsthand and survived to tell us about it. The Turkish nation has been sworn to silence with the help of intimidating laws like not insulting Turkishness etc, because acknowledging the Genocide will mean acknowledging that more than half of the Republic of Turkey was built on confiscated Armenian property and lands, and by the mass murder of the Armenian native population. A Turkish politician made a comment not too long ago that it was a good thing that Turkey took over the Armenian lands when it did, otherwise they would not have a prosperous economy etc. today. The Genocide was a great success for Turkey, because it incorporated the Armenian properties, widows and orphans so well into its society, using temporary laws that authorized the confiscation, looting and murder of the Armenians. Turkey might be prosperous and successful; however it will never escape the stain that is tattooed on it. It will also not escape a people’s God given right to fight for their rights. The picture can change over night when Turkey comes clean, acknowledges the crimes committed like Germany has, and negotiates reparations. The Armenian people know that it is nearly impossible to put a price on a lost “country” and a lost “people”. The main thing the Armenian nation is looking for is a true and honest acknowledgment and apology, fairly negotiated reasonable reparations, and a civilized, not hostile relationship with Turkey moving forward.
TO ADD TO MY ABOVE POST THAT ALLMIGHTY SPAIN-LATER ON- WITH ITS ARMADA WAS RULING THE HIGH SEAS,CONQUERED NEAR ALL OF SOUTH AMERICA-EXCEPT BRAZIL(THIS, THE PORTUGEEZE did), THEN CENTURIES ON THE LOCAL AZTEG TRIBES BY AND BY GAINED THEIR INDEPENDENCE AND THE SPANISH HAD TO BW OUT…
THOUGH QUITE RECENTLY THEY HAVE DEVELOPED VERY INTIMATE FINANTIAL AND COMMERCAIL TIES AND WORK ALONG IN HARMONEY..
THIS IS THE PATH THAT EVENTUALLY GREAT TURKEY HAS TO FOLLOW AND BE NEIGHBOURLY WITH ALL .HOWEVER, …
PANARMENIAN.NET HAS IT (TODAY 15the MAY, year of the Lord 2010)that MR DAVOUTOGHLU HAS COME UP WITH A NEW IDEA THAT SOON “CARS will cross borders from kars to gyumri …on to Baku etc. etc.)
HE CONVENINTLY FORGETS THAT IN ORDER TO DO THAT A RECIPROCAL, mutually agreeable “ENTENTE” withARMENIA AND ITS 7 MILLION DIASPORA IS IN PLACE!!!
in other words with the perrenail “SUGAR-COATED” such like offers he belives the ARMENIANS of today are those that were enslavened by their predecessor Governments and would come and live side by side,like not too long ago a turkish “intellectual” on this same Forum advocated ..to the effect thatthe Armenians are “our people”….Namely Ms Gunaysu…
Friends, this is as yet their mindset-mentality, that they can continue in the very old Ottoman mode.They have to study above mentioned Spanish,why not even also English past that also bowed out of India and several other areas under their EMPIRE…
kind rgds
Hye, in all the world’s civilized nations when crimes of murders, kidnapping, and more occur these nations, pursue the criminals, the criminals face justice;
ciminals serve the sentences for the crimes committed.
Yet, when criminals, using force (on masses of civilians, unarmed and innocents) commit such crimes against a whole nation (so many nations) the world leaderships do nothing to pursue the perpetrator of Genocide!
Actually, barely, get to admit that a ‘Genocide’ is even occurring (whilst the
slaughters, rapes, kidnappings, tortures are taking place). Why?
Masses of peoples subjected to the vilest inhumane cruelties, and these leaderships are incapable of coming together to face these bullies who perpetrate Genocides. Today in Darfur, the Sudanese deny having committed a Genocide of the Darfurians – ala Turkish mode of denials of the Turkish Genocide of the Armenian nation – still, nearly 100 years.
Had the Turks, in early 20th century, been made to face their crimes against the Armenian peoples, murders, tortures, rapes, kidnappings, and more (Turks’
mode of conquering peoples) just imagine – all despots that followed with all the Genocides of the 20th century and into Darfur 2010 – shall have known that the world did not tolerate Genocides, anywhere, by anyone whether a foe or ‘ally’.
Truth: these Genocides shall have never occurred – never ever allowed to occur!
Thus to end the cycles of Genocides the Turks today shall have to be brought to face their crimes, pay the reparations due and owing to the Armenians – in Armenia and those of the Survivors ‘ families who fled to safe havens in lands all across the world.
Only then, shall the cycle of Genocides finally come to an end. Only then, shall
the despots realize that their convoluted mentalities will not be borne by any of the advanced societies on our planet. Only then, will the cycle of Genocides end.
Only then…
Manooshag