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Taner Akcam
Taner Akcam is the Robert Aram, Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University.
Latest posts by Taner Akcam (see all)
- Dr. Taner Akçam on the Recent Decision of the Turkish Government - June 24, 2020
- Dr. Akçam: Genocide Recognition is Necessary for Peace in the Middle East - November 20, 2019
- Akcam: Lemkin and the Question of Armenian and Kurdish Reforms - October 1, 2015
“I don’t know if I have the strength to do it but I want to scream out: You are the light that will let us redefine our Turkishness.”
Mr. Akcam, you are also a light that will let is redefine our Turkishness. As long as there are people like you, I will never lose hope in our people.
i am not sure akçam is a Turk.
Thank you, Taner Akcam, for this brilliant analysis. Thank you for pointing out with such clarity the Talat Pasha connection with Hrant Dink’s murder, which I had not seen until reading this article. I am grateful to you for your courage in standing up and revealing it.
Interesting take on things–and I appreciate being reminded that the people’s execution of Talat Pasha went unpunished–but I fail to understand why you think that it is so important to connect this with the murder of Hrant Dink. Once superstition is removed, each of your examples just points to the fact that Hrant Dink was an Armenian Turk who spoke too freely about Armenian causes and that is why the Turksih government commended his murderer. Pretending that this has to be linked to the people’s assassination of a war criminal does two things (i) it equates executing a war criminal with murder of an innocent and (ii) makes us look like crazy conspiracy theorists without one leg of reason to stand upon.
Reading this, one gets the impression that Hrant’s murderer was released and declared a hero just like Talat Pasha’ assasin.
Reading your comment, one would get the impression that Ogun Samast planned Hrant Dink’s murder on his own.
The reason why he was acquitted, because so many German missionaries were in the Ottoman Empire. They documented through testimony and newsreels about the Armenian Death Marches. At his trial, their witness is what led to him being acquitted.
This-I presume German-Gentleman Tim Upham is referring to Tehlirian being acquited…indeed there are many newsreels -documentary like- that have to be surfaced not only form German Sources, but Danish, Belgian etc., missionaries that at the time of the Armenians Eviction from millenia old habitat filmed them.
Europeans in general are very much conservative and do not come forth with such documents and or films…untill real oppertune times.
Today news had it that Head of EU Parliament Mr. Martin I believe has URGED Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide..
Which again goes to prove that what was initiated by President Nicola Sarkozy has indeed sparked that little which was needed to start the ongoing quest for Recognition. Also latest Swiss determinatioon to punish denialists, however important personalities they ma be ….
Looks like finally there may be some hope for more and more who will come FWD and speak up!!!!
My grandfather ,plus oldest uncle also were put on THE DEATH MARCH
Grant Izmirlian has touched upon something, few would probably notice and poner on.That of comparing execution of a war criminal(after his govt. conveniently shut eyes on is escape to Europe),after being condemned to death by his own Ottoman Military Tribunals..
with an inn ocent journalist Hrant Dink.
I personally find-like Grant-that some pro Armenian or pro justice advocates words ,must be meausred VERY MITICULOUSLY…
for sublte hints are -like ,masterfull craftsmanship-rather hard to understand and appreciate in depth…
Tact, caution and actually doubtfullness are requirements in analyzing works of art-and/or critiques ,essays , articles etc.,
I think you have got something there Mr. izmirlian!!!!!
Yes indeed. And it is very difficult to imagine even a remote approach to the truth of the Armenian Genocide on Turkey’s part while Talat’s bones remain enshrined in Istanbul’s “Monument of Liberty”.
In all fairness though, this is not just a turkish phenomenon. I mean, in Georgia you still see restaurant’s with stalin’s portrait on the wall. He was “their” son of a bich. And similarly, in Austria you have a lot of folks in Braunau Am Inn with hitler’s portrait on the walls, and lots of people attempt to put flowers outside the birth house on April 20th. And in uzbekistan, you have Tamerlane’s tomb as a national shrine. It’s a weird thing about nationalism- brings out the worst in folks sometimes.
Everyday I learn more about our lack of support to those courageous Turks who stand strong in defiance of oppression, by reading Taner Akcam’s analytical insights of Turkish society.
Taner Akcam is a Turk who envisages a future ‘humane’ Turkey, who has the ability to highlight every crack were we missed to address and fix, Turkish or Armenian.
Where is the Armenian Akcam?
@ Murat,
Well, you answered yourself without needing to analyze you Sinicism!
After all, why would be any Armenian to deny Genocide committed against his/her own people? Simple as that!
Izmirlian, it is the murderers–not the author–who made the connection between Talat and Hrant and wanted to murder Hrant in a manner similar to Talat. Did you even bother to look at the article before commenting?
Gaydzag, come on man! Do not judge an article by one man’s comments. Did you read it yourself?
I did read the entire article and very carefully. The only way that one can conclude that the murderers rather than authors are making the connection is by (i) interviewing Dink’s murderers (ii) be willing to believe that their statements are true (iii) willingly pass along statements made by murderers in the form of an article ….OR….. projecting their own beliefs into the minds of said murderers. My comments are predicated upon assumption of the later. OK?
Fortunately for us, Armenian nation in its entire existence did not give birth ”Talats” who slaughtered an entire nation. You cannot kill an honest and bright Armenian journalist and think that you took revenge for a criminal Turk named Talat.
Evolution of social and moral values in Turkey compare to where the US was 50 years ago.
Thank God for the Taner Ackams, Dinks, and many others that face the machinery of counterfit pride in order to find and develop that missing genuine goodness in our humanity.
Alain, you put it so well. I thank God also for Taner Akcam and those like him, but I don’t forget for a second that those who revere Talaat still exist and plot to prevent us from receiving our long overdue justice. It is still an uphill battle for us.
Dear Sella:
Of course, you are correct in writing: “Armenian nation in its entire existence did not give birth ”Talats” who slaughtered an entire nation.”
However, Ackam is not comparing the morality, or character, or justification for the murder of Talat Pasha with the murder of Hrant Dink. He is not equating the validity of the one with the other. He is pointing out the similarities in the methodology of the two murders. In doing so, he is revealing the unchanging persistence of the Turkish position of denial regarding the Armenian Genocide. Ackam is again calling on all Turks to face their history of genocide. This is the leitmotif in all his work. Ackam is a highly regarded scholar whose research is impeccable. He is a humble man with no interest in personal accolades; his focus is always the research, the work. Whether or not we always agree with him, his interpretation of events cannot be lightly disregarded. He knows the landscape. Click on his website.
I wonder still;
How do Turks not realize that denial,
shown even more desperate with Dink’s murder,
simply illustrates a cowardice, to the rest of mankind?
This is some pretty creepy stuff man. I just finished reading dr. akcam’s book. It really was depressing. I liked how much he referenced all his statements in it. In spite of this Dink trial, I am still holding out hope that there are enough sane decent people in turkey to have it come to terms with its history eventually, just like us European- Americans did about the Native Americans. The 100000 people at Hrant’s funeral is the spark that lights that hope.
Very interesting article, not so much because of what it states, but how accurate it is in another way.
Hrant and I are in-laws (I learned this right after his death). His cousin is married to my wife’s sister. What this means is that Hrant, without his knowledge, is an in-law to my grandfather, Shahan Natalie, the man responsible for oecastrating the execution of Talat and many of those responsible and sentenced to death before they fled to Germany.
Murat
Are you aware that with your question you are exposing a denialst position? As if Armenians have committed genocide like Turks and need an Akcam to expose it.
I have lost hope on you Murat.
I am finally exposed? My cover is blown? Such a pity! So while every nation and state out there have skeletons in their closets, Armenians in their long history never suffered from such imperfections! What a lucky nation!
Given millions of descendents of the Ottoman Armenians out there, just the laws of probablity dictate that there will be one or two who have a different opinion and interperetation of the events of 1915. No, this special group does not have any such deviants. Such uniformity of opinion was not seen even in Stalin’s Soviet Russia! Since we are talking about people known for being open minded and tolerant of devaint minds, this uniformity can not be the result of intimidarion or brain washing. So this proves that Armenians, unlike other miserable nations, are as pure as snow flakes!
This must be the reason for the lack of any Akcams among Armenians!
Murat,
You say “there will be one or two who have a different opinion and interpretation of the events of 1915”. What you still miss to understand is that for us Armenians 1915 is not a matter of opinion. It is a fact. Almost all of us have lost members of our families in 1915 to the barbaric action of Turkish soldiers and sometimes their Kurdish cohorts, who were doing their biding for them. We have felt it on our skin. Therefore, in our minds we have no doubt that this was a genocide, pure and simple. Furthermore, international historians, including genocide scholars, have proven this fact.
I found the entire theme of this article disturbing, especially the title. Who cares even if the murder of Dink was a perfect re-enactment of Tehlirian’s assassination of Talat Pasha?
The only real similarities between these events are that they are assassinations – nothing more. Assassinations, by definition are political acts designed for maximum propaganda value. It would have done little good
to have kidnapped Dink, killed him, and put him into a black hole. Both acts are being equated in Ackam’s article as acts of vengeance or retribution, but Talat’s assassination was considered an act of justice in its day (considering the Turkish War Crimes trials sentenced Talat and others to death) because of the tragedy of the Armenian Genocide. The shooting of Dink, on the other hand, is the result of the Turkish socialization process.
The claim, even metaphorically, that Hrant Dink was murdered in order to
avenge Talat Pasha’s murder is foolish. What was avenged?
Let’s take this type of logic to its extreme: “The Armenians were not willing to assimilate into the fascist Turkish model of Ziya Gokalp and others. Armenian resistance to being turkified was manifest by groups such as the so-called Dashnaks. Because Armenians resisted, they themselves were at fault for their own destruction.”
This is a classic refrain of blaming the victim. Thus, if Tehlirian didn’t
assassinate Talat Pasha, Hrant Dink wouldn’t have been killed either. What
a wild imagination and an endless cycle of violence continuing from the
genocide of 1915!
The entire thesis of Akcam’s article leaves an uninitiated reader with a feeling of sequential fault, thus diminishing the murder of Dink. As if it was Tehlirian’s fault or the fault of the Armenians that Dink was killed, rather than treating it as the anti-Armenian act of violence it was, and a natural extension of the process that led to the Turkish genocide of the Armenians in the first place.
This may not have been Akcam’s intent, but this is the result. Akcam is
repeating the defense of Yasin Hayal and setting the acts of Ogun Samast and Tehlirian as simple murders. The assassination of Talat Pasha, the
central architect of the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians, is much more akin to the hanging of Adolf Eichmann by the Israelis.
Dink’s assassination has generated shows of public attention from people
who knew him personally. In sharp contrast, however, none of the
assassinations of Turkish diplomats a generation ago have received much
attention at all. Perhaps scholars should redirect their attention and refrain from engaging in Turkish-Armenian diplomacy.
David Davidian
http://www.regionalkinetics.com
I think you have misreading the essay.
Akcam is explaining the intention of the killers, not defending it, and not saying the grievances of the killers are comparable.
I believe Mr. Akcam was a friend of Hrant Dinks. Just because Mr. Akcam is a Turk does not mean you need to approach is words with caution and suspicion.
Murat
Your are distorting my words. True, every nation does have skeletons in their closet, but few have such horrendous record of crimes against humanity. Armenians doe have Akcams, but not to expose a genocide on their part.
David Davidian
Your are terribly missing the point. Read the article again or at least the comments by Falcon and Perouz.
In 1911, when Salonika was part of the Ottoman Empire, and also where Atturk was born, the Young Turks held a party meeting. This meeting was infiltrated by spies from Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, and Great Britain. At this meeting, the Young Turks came up with a plan to annihilate the entire Armenian population, through death marches, as oppose to the massacres of 1894-1896 and 1908. White Hall, Britain Foreign Ministry, found out about this, and it was documented by Arnold Toynbee. That is how genocidal historians, like myself, know about it. Since the Young Turk plan called for the entire annihilation of the Armenian population, under international law, it definitely constitutes as a genocide. But the term was not coined until 1947.
Thank you Mr. Upham.
I will not second guess the validity of Professor Akcam’s reasons for his title. That may be something only he and those he is addressing can really understand–and that, at a gut level. We should bear in mind that this is a translation of something addressed to his fellow Turks, not to us, and the fellow Turks he is addressing seem to be the decent, believing, humanistic Muslims he believes are out there to receive his message.
His basic idea in this piece is rather stunning, coming from someone who usually wants to accentuate persuasion rather than confrontation. What he shows here is that he recognizes a strain in Turkish thinking that is very active and aggressive in its symbolic attack on the Armenian side of history. Therefore, it seems to me that this is evidence that the perceived slow but certain spread of a conciliatory movement in Turkish society has been vastly exaggerated out of wishful thinking. We can clearly see the opposite in Bagis’s recent provocative statements (brazenly denying the Armenian Genocide in Switzerland), and there may be more on the way. Which brings me back to a fundamental point: As long as Talat occupies a key place in the pantheon of Turkish nationalism and his bones remain enshrined and revered in Istanbul’s “Monument of Liberty”, entertaining the idea that Turkey is concurrently getting closer and closer to facing the “dark pages of its past” is a complete illusion. We should be completely realistic about that.
I don’t know what the implications of this are for the struggle for the recognition of the Genocide, but I hope we do not follow the lead of those who would have us be accomplices with Turkey in diluting its historic Crime back down to “the unfortunate events of 1915”. That will always be on offer for any takers.
I frankly think that Talat has been amply avenged for the last 97 years with every denial of the Armenian Genocide that has ever been uttered or printed and that it didn’t take Hrant Dink’s assassination to finally accomplish it.
Lack of celebrating diversity; worshipping intolerance; living an uncivilized life full of strict animal instincts, where my belly comes first… is the basis of all evil.
Where’s the beauty of life, if we all worshipped only one god, spoke only one language, lived under one political system, enjoyed the same economic status, drove the same and only brand of car, flew the same aircraft…? Why the seas have more than one type of swimming animals, different types of birds flying in the skies, many creatures roaming on land? Why should the garden of life have only ONE type of flower? What is it that man cannot share? Why we cannot co-exist? Why to deny mistakes of the past, not learn from them, and live a better future?
We all are children of nature, of the universe, of a god, of God. And where is the good, if all cultures died, all languages ceased being spoken, all gods succumbed to only ONE?
I will celebrate life! And no matter what happened to my ancestors, good or bad, worth it or uncalled for, I extend my hand to any Turk, ANY Turk who celebrates the day that will NOT see the last Armenian die! To ANY Turk, who cares for the survival of some Armenianness, of such a race called Armenian!
After all, what is it that we cannot share? What are those differences that we cannot celebrate?
TO LIFE!
succumbed to only one, and all diversity ceased to exist.