Fix it. Fess Up.

A few months ago, Asbarez reported this tidbit of laughter, or more accurately, guffaw-inducing Ankara inanity.

It seems Turkey’s High Advisory Board is worried that the Armenian Genocide “issue” is hindering people’s “harmonious” life in that country. I’m somewhat befuddled by what’s harmonious about life in Turkey. Ignoring, denying or covering-up of most of its history? Jailing journalists and otherwise muzzling the media? Persecuting Kurds, Alevis and other minorities? Forcibly Turkifying not just Christian nations living within its borders, but also the numerous Muslim nationalities? Repressing labor unions? Stomping on civil and human rights? Picking fights with its neighbors thus making its own citizens’ lives less secure?

Then we have a more specific attribution, to Fahrettin Altoon, evidently deemed Turkey’s number two person, after the wanna-be-Sultan (that’s President Erdoğan for those who have been asleep for the last two decades). This gent said of the Armenian Genocide that some people “use the issue in a bid to damage the harmony of the Turkish people.” Evidently, the topic was on the agenda of the High Advisory Board. In a perverse way, I suppose that’s a good thing. And if the members of this body had any wisdom among them, they’d see the best and easiest solution to the problem, fess up! Admit to Turkey’s culpability for the Genocide.

Let me spell it out for them: If there’s no denial, then Turks of good conscience would not be cast into the artificial role of harmony-busters. Everyone (except, inevitably, some die-hard Pan-Turkists) would be on the same page. Bingo! Disharmony=GONE!

But that may be what the fuss is all about. Given the existence of Article 301 of the Turkish penal code that outlaws “insulting the Turkish nation” (whatever THAT really means), this may be the beginning of a drive to shut people up regarding the Genocide. It’s not hard to imagine a forced/tortured/corrupt link being made between causing “disharmony” and “insulting the Turkish nation.”

But really, fellas (yes, they’re all men) everything would be much simpler, your lives, Armenians’ lives, your government’s activities, and everyone else’s too, if you would just man-up and accept responsibility so we can move on to more important issues, like reparations and the Armenian irredenta.

Please, help Turkey’s president’s august advisors see the light of day on this matter. Write them, enlighten them and have some fun with them on this one explaining how foolish, ludicrous and ridiculous they appear when they go through these contortions to avoid telling the truth.

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Garen Yegparian

Asbarez Columnist

Garen Yegparian is a fat, bald guy who has too much to say and do for his own good. So, you know he loves mouthing off weekly about anything he damn well pleases to write about that he can remotely tie in to things Armenian. He's got a checkered past: principal of an Armenian school, project manager on a housing development, ANC-WR Executive Director, AYF Field worker (again on the left coast), Operations Director for a telecom startup, and a City of LA employee most recently (in three different departments so far). Plus, he's got delusions of breaking into electoral politics, meanwhile participating in other aspects of it and making sure to stay in trouble. His is a weekly column that appears originally in Asbarez, but has been republished to the Armenian Weekly for many years.

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