InternationalTaking the fight to Turkey
Published: Saturday October 24, 2009
With Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan (rear right) present,
President Obama urged Turkey to address the "terrible events of 1915" in a way that is "honest, open, and constructive." Ankara, April 6, 2009. Charles Dharapak / AP Photo
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President Barack Obama on April 6 joined the Armenian people in calling on Turkey to address the "terrible events of 1915" in a way that is "honest, open, and constructive." (See transcript.) He did so in Ankara, speaking before the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In what was an unprecedented act for a U.S. president, he broke the taboo and took the subject of the Armenian Genocide to Turkey itself.
What should he do to make sure that Turkey does acknowledge the Genocide? And what should Armenian-Americans, Armenians around the world, and the Armenian state do to make it happen?
Don't co-conspire with evil
First, the president should call the Genocide by its name, as he repeatedly promised to do as a presidential candidate.
Speaking on April 23 at the Holocaust Days of Remembrance ceremony, President Obama asked, "How do we ensure that ‘never again' isn't an empty slogan, or merely an aspiration, but also a call to action? I believe we start by doing what we are doing today - by bearing witness, by fighting the silence that is evil's greatest co-conspirator." The president needs to take his own words seriously and fight that silence.
Neither the president nor any Armenian entity should accept the notion that Genocide recognition is a trump card or an instrument to press Turkey to behave in a certain way. It may be tempting to tell Turkey, "End your blockade of Armenia or else we'll recognize the Genocide." Such an approach, however, implies that the United States is willing to deny its own history, ignore a crime against humanity, and disregard the suffering of the forebears of over a million of its citizens if only Turkey opens the border it illegally closed in 1993. Recognition of the Genocide is not leverage.
Crime and consequences
Second, in pursuing recognition of the Genocide by Turkey, we cannot water down the crime or its consequences to make acknowledgement more palatable to Turkey. It is sometimes suggested, "Reassure the Turks that in recognizing the Genocide they have nothing to lose, and they will be more willing to do it." No, genocide should have consequences.
It's true that restitution and reparations can be structured in such a way as to create a win-win situation. For example, as part of a restitution program, Turkey could create a fund to support Armenians - including Turkish citizens of Armenian origin - who set up businesses in what is now eastern Turkey. That would bring "hidden Armenians" out of the woodwork, encourage Armenians to move to their ancestral lands, and boost the ailing economy of that part of Turkey - in a way that could also be helpful to the neighboring Republic of Armenia. Restitution can be win-win, but it cannot be written off.
In discussing the consequences of acknowledgement, we should also avoid being distracted by the nonsensical notion that the term genocide - coined to describe the Armenian case - cannot be applied retroactively to events that occurred before the adoption of the Genocide convention in 1948, i.e., to the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust. That's nonsense, no matter what kind of legal language it's cloaked in.
Working in Turkey
Third, even as we continue our efforts in the United States in pursuit of affirmation of the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide, we should expand the scope of our efforts to include work inside Turkey. These efforts should go on in parallel.
With the support of the U.S. government and the European Union, Armenians and others of goodwill should continue to press Turkey for the decriminalization of speech implicating the Turkish state in crimes against humanity and the Armenian Genocide in particular. This effort includes but is not limited to the infamous Article 301 of the Turkish criminal code.
Further, Armenian organizations should continue reaching out to potential allies in Turkey, and consider ways of reaching Turkish public opinion inside Turkey and in the Turkish diaspora. Certainly, it will not be a level playing field. But if we are serious about recognition by Turkey - and we are - then the effort must be made.
The struggle for public opinion encompasses not only the work of historians, but also the work of artists and educators, including novelists, filmmakers, museum curators, reporters, and teachers on all levels.
Lemons and lemonade
Fourth, steps toward the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations can and should help rather than hinder the campaign for the universal recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Discussing the terms of the protocols on the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, President Serge Sargsyan, in his exclusive interview with this newspaper, acknowledged, "Perhaps in some countries and in some circumstances, the Armenian lobby will face certain difficulties." But we must act quickly to see how we can turn challenges into opportunities.
The protocols call for the establishment of an intergovernmental commission "on the historical dimension" of Armenian-Turkish relations. The notion of a commission was put forth by Turkey as a way of telling the world, "The jury is still out on Armenian claims." And so, many observers, including this page, have expressed concern about the commission. We have called on Armenia's president and National Assembly to limit the potential mandate of the commission - which will be formed only if the protocols are ratified by the parliaments of both countries. President Sargsyan, in an address immediately before the signing of the protocols, stated unequivocally that neither the commission, nor any step toward the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations, can cast doubt on "the fact of the confiscation of the Armenian patrimony and the Genocide." That limit should be part of the ratification process.
