Vicken Cheterian: Armenian Genocide and Turkey -- Then and Now
[Vicken Cheterian is a journalist and political analyst who works for the non-profit governance organisation CIMERA, based in Geneva.]
For Armenians everywhere, 24 April is a day of special commemoration. It marks the beginning of the genocide of 1915: the uprooting or killing by the leading figures of the Ottoman state of almost all the 2.2 million Armenians who lived in historic Armenia, using the circumstances of Europe’s “great war” as a pretext.
The ninety-fifth anniversary on 24 April 2010 finds the issue as potent as ever in the global consciousness as well as in the Armenian world. It is discussed in the international arena at all levels of political, diplomatic, historical and cultural life; its recognition as a historical reality has become a factor in the deliberations of many legislative bodies, such as the United States house of representatives' foreign-affairs committee and the Swedish parliament (both in March 2010).
This reflects a shift in the balance of argument about the genocide. The outright negation of its truth is becoming rarer; more often, those who oppose official recognition of the genocide tend tacitly to admit that it did happen but that it would be politically inconvenient to say so as this would anger Turkey - an increasingly powerful and influential country, an important Nato member, and a strategic partner of the west (albeit one more than ever inclined to follow its own course) (see Carsten Wieland, "Turkey's political-emotional transition", 6 October 2009). The implication is that it is still, ninety-five years later, too soon to face reality.
A related but distinct case is that what happened in 1915 belongs to the past and should be left to historians.
Both the “too soon” and the “too distant” cases are wrong, as brave voices in Turkey too are beginning to affirm (see "Turks urged to mark Armenia's 'great catastrophe' in Istanbul", RFE/RL, 22 April 2010). The debate about the Armenian genocide is about politics, and about people living today. In this short article, I make four points that underline the contemporary political relevance of the genocide....
Read entire article at openDemocracy
For Armenians everywhere, 24 April is a day of special commemoration. It marks the beginning of the genocide of 1915: the uprooting or killing by the leading figures of the Ottoman state of almost all the 2.2 million Armenians who lived in historic Armenia, using the circumstances of Europe’s “great war” as a pretext.
The ninety-fifth anniversary on 24 April 2010 finds the issue as potent as ever in the global consciousness as well as in the Armenian world. It is discussed in the international arena at all levels of political, diplomatic, historical and cultural life; its recognition as a historical reality has become a factor in the deliberations of many legislative bodies, such as the United States house of representatives' foreign-affairs committee and the Swedish parliament (both in March 2010).
This reflects a shift in the balance of argument about the genocide. The outright negation of its truth is becoming rarer; more often, those who oppose official recognition of the genocide tend tacitly to admit that it did happen but that it would be politically inconvenient to say so as this would anger Turkey - an increasingly powerful and influential country, an important Nato member, and a strategic partner of the west (albeit one more than ever inclined to follow its own course) (see Carsten Wieland, "Turkey's political-emotional transition", 6 October 2009). The implication is that it is still, ninety-five years later, too soon to face reality.
A related but distinct case is that what happened in 1915 belongs to the past and should be left to historians.
Both the “too soon” and the “too distant” cases are wrong, as brave voices in Turkey too are beginning to affirm (see "Turks urged to mark Armenia's 'great catastrophe' in Istanbul", RFE/RL, 22 April 2010). The debate about the Armenian genocide is about politics, and about people living today. In this short article, I make four points that underline the contemporary political relevance of the genocide....