ISSUE: Genocide Denial in Turkey
(contributed by UWR Participant: Armenian Students' Association)
Background
A widely documented and recognized fact, the Armenian Genocide became the inspiration for Raphael Lemkin’s fight against this crime with no name. The Turkish government’s successful campaign of denial and its consequent evasion from justice continues to fuel the cycle of the Armenian Genocide for 96 years. Initiated under the cover of the First World War, the governing Committee of Union and Progress of the Ottoman Empire set out to homogenize the empire by destroying its minorities. This policy was inherited by the founders of the Turkish Republic in the post-armistice period when massacres of the remaining Armenian population recommenced up until 1923. Western Armenia was emptied of its native population as Armenians were driven en masse to inhospitable and remote locations in the Empire and massacred. The large majority of intellectual, political and religious leaders were arbitrarily arrested and executed, more than 1,5 million Armenians were systematically murdered and hundreds of thousands were forcibly Turkified. Property and wealth was appropriated, religious and heritage sites were confiscated as Armenians were uprooted from their native lands where their cultural and political existence presided for millennia.
The Act
The Turkish Government continues to aggressively deny the Armenian Genocide at home and abroad. One of the most visible forms of denial is through Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code which equates talk of the genocide to “Insulting Turkishness” making any mention of the genocide a punishable offence – one which has brought to trial Nobel Prize winning author Orhan Pamuk. Despite the brave calls for recognition and reparation by certain Turkish intellectuals, these individuals, dissident to state policies, continue to be viewed as heretics and are publically labeled as traitors. The Turkish Government extends its denialist propaganda abroad as well by funding pseudo-historians, bribing and blackmailing government officials, and by throwing around its economic and political weight.
Why it Matters Today
According to Gregory Stanton’s Eight Stages of Genocide, denial is the last stage. As stated by Facing History and Ourselves, “Denial of genocide is the final stage of genocide. It is what Elie Wiesel has called a "double killing”. Denial murders the dignity of the survivors and seeks to destroy remembrance of the crime. In a century plagued by genocide, we affirm the moral necessity of remembering.” Denial not only continues to victimize every generation of Armenians subsequent to those who survived the genocide, but also robs citizens of Turkey their right to learn from history and repair Turkish society. Turks and Armenians alike have been restricted from uncovering the stories of those righteous Turks who saved Armenian lives, while perpetrators of genocide equivalent to Hitler’s evil are herofied. The denial of the social rights for Turkish citizens today to freely and honestly discuss and come to terms with the past is an extension of the same treatment that was given to Armenians shortly before 1915, as they were also denied basic social rights and equalities. As suppression of honest dialogue and teaching of false history has percolated, the government of Turkey further reinforces a rift between itself and the international community.
What You Can Do
Speak out at United We Rock! There will be volunteers with digital cameras ready to take your photo, holding a speech bubble that you fill in. Your photo can be shared on facebook or twitter, and can even be sent along to your member of parliament!
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