There are two sides to the Armenian issue, or rather, to the events that took place in the early 1900s. On one side of the story, there are the Turks, and on the other side, there are the Armenians.
Voices of self-criticism have been increasing on the Turkish side in recent years. There are many intellectuals who express their sorrow, both in word and in action, for the events that took place in 1915.After the murder of Hrant Dink, thousands of people took to the streets holding banners that read “We are all Hrant.” Just the other day, Zeynep Tanbay, who was speaking on behalf of a group of intellectuals who gathered at Taksim Square, said: “Armenian citizens were the owners of our local delicatessens; they were our tailors, jewelry store owners, carpenters, cobblers, classmates, our teachers, deputies, officers and our friends. Armenian citizens were our neighbors, our companions. They started being sent away on April 24, 1915. We lost them. They are gone. Most of them are no longer with us. But the pain that the great disaster has inflicted on our hearts remains. It has been growing for 95 years.”You may or may not agree with these sentences; however, people express these views in Turkey and intellectuals show the courage to engage in self-criticism on this issue.
But it should be recalled that there are two sides to the events of 1915. Therefore, Armenians and Turks should both be debating this issue. Unfortunately, however, we only hear about what Turkey did, and we never look at the Armenian side. Armenian intellectuals have not shown the same level of courage as Turkish intellectuals.
Shouldn’t we talk about the mistakes of Armenians to the same degree that we talk about the mistakes of Turks? More precisely, shouldn’t Armenian intellectuals have the courage to talk about their own mistakes as well? We’ve come to the point where all we’re saying is “a group of people were forced to leave for no reason and were abandoned to their death in the early 1900s.” We are not discussing anything else. No one is talking about the events that led up to the forced migration.
Didn’t Armenian political parties and the Armenian patriarchs have any role and responsibility in this crisis? Why isn’t anyone talking about how missionary schools provoked Armenians and infused dreams of an independent nation? Shouldn’t someone explain how the actions of Armenian gang members provided valid reasons for the Committee of Union and Progress?
Armenian intellectuals need to mention that Armenians fell for the deception of France and England and collaborated with the Russians to betray Turkey and express that this was a grave mistake. It’s convenient for them to put all the blame on the Ottoman Empire and avoid debating their mistakes. But this issue cannot be solved until they face their own faults.
There is also benefit in discussing why the Russians, the French and all the other great states did not protest the forced migration. The same great states are holding on to this issue as a trump card to get what they want from Turkey. Armenians should sit down, discuss and realize that they have no chance of benefiting from this.
We want to hear at least one courageous Armenian intellectual come out and engage in self-criticism over the forced migration of 1.5 million Azeri Turks in Karabakh that took place just a few years ago.
I am not speaking according to Turkey’s official view. But shouldn’t conscientious Armenian intellectuals engage in self-criticism about the side that concerns them?
Mehmet Kamis/Today's Zaman
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