Deciphering Denial: State, Modernity, and the 1915 Armenian Ethnic Cleansing”

“Deciphering Denial: State, Modernity, and the 1915 Armenian Ethnic Cleansing”

Yuksel Oktay [yukseloktay@yahoo.com]

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program

FATMA MUGE GOCEK

Penn Middle East Center Hosts Talk on Deciphering Turkish Denial: Modernity, Violence and 1915 Contextualized
April 20, 2009

WHO: Fatma Muge Gocek, associate professor of sociology, University of
Michigan

WHAT: Talk about Turkey and Armenians

WHERE: 208 Williams Hall, 255 S. 36th St.

WHEN: Thursday April 23, 6 p.m.

Dr. Gocek has worked extensively in the fields of comparative historical sociology, social change and social theory. The talk will address similar topics to those in her forthcoming book, “Deciphering Denial: Turkish State and the Armenian Ethnic Cleansing of 1915.”By Fatma Muge Gocek (1), Discussions by Elazar Barkan (2) and Moderator, Mucahit Bilici (3)

Organized by “Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion”

Co-sponsored by Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) and Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life (IRCPL), all affiliated with Columbia University, founded in 1756

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The talk, the first in a series of lectures on Politics and Religion for the students and public, was attended  by around 50 participants who sat around a long table in a small room, perhaps 10 Professors and academicians and the rest students (4). Mucahit Bilici opened the talk at 4:00 PM and introduced the speakers.

Fatma Gocek  first stated that she has been working on the subject project for ten years and, although the title refers to Armenian Ethnic Cleansing, it contains all the elements of continued violence and denials. She reminded that the same terminology was used by the Young Turks and did not mention the word “genocide” during her talk. She claimed that “even though the collective violence committed against the Armenians in 1915 has been recognized by the international scholarly community, the Turkish state and society still deny its main parameters.” She further claimed that the collective violence against the non-muslim minorities and its subsequent denial was a multi-layered phenomenon, commenced with the modernity movements that was started by Sultan Selim III in 1789. She clamed that the collective violence is still going, especially against the Kurds and the Christian minorties.

Gocek’s main thesis was, unless Turkey and Turkish people recognize the ethnic cleansing, the Armenians can not achieve healing, even if the world recognizes and provides support to them. Her argument included that Turkey can not achieve democracy unless recognition takes place. She also stated that lack of acknowledgement by the Turkish side keeps Armenians locked but healing needs to happen. She kept referring to the “humanity at large” which, she said needs to be enlightened in order to gain the trust of the people.

Gocek presented her analysis under 4 phases, referring to it as “Phases of Turkish Modernity, Violence and Denial”, identifying each phase as indicated below:

1789 – 1907 ,  Military, talked about Sultan Abdulhamid who was busy giving medals to Armenians

1908 – 1918 , Political, Young Turks taking over and starting ethnic cleansing of the Armenians

1919 – 1974, Educational, referred to the assassination of Mehmet Baydar and Bahadir Demir in Los Angeles on 27 Jan 1973 and stated that when the Turkish government was asked to provide documents at the trial, they had nothing to present. After that, Turkish government commissioned retired ambassadors to write stories about the Armenian issue? She further stated that the government also issued documents that could be interpreted in any way that people wanted and were contested, at the same time, taking away documents from the archives that would not support their views.

1975 – 2009, Economics

Following this elaborate analysis, Gocek presented information on “violence against the Armenians” under 5 phases, which she claimed began with modernization in the Ottoman society, also creating polarization, which led to violence to rationalizing events and finally denial.

1894 – 96, Rebellions

1915-1917, Ethnic Cleansing

1941, Forced military service

1942, Wealth Tax

2007, Assasination of Hrant Dink

Gocek explained that she analyzed the historical course of the Ottoman-Turkish modernity and violence under several categories, such as 1) Theoretical (Zygmunt Bauman, Hannah Arendt examples), 2) Historical, 3) Empirical, etc., and developments in wars, technological dealings, diplomacy and education. She never mentioned the fact that there were over 435 American missionary schools plus that many European schools that educated the Armenians with nationalistic views. She kept repeating impact of modernity and connection to violence and identification of sites of memory, contemporary and oral history, Turkish publications and minority lectures.

Gocek ended her talk, stating, “Hopefully, I convinced you.” I left as Elazar Barkan started his commentary, I could not stay due to other commitments. However, I had interesting conversations before the talk started. I arrived at Room 801 where the talk was to take place and had a chance to meet some of the early comers. One was Armin Marsimian, a Professor of Philosophy at the State University of Connecticut. He told me that his grandparents were from Sivas and Merzifon and showed me photographs of his grandparents and the house that they lived in an i-pod. We talked about the American colleges in Turkey, including the Anatolia College that he said was transferred to Selanik. Then I had conversation with Harvey Neuman, a trauma expert who said that he works with Ann Kalayjian who teaches at Fordam University. Mucahit Bilici told me that he was from Diyarbakir, not Turkish, not Armenian, but a Kurd, teaching at John Jay School of Columbia University.

This was a talk, just a talk but with influence on the students who probably does not know the other side of the story, monitored by a Kurd, presenteded by a Turk and commented on by an Armenian, almost totally one sided presentation with some acknowledgement of Turks and Kurds having been killed by the Armenians, but not much on the revolts that led to the relocation, which Gocek kept referring to as deportations. It is interesting that I was the only Turkish-American at the talk, unless I missed any that might have attended.

Notes:

1)  Fatma Muge Gocek is Assoc. Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (TallArmenianTale web site has the real story about who she is.)

2) Elazar Barkan is Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

3)  Mustafa Bilici teaches at John Jay School of Columbia University

4)  Miss Melisa form ISERP stated that the next lecture was scheduled for April 22, 2010 at the same location and representatives from TESEV (Turkey) would be presenting a talk. Anyone interested can write to iserp@columbia.edu . Web page, www.iserp.columbia.edu

Yuksel Oktay

Washington, NJ