Tag: Hrant Dink

  • Noam Chomsky to visit Istanbul on Dink’s death anniversary

    Noam Chomsky to visit Istanbul on Dink’s death anniversary

    YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the 6th anniversary of Hrant Dink’s death various events are being organized in Turkey. As reports “Armenpress” Armenian “Agos” periodical states that prominent American intellectual, linguist, and historian Noam Chomsky will visit Turkey to partake in Hrant Dink’s commemoration ceremonies.

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    On January 18 renowned American intellectual Noam Chomsky will partake in the conference entitled “Hrant Dink: Human Rights and Freedom of Speech”, which is organized by the Department of Political Science and International Relations of Boğaziçi University in Istanbul.

    Previously “Agos” stated that on the occasion of the 6th anniversary of Hrant Dink’s murder his friends will organize a march dedicated to the memory of the Armenian editor, as they used to do before. The march will launch in Şişli districts of Istanbul at 13:30, January 19 and will go on to the “Agos” editorial house, where Hrant Dink was assassinated. Turkish organization “Say No to Racism and Nationalism” has also announced about organizing special meetings dedicated to Hrant Dink”s memory.

    via Noam Chomsky to visit Istanbul on Dink’s death anniversary | ARMENPRESS Armenian News Agency.

  • Turkey ‘ignored’ assassination plot of Hrant Dink

    Turkey ‘ignored’ assassination plot of Hrant Dink

    Thomas Seibert

    Jan 10, 2012

    fo10ja TurkeyAssassination

    Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian Turkish journalist, poses at his office in Istanbul in October 2005. He sparked fury among Turkish nationalists after writing an article calling the killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire genocide. He was assassinated in January 2007.

    Mustafa Ozer / AFP

    ISTANBUL // Long before one of Turkey’s most famous journalists was shot three times in the head by a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist, he was already in the crosshairs of the security and intelligence forces.

    A top European court and critics in Turkey say members of the police force knew of the plot to kill the journalist, Hrant Dink – an ethnic Armenian who was gunned down in Istanbul on January 19, 2007 – but took no action to prevent the crime.

    Turkish authorities are still blocking a thorough investigation into the involvement of state officials in the conspiracy, critics say.

    Last July, Ogun Samast, a young nationalist, was convicted by a juvenile court of killing Mr Dink in downtown Istanbul, but the trial against his alleged accomplices has been dragging on amid accusations that the authorities are reluctant to shed light on the role of security forces in the plot to kill the journalist.

    Istanbul’s High Criminal Court is scheduled to convene today for the 24th hearing in the trial.

    “It was like a chronicle of a death foretold,” said Banu Guven, a Turkish journalist and a member of Friends of Hrant, a group calling for a full investigation against policemen, military officers and members of the intelligence services.

    “Officers knew this group was going to kill Hrant, they even knew the type of weapon that was going to be used,” Ms Guven said this week.

    Turkish nationalists hated Mr Dink because he openly said the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide, a term Turkey rejects.

     

    Suspicions that there was support or at least sympathy within the security forces for the perpetrators arose after Samast’s arrest on January 20, 2007, when policemen posed for souvenir pictures with Mr Dink’s murderer.

    In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights in France ruled Turkey was guilty of failing to protect Mr Dink’s life.

    Police in Istanbul and the north-east city of Trabzon, the home of the suspected killers, “had been informed of the likelihood of an assassination attempt and even of the identity of the suspected instigators”, the court said.

    After the crime, authorities refused to allow investigations against high-ranking officers of the security forces, the judges said.

    The verdict has not changed the situation in court in Istanbul, critics said.

    “The people who would conduct the investigation are the very ones who should be investigated,” Ms Guven said.

    Friends of Hrant, campaigning under the slogan “This trial must not end this way”, has called on its supporters to gather in front of the court in Istanbul today to protest against what it sees as attempts at a cover-up.

    Samast, who was 17 when he killed Mr Dink outside the offices of Mr Dink’s Armenian newspaper, Agos, was sentenced to almost 23 years in prison. According to Turkish rules on prison terms, he is to be released in about 10 years.

     

    In the separate trial against Samast’s suspected accomplices before Istanbul’s High Criminal Court, the prosecution has demanded life sentences for Yasin Hayal, a member of the militant nationalist scene in Trabzon, and Erhat Tuncel, a former police informer from the Black Sea city.

    Summing up its case last September, the prosecution said the murder was the work of a local cell of Ergenekon, a suspected network of nationalists accused by prosecutors in another ongoing trial of plotting to overthrow the government by provoking a military coup with the help of assassinations and other terrorist acts.

    But prosecutors did not go into details of the Ergenekon connection.

    Critics accused the prosecution of trying to end the trial prematurely.

    “We have always said that the slowness with which this trial was proceeding was unbearable, but hastily concluding the prosecution case will not help the truth to emerge,” Reporters Without Borders, an international group campaigning for media freedom, said last year.

    Friends of Hrant have said the state involvement in the murder was obvious.

    “It is clear that the ones responsible for Hrant’s death and for an organised effort to hide the truth are state officials,” the group said on its website.

    Ms Guven said court proceedings, which started in February 2008, showed clear signs of reluctance by the state to get to the bottom of the case.

    “The trial has been dragging on for so long because there are problems with gathering evidence,” she said. “Sometimes authorities do not want to supply the court with evidence.”

    One example, cited by Ms Guven and other critics, is that Turkey’s telecommunication authorities refused for months to give the court mobile phone records from the time and place where Mr Dink was shot. The records were sent to the court last year only after several demands by the judge.

    Other evidence that Mr Tuncel and Mr Hayal, the men accused of organising the murder with Samast, worked with members of the security apparatus, has also not been examined properly, critics say.

    Mr Hayal’s father, Bahattin Hayal, said last November that an unnamed official had congratulated him on his son after the murder and told him that Yasin worked for the state.

    There have been signs that the suspects are confident of their early release.

    In one court hearing, Samast said he would get even with Mr Dink’s family after the trial.

    “Just wait, I’ll see you in five years,” he told family members in the courtroom.

    Ms Guven said she was concerned the trial would end without shedding light on the true dimension of the conspiracy behind Mr Dink’s death.

    “The people on trial now will go to prison for a few years and may even expect a hero’s welcome after their release,” she said.

    The militant nationalist mentality that led to Mr Dink’s death was still alive in Turkey five years after the murder, she added.

    “As long as we do not see the whole picture and as long as that mentality is not clearly condemned, there is a danger that things like that could happen again,” she said.

    tseibert@thenational.ae

  • Hrant Dink Olayi  ve Turk Destekcilerindeki Asagilik Kompleksi

    Hrant Dink Olayi ve Turk Destekcilerindeki Asagilik Kompleksi

    Hrant Dink olayi tamamen civitildi. Turkiye’yi, Turk tarihini, kulturunu, ulkesini ve insanini adeta kum torbasina cevirmek icin hem arac ve hem de ortam haline getirildi.

    Dink protestolari, Dink yuruyusleri, Dink panelleri, Dink makaleleri, Dink kitaplari, Dink filmleri, Dink odulleri, Dink internet siteleri, Dink muzeleri, Dink…Dink…Dink…

    Dink, yani bir Ermeni binlerce Turkten daha mi degerli?

    ***

    Biraz acayim:

    Ermeni teroristleri (ASALA, JCAG, ve digerleri) 1973-1993 arasi, dunyanin her yerinde, ve hatta Turkiye’de, binlerce teror eylemi yaptilar. Bu bombali, kursunlu saldirilarda yuzlerce Turk’u
    katlettiler. Binlerce insan yaralandi. Binalar, evler, arabalr, okullar, havaalanlari, bankalar, devlet binalari … onbinlerce bina hasar gordu. Yuzbinlerce insan degisen yogunlukta travmalar yasadi. Bugun Ermeni terorunun Turk kurbanlarindan hangisinin ismini hatirliyorsunuz?

    Eger bir tanesinin adini soyleyebilirseniz, ben bu yaziyi geri cekecegim ve siz de okumanizi burada
    kesebilirsiniz.

    Ermeni teroru kurbanlarindan hangisi icin yuruyusler, paneller, basin toplantilari, internet siteleri, surekli TV programlari, belgeseller, filmler, yapildi?

    Hangisi icin makaleler, kitaplar, agitlar, siirler, sarkilar yazildi? Oduller, paralar, serefler, burslar dagitildi? Avukatlar ordusu tutuldu? Muzeler, binalar insa edildi?

    Oyleyse soruyorum: Dink, yani bir Ermeni onlarca, yuzlerce, binlerce Turkten daha mi degerli?

    Kandirilmis bir Turk gencinin yaptigi tek bir teror eylemi, Ermenilerin son yuzelli yildir yaptigi binlerce teror eylemini siler mi? Unutturur mu?

    Birak 150 seneyi, bir Dink, bir Arikan’i unutturur mu?

    Unutturdu.

    Suc bizde, cunku buna biz izin verdik…

    ***

    Arikan’i ozellikle sectim. Eminim ki cogu okurun Arikan’in kim oldugundan haberi yoktur. Iste sorun da zaten burada ya.

    Bazilarinin Turkiye’de Dink’e olan yaklasimi bir insan haklari ya da demokrasi yaklasimi degil; bilgisizlige dayali bir asagilik kompleksinin tezahuru, disavurumu. Bu yuzden de bu tip “Dink’ciler” e hem kiziyorum, hem de aciyorum…

    Zavallilar, kendi ulkelerini, vatanlarini, insanlarini, kulturlerini, tarihlerini, geleneklerini, goreneklerini, ruhlarini, benliklerini, kimliklerini azar azar sattiklarini goremiyorlar… Oylesine, futbol takimi tutar gibi, kӧrü kӧrüne, bilgisizce ama arsizca bir itaat icindeler… Dink de Dink… Ille de Dink…

    Hani bebeler vardir ya “cok, cok, cok, cok” boyuna emzik emerler… Bos ama mutlu gozlerle dunyaya bakarlar … Iste bu zavallilar da “dink, dink, dink, dink” diye sesler cikararak Turkiye-dusmani propagandalari emiyorlar…

    ***

    Karsilastirma oldukca ogretici:

    Arikan 1982 de Los Angeles’te bir genc tarafindan vurulmustu, adi Sasunyan. Dink’i 2007 de Istanbul’da vuran da bir Turk genciydi, adi Ogun Samast.

    Turk genci bazi soylemler ve vaatlerle o anlik kandirilmisti ama simdi pismandi. Arikan’i vuran Ermeni gencinin ise beyni sistematik olarak uzun yillar icinde Turk nefreti ile yikanmisti ve sucunu tekrarlamaya her an hazirdi…

    Arikan’da Dink te olduruldugunde 52 yasindaydi.

    Ikisi de kursunlara hedef oldugunda evliydi.

    Ikisinin de kizlari vardi ve onlar da benzer yaslardaydi.

    Ama Dink icin butun Turkiye ayaga kalkti, terore lanet okudu, yuruyusler yapti, “Hepimiz Ermeniyiz” diye bile sacmaladi…

    Arikan icin Los Angeles’te tek Ermeni bile yurumedi. Birak yurumeyi, yuzlercesi, binlercesi zil takip oynadi. Bir seytan daha gitti diyenler bayram yaptilar. Ermeni kiliselerinde Ermeni teroristler icin paralar toplandi. Bunlardan bihaber Turk magandalar ise 25 sene sonra Istanbul’da 2007 de bir pankart tasiyordu: “Hepimiz Ermeniyiz.” Soruyorum: asagilik kompleksi bu degidir de nedir?

    ***

    Dink’in katilini babasi polise yakalatti. Yani kendi babasi bile Turk katili desteklemedi. Sasunyan’i ise bazi Ermeni aileler gunlerce Los Angeles polisinden sakladi. Sonunda Amerikali gorgu sahitleri ortaya cikti da Sasunyan yakalanabildi. Yoksa o da bugun hala yakalanmamis olurdu, tipki suc ortagi gibi (o simdi Lubnan’daymis.)

    Halbuki Samast hemen yakalandi, yargilandi, 22 yila hapis cezasinamahkum oldu… Bu bile bazi Ermenilerin Turk-dusmanligini, kinini, nefretini dizginleyemedi… Neymis efendim, derin devletmis! Fransa’nin serbest biraktigi ASALA katili bugun Ermenistan’da kahraman muamelesi goruyor. Derine de lluzum yok, bunlar sig devletler… ve vapacik hareketler… Ama bu onlari ilgilendirmiyor, cunku olenler Turk ve Musluman… Yani “harcanabilir” turden… Dink lobisi ve onun bazi tanidik-bildik Turk isbirlikcileri bastiriyorlar: derin devlet de derin devlet…

    Dink’in oldurulmesini Turkiye Cumhurbaskani, Basbakani, Bakanlari, Valileri, Belediye Baskanlari, toplum liderleri, kanaat onderleri, sanayiciler, isadamlari, sanatcilar, sporcular, halk herkese
    kinadi… Bu Turkiye icin cok buyuk bir artidir. Tarihi bir hosgoru belgesidir…

    Arikan’in ӧlümünü ise, birkac soguk diplomatik aciklama disinda, kimse kayitsiz sartsiz olarak kinayamadi. Ne Ermeni diasporasi, ne Ermenistan politikacilari, ne Ermeni yazarlari, sanatcilari, aydinlari… Hic kimse! Hepsinde de kayitlar sartlar vardi. “Efendim, oldurme yanlisti ama bu yerde kanlar icinde yatan Turk diplomat, kanli tarihi nedeniyle olumu bir sekilde haketmisti…Zaten bunlar derin devletciydi… ” demeye getiren affettirici soylemler denediler.

    Turkler ve Ermeni Diasporasi aradaki bu “derin” davranis, hissiyat, ve ahlak farkini hala goremeyeniniz kaldi mi?

    ***

    Amerikali tarihci Justin McCarthy’nin “Turks In America” diye yeni bir kitabi var. Tavsiye ederim. Mutlaka okuyun. Turkcesi de yakinda cikiyormus galiba–cikmiyorsa da cikmali diye dusunuyorum. Dusunun ki, 500 sayfalik bir kitap ama 200 sayfasi kaynaklara, aciklayici notlara ayrilmis. Yani boylesine zengin ve ayrintili bir arastirma urunu.

    Kitap okuyacak vaktiniz yoksa, lutfen hic olmazsa sadece ikinci bolumunu okuyun. Bostonlu Protestan Misyonerlerin Batida yarattigi olumsuz Turk imajini anlayin, gorun, hissedin…

    Amerika’da son ikiyuz yilda Osmanli ve Turkiye hakkinda yazilanlari, soylenenleri bir okusaniz, kaniniz damarinizda donar. Benimki dondu.

    O kitapta 1819 yilinda bir Boston Kilisesinde Potestan misyoner Pliny Fisk’in vaazini bir okuyun. Yazar McCarthy, o gunlerden baslayip bugune kadar inatla gelen anti-Turk soylemlerin izini adeta usta bir izci surmus.

    Hangi mektup, hangi hutbe, hangi kilise, hangi okul, hangi kitap, hangi gazete, ne zaman, nerede… Kim neler soylemis, yazmis… Reaksiyonlar ne olmus… Bugunlere nerelereden gecilerek, hangi evrimler yasanarak gelinmis… Bunlari tek tek okuyun. Gorun. Nalinci keseri Dinkcilerin iste bu gelenegi nasil surdurdugunu anlayacaksiniz… Onlar icin Dink arac; Turkiye’ye saldirmak, Turk’u karalama amac…

    Bu kitap kadar yazdiktan sonra size biraz tattirmazsam bir belki yeriniz siser. O yuzden, izninzile, sadece ikinci bolumun cok kisa bir ozetini sunayim. Bu kitabin, “Dink’ciler” in bugunku davranislarinin ardindaki karanlik ve nefret dolu zihniyeti nasil aciga vurdugunu goreceksiniz.

    Amerika kuruldugu yillarda (1776-1818) Hristiyanlik, daha dogru bir deyimle Protestanlik, one cikiyor. Gerci anayasa ve yasalar var tabii ama yasam genellikle dini degerler uzerinden duzenleniyor.

    Inanislardan biri ise Yahudilerin Isa peygamber’e ihanet edip kotu yola saptiklari, dunyadaki tum kotuluklerinin kaynaginin bu oldugu, ve eger bu Yahudilerin tekrar Hristiyanliga dondurulmesi saglanabilirse Isa’nin yeryuzune tekrar geri gelecegi ve tum sorunlarin bitecegidir. Inanclari bu. Seversin, sevmezsin. Inanirsin, inanmazsin. Inanclar tartisilmaz ki.

    Hatta bu yuzden Protestanlar ve Presbyteryanlar Kudus’e buyuk ilgi duyuyorlar. Derken misyonerler gonderiyorlar. Ilk giden misyonerler raporlarinda Protestan yapilmasi gerekenleri siraliyorlar: once Yahudiler, sonra Muslumanlar, sonra Ortodokslar (Rum), sonra diger sapmis Hristiyanlar (Ermeni, Nasturi, Asuri, vs) ve sonra da Katolikler.

    Bunlardan ilk ucunde hicbir yol katedemeyince de Ermeniler uzerine yogunlasiyorlar ve anti-Turk,
    anti-Musluman soylemlerle, Anadolu’ya yuzlerce okul ve hastane yapip egitim ve saglik hizmetleri goturerek Ermeniler arasinda hatiri sayilir bir Protestan kesim yaratiyortlar. Iste sorun bu calismalardaki
    anti-Turk, kin dolu ve bolucu soylemlerde. Tamamen hurafe ve nefrete dayali bu soylemlerden bazilari aynen, bazilar hafifleyerek gunumuze kadar gelmisler.

    Iste ABD deki anti-Turk soylemlerin, makale ve kitaplarin, belgesel ve filmlerin, ve hatta politikalarin ardinda bu ikiyuz yillik misyoner edebiyati cikabiliyor.

    Bostonlu Protestan Misyonerlere gore Muslumanlik sahte bir dindir, gelenekleri sapiktir, tum Muslumanlar Hristiyan olmadikca dunyada huzur yoktur. Turkler de Muslumanlarin en birincil temsilcisidir. Tembeldir, sakindir,kafasi calsimaz, reform yapamaz, kendisini yenilemesi, gelistirmesi mumkun degildir, ama kizdigi zaman cok kotu seyler yapan bir canavardir. (Misyonerlik merkezinin, soykirim iddialarini kabul ettigini ilk defa 2003 yilinda beyan eden Globe gazetesinin ve Ermeni Devrimci Orgutu merkezinin hepsinin de Boston’da bulunmasi bir tesaduf mudur?)

    Ondikuzuncu yuzyilda koskoca Osmanli imparatorlugu icin sadece bir veya iki paragraf vardir lise tarih kitaplarinda ve onlarda yukarida yazdigim yalan ve hakaret dolu seylerdir. Bu kitaplara gore Turk’te sanat ve bilim yoktur, varsa mutlaka Hristiyan kokenliler tarafindan yapilmistir. Turk’un mimarisi, han, hamam, kopru, cesme, yol, cami ve diger eserleri, sanati, siiri, felsefesi, Mevlana’si, Yunus’u, Nasreddin
    Hoca’si, Dede Korkut’u, cinisi, halisi, minyaturu, muzigi, hic ama hic yoktur.)

    Binlerce yillik Turk, Amerika’nin Tarih kitaplarinda iki paragraftir ve ikisi de cok kotudur. Haritada zor bulacaginiz Karayip adalarina bile sayfalarca yer veren bu tarih kitaplari, uc kitaya 623 hukmetmis bir dunya imparatorlugu icin sadece iki paragraph ayirmistir… ve orada bile hakaret etmistir.

    Boylece, Pazar okullarinda anti-Turk soylemler ile tanisan minnacik cocuklar, orta okulda ve lisede birkac paragraf ta olsa bu nefret ve onyargi soylemini tekrar duymaktadir. Universiteye gelen genc
    Turk hakkinda fazla birsey bilmez ama bildigi cok kotu seylerdir.

    Universitede ise anti-Turk soylem bilimsel bir havaya sokulur. 1453 Istanbul’un fethi ve onun etkilerinden soz edilirken Turklerin nasil yakip yiktigi belgelenmeye calisilir. Bizans yasami, sanati ve teknolojisi one cikarilir. Dogal olarak, bunu okuyan genc te Turkiye’ye karsi, en hafif deyimiyle,
    endiseli ve mesafeli olur. Seni sever, dost olursun, tanisirsin, Turk oldugunu ogrenince ilk lafi su olur: “Hic Turk’e benzemiyorsun?” Cunu kafasinda pala biyikli, kilicindan kan damlayan bir katil imaji var. (Boylelerine genellikle esprili cevap veririm: Eger devemi ne yaptigimi ima ediyorsan hemen soyleyeyim, onu binanin arkasina parkettim.)

    85 milyonluk Almanya’dan 4-5 milyon turist ceken Turkiye’nin, 330 milyonluk ABD den yarim milyon turist bile cekememesinin ardinda yatan etken sadece cografi uzaklik degildir; yukarida anlattigimiz bu tarihi, dini, ahlaki boyutlardaki uzakliktir. Onyargidir. Haydi nefret demeyeyim de antipatidir. Derin kizginlik ve sevgisizliktir…

    ***

    Bu onyargilarin isiginda, ben Dinkciler’i degerlendiriyorum:

    1) Dink ailesi ve yakinlari – bunlarin acisi gercektir ve tabii ki anlasilabilir. Bunlar zaten grubun binde biri bile degildir.

    2) Ozurcu aydinlar – Yani Dink’i Turkiye’yi surekli karalamak icin bir arac ve/veya bir platform olarak kullananlar. Bunlar genellikle 70 li yillarin eli kanli solculari, bugunlerin ise liberal veya dinci yazarlari. Kimse aldanmasin: bunlarin meselesi Turkiye’ye duyduklari kindir ve saldirmak icin her araci kullanirlar: Dink, demokrasi, insan haklari, AB, inanc ozgurlugu… Ben bunlara karsi degilim ama bunlari yaparken Turkiye’ye insafsizca hucum edilmesine karsiyim. Bunlar bence yuzde biri ikiyi gecmez… Azdir ama cok yaygara yaparlar.

    3) Gizli Turk dusmanlari ile bazi asagilik kompleksliler : Bunlar Arikan’i bilmezler. Ermeni terorunun 70 den fazla Turk kurbani icin tek damla goz yasi dokmus degildirler, zaten hatirlamazlar. Tarihteki Ermeni isyanlari, ihanetleri, teroru, bombali kursunlu saldirilari, apartheid icin toprak istekleri, Islamofobyasi ve Turkofobyasi konusunda pek bilgisiz olduklari icin de Ermeni soykirim iddialarina karsi “aman canim, ver-kurtul” yaklasimina siginirlar. Boylece demokrasi, insan haklari, ve AB cephesine tasindiklarini , yani aklandiklarini dusunurler. Zavallidirlar ama buyuk cogunluk da bunlardadir. Merak ediyorum, acaba “Hepimiz Ermeniyiz” pankartlarini tasiyanlar bunlar olabilir mi? Sorunun yanitini okura birakiyorum.

    ***

    Eger teror kurbanlari icin adam gibi, Insanca uzuleceksen, o zaman hepsi icin uzul; “Bu Dink, bu degil” diye ayirma. Biraz da sen insan ol. Bu arada biraz oku ve ogren ki seni bu kadar kolayca manipule edemesin “Ozurculer” ve “Dinkciler”. Bunlara karsi en iyi mucadele bilgi ile olur. Onlarin ezberi ancak bilgi ile bozulur.

    Son soz: Onlarin Dink’i varsa benim de Arikan’im var… Ve Arikan’imin yaninda 70 tane Alim, Velim, Mehmedim, Ahmedim var. Dinkciler ve Ozurculer hatirlamak istese de var… istemese de var!

    Yeter artik gozumuzun icine baka baka yaptiginiz bu kadar irkcilik, ayrimcilik, ve hakaretler; hepsini ama hepsini sizlere gerisin geri iade ediyorum. Tepe tepe kullanin!

    Ergun KIRLIKOVALI
    Hem babasi ve hem annesi Balkan Savaslarindan sag cikabilmislerin oglu

    Not: Ingilizce argumanlar icin:

  • Can we ever know the truth about the Armenian ‘genocide’?

    Can we ever know the truth about the Armenian ‘genocide’?

    By Jack Grove

    Debate has been further inflamed by claims that Turkey has paid off historians. Jack Grove reports

    news p24

    Credit: Reuters

    Not forgotten: a protester places a banner, ‘For Hrant, for Justice’, outside the Agos newspaper offices during a demonstration to mark the third anniversary of editor Hrant Dink’s assassination

    Few academic subjects are as politically explosive as the dispute over the mass killings in Armenia.

    Almost 100 years after the alleged atrocities of 1915-16, arguments still rage over whether the deaths of between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenian civilians constitute genocide.

    Most historians agree that Ottoman Turks deported hundreds of thousands of Armenians from eastern Anatolia to the Syrian desert during the First World War, where they were killed or died of starvation and disease.

    But was this a systematic attempt to destroy the Christian Armenian people? Or was it merely part of the widespread bloodshed – including the deaths of innocent Turkish Muslims – in the collapsing Ottoman empire?

    Unlike most scholarly disputes, however, this clash goes far beyond the confines of academic journals and conferences.

    More than 15,000 Armenian-Americans marched through the streets of Los Angeles in April 2008, calling for Turkey to apologise for its “ethnic cleansing”, and Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US after a congressional committee narrowly voted to recognise the episode as genocide.

    The Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink was assassinated by a 17-year-old nationalist in 2007 after criticising the country’s denialist stance.

    Before Dink’s death, such claims had resulted in his being prosecuted for “denigrating Turkishness”. The Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk was also prosecuted for making similar claims.

    Denialist claims

    Now a leading historian has further inflamed debate by claiming that academics have been paid by the Turkish foreign ministry to produce denialist works.

    Taner Akçam, associate professor at Clark University in Massachusetts, told a conference at Glendale Public Library, Arizona, in June that he had been informed by a source in Istanbul, who wished to remain anonymous, that hefty sums have been given to academics willing to counter Armenian genocide claims.

    Although Akçam claims he did not name any historians explicitly, five academics have threatened legal action, saying they were implicated and have therefore become targets for extreme Armenian nationalists.

    Akçam denies he has defamed anyone, adding that he has been the target of a “hate campaign” for many years for his work on genocide.

    “I never mentioned any names, nor accused anybody,” he says.

    “I only shared information that I learned when I was in Istanbul – this was very general information without names.”

    Beyond the legal writs, however, the episode has raised questions of whether free historical investigation of the genocide claims can ever take place amid the frenzied Turkish-Armenian political climate.

    Akçam, who is often described as the first historian of Turkish origin openly to acknowledge and research the genocide, believes pressure from Ankara has made it impossible for Turks to look into the subject at home.

    “There is no direct pressure on academia, in the sense that the government doesn’t issue bulletins or communiques to stay away from the subject.

    “But if one works on Armenian genocide and uses the term, one would lose one’s job immediately.

    “This is the very reason why almost none of the scholars use the term ‘genocide’, even though there are a lot of journalists and public intellectuals using this term.

    “It is very risky to focus one’s work on this area, let alone to get funded by the state.

    “If I wanted to work in Turkey, I would not be able to find a job at any university. None of the private universities can hire me as they would be intimidated by the government and public pressure, especially the media.”

    However, Jeremy Salt, associate professor in history at Bilkent University, Ankara, believes the issue is no longer taboo.

    “I have been in this country quite a long time and all kinds of things that could not be discussed 10 or 15 years ago are now discussed openly,” he says.

    “Ten years ago public criticism of the army was unthinkable – I myself got into trouble for this. Now as part of the Ergenekon inquiry (into an ultra-nationalist group accused of trying to overthrow the government), retired generals have been arrested and the prominence of the army in politics has been shrunk to a shadow of what it was.”

    Skewed perspectives

    Indeed, he believes the influence of Armenian nationalists – including the powerful Armenian diaspora – has also skewed discussion of the era and prevented impartial consideration of the mass deaths.

    “As far as the Western cultural mainstream is concerned, there is virtually no comprehension, outside (the battle of) Gallipoli…of the scale of the catastrophe that overwhelmed the Ottoman Empire. About 3 million civilians died.

    “They included Armenians and other Christians, Kurds, Turks and other Muslims of various ethno-national descriptions.

    “They died from all causes – massacre, malnutrition, disease and exposure. Armenians were the perpetrators as well as the victims of large-scale violence. No one comes out of it with clean hands.

    “These are the facts that any historian worth his salt will come across, but which generally are skated over or played down, or treated as propaganda by writers who shape their narrative according to need and not according to where the search for truth leads.”

    Diaspora measures

    Hakan Yavuz, professor of political science at the University of Utah, and one of the academics threatening to sue Akçam, also criticised the role of the Armenian diaspora.

    “In the late 1970s, a group of radical Armenian nationalists placed a bomb just outside (Ottoman historian) Stanford Shaw’s home in California. Many historians decided to steer clear from the discussion – in other words, the culprits succeeded in reaching their aim.

    “The Armenian diaspora has been the key obstacle to advancing the debate over the causes and consequences of the events of 1915. It has invested lots of its time and resources to promoting the genocide thesis and silencing those who question their version.

    “One may conclude that the Armenian diaspora seeks to use the genocide issue as the ‘societal glue’ to keep the community together.

    But Akçam disagrees: “At the same time, the Turkish government’s heavy-handed policies are not helpful at all. If there were no diaspora effort, this issue would hardly be a topic in Turkey. Their efforts help to keep the topic alive and on the agenda.”

    The legal action against Akçam threatened by Yavuz is not the first such case in the fraught world of genocide studies.

    In March, a judge dismissed a claim by the Turkish Coalition of America, which argued that it had been defamed by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

    Judge Donovan Frank ruled that the department had acted legally when it created a “blacklist” labelling the coalition’s website as unreliable for academic use because it contained material denying the Armenian genocide.

    But might the prospect of thawing relations between Armenia and Turkey finally help to bring about a reconciliation of this issue – or at least the possibility of debate free from political interference?

    Akçam is hopeful. “If Turkey opens the borders and normalises its relations with Armenia, this could have a very positive impact on the research on genocide or different aspects of Armenian studies,” he says.

    “The normalisation of the relations between both countries could be an important step for more independent academic work in the field.”

    jack.grove@tsleducation.com.

  • Dink’s murderer accused Turkish media

    Dink’s murderer accused Turkish media

    By Times.am at 26 May, 2011, 1:25 pm

    The forth session of the court trial on Hrant Dink’s murder took place yesterday in Istanbul. Remind, Hrant Dink was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish weekly “Agos”.

    Note, Ogyun Samast, the suspected for the Dink’s murder, is judged at the court of minors by the decision made on October, 2010. This means the murderer will be punished softer.

    Samast has accused Turkish media during the court trial and said the publications by “Hurriet” and “Vatan” made him hate Armenians, Turkish “Sondakika” informs. “The leaders of these dailies are guilty. Where are they now? Why did they publish such materials?”

    The next session will take place on June 17.

    /Times.am/

  • Hrant Dink Park Opens in Mersin

    Hrant Dink Park Opens in Mersin

    MERSIN, Turkey (Firant news agency) — BDP’s Mersin Akdeniz Municipality has named a park and built a monument, both in honor of Hrant Dink. Dink, chief editor of the bilingual newspaper Agos, was murdered on January 19, 2007.

    Rakel Dink and others at the opening of the Hrant Dink Park
    Rakel Dink and others at the opening of the Hrant Dink Park

    Hundreds of Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, Christians and Alevis came together in Mersin for the opening of Hrant Dink Park and monument which were made by the Akdeniz Municipality.

    Following a dance performance by primary school students, the opening ceremony was made with the participation of prominent figures, such as Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block’s Mersin Independent Candidate Ertugrul Kürkcü; Dink’s wife, Rakel, and daughter, Delal Dink; BDP Provincial Chair Cihan Yilmaz; Akdeniz Municipality Mayor M. Fazil Türk; Agos Editor Rober Koptas; Armenian writer Vartak Estukyan; representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Mersin; journalists Ali Bayramoglu and Celal Baslangic and several other artists and poets.

    Making the opening speech of the ceremony, which drew much interest from the public and media, Türk started off by expressing his pleasure of giving one of the most honorable and meaningful services during his presidency. Türk said: “We are giving this park the name of Hrant who was murdered with an unacceptable malicious attack. We will give a fight for the values peace, democracy and equality that he died for. We will not be afraid of those different us and we will keep take the differences as our richness. Everybody is equal in this country and deserves equal treatment. I once more condemn the dark hands that shadow this brotherhood. Dark focuses will not be able to prevent the breeding ground of the seeds of peace and freedom in our country. Names like Hrant Dink are the cornerstones on this way. We bow respectfully before the memory of our peace dove. We will not forget the name Hrant Dink.”

    Emphasizing that Dink is a companion who sacrificed his life for the peoples’ liberty and for the great action of Deniz Gezmis and his companions, Kürkcü said: “While entrusting himself to the conservation of the Turkish people, Hrant wanted to believe in something that was yet not proved. We, however, saw that this vessel head was not that much protective. The peoples cannot exist alone. They lapse into a political statement. And, unfortunately, the state, our political statement, is not on very good terms with its people, other peoples, families and religions. The murder of Hrant Dink is bitter realization of this bitter truth. We now owe an apology to the Armenian people and to our brother Hrant Dink. And what a bitter fate is it that this apology is paid by a Kurdish local official, not by a dominant element of the state. In other words, the Kurdish people, on behalf of Turkey’s peoples, have begun to apologize for the cruelty toward the Armenian people. We need to take this as an example. Turkey cannot put the blame of all happenings on minorities, others and the expelled. Turkey needs to face with its truth and its history.”

    Kürkcü who called referred to Dink as “our companion,” was followed by Dink’s widow, who emphasized that this name recalls of cruelty created by discrimination, racism and fascism and said: “My husband gave a fight for truths along his life. He tried to address the unfairness suffered by all peoples but he was responded with death. But the only thing to console us is that his thoughts have expanded and born new people thinking like him. And I can see this picture here today. This idea is just a point to face the past. Our history is full of lots of pains.”

    The speeches were followed by concerts from the MKM (Mesopotamian Culture Center) group and Kardes Türküler who showed their support through their songs about freedom, equality and peace. The program ended with the opening of the Hrant Dink Park and monument.

    via Hrant Dink Park Opens in Mersin | Welcome to the Armenian Mirror-Spectator.