europalia Archives

Belgian media November 26, 2014 were favorably received at a press conference in Brussels on Europalia-Turkey to be held in the European capital in 2015. La Libre Belgique, for example, gave the information under the title of “The 2015 edition of the Europalia festival will Turkish culture in the spotlight.”

As for the Turkish media, even those who are against the current Islamist government, they applaud the holding of the press conference in the presence of the Turkish Culture Minister Omer Celik, as a victory of Turkish lobby in the European capital against the Anatolian diasporas preparing to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian Genocide and Assyrians in 2015.

Why?

Because the Turkish Minister would have taken against the foot by saying, “Anatolia is the cradle of countless civilizations, an open air museum. We want to know Anatolian culture as a whole, complete and not divided into compartments and Armenian culture is one. As the veins of one body. “

Some exposures may be some musical performances will be, according to them, enough to show the European public that the veins Armenian, Assyrian, Greek of this body are still alive as the Turkish-Islamic vein in contemporary Turkey.

What about the genocide and the deportation of millions of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks there 100 years?

Why is there today that tens of thousands of descendants of the indigenous peoples of Anatolia, peoples that existed there before the arrival of the Turks in “the birthplace of countless civilizations”?

Anatolia today is it really an “open air museum” or “an open graveyard” countless civilizations whose creators were exterminated or deported there a century.

What about the oppression and extermination of the Kurdish people and Yezidis? Koçgiri, Seyh Said, Agri, Dersim and Roboski?

What about the Sunni tyranny over the Alevi community?

When amounted at the conference question about Centennial 2015 genocide, President of Europalia International Jacobs de Hagen said that it is a coincidence of dates and reminds Europalia is wants “apolitical.”

Apolitical?

While all democratic forces of the world are already preparing for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the first genocide of the 20th century, the neo-Ottoman and Islamic leaders of Turkey still persist in the denial of this heinous crime committed by the Ottoman Empire Land that was the homeland of the Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the plan, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said recently the Turkish Parliament that it is impossible for Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide that is assigned to their ancestors and to the Turkish nation. (Armenews.com, November 7, 2014)

Moreover, the leaders of Europalia does he have to take into account the situation of human rights and freedom of expression in a country chosen as a partner of the festival? Just flip through the latest reports from international NGOs such as Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, European Federation of Journalists and Committee to Protect Journalists.

And retrograde and scandalous statements of the President of the Republic? (The President Erdogan king of controversy, AFP, November 27, 2014)

Honoring such a plan by the organization Europalia is it really an apolitical act?

Let us not forget that the decision of Europalia International Board of Directors May 23, 2013 to dedicate Europalia 2015 Turkey had already provoked reactions as was the case in 1995.

Indeed, as pointed out by the Libre Belgique of 28 May 2013, Europalia had been interrupted in March 1995 the organization of the 96 edition devoted to Turkey because of the “lack of respect for Turkey in the program of cultural diversity , including the Kurdish dimension “.

See also Article Dogan Özgüden entitled “Europalia ’96 festivities shame?”, Le Soir, December 23, 1994.

After the new allocation of Europalia Turkey, the president of the Armenian community of Belgium, Michel Mahmourian, launched the following call:

“It is clear that the choice of the year 2015 is not due to chance or at the initiative of the Belgian part. If invite Turkey is already in itself questionable – recall that in 1995 the federal government objected to the invitation of Turkey for political reasons – we can not not react to the choice of the year 2015. Let us react So, not only 2015 will be the centenary of the Armenian Genocide but also the beginning of the annihilation of all Christians in the Ottoman Empire. The occasion is thus given to us to bring Greek and Assyrian-Chaldeans, and even to seek support from other former Ottoman minorities concerned to stand out from the official Turkish position “(http: // www.. info-turk.be/419.htm#Europalia)

Despite this warning, the Belgian authorities continue to honor a denialist regime without reservation.

Or, they could demand to hold the festival that Turkey formally recognize the genocide of 1915 and agrees to repair all the consequences of this crime against humanity.

What has not been done by the Belgian ruling is made in Turkey by the democratic forces despite all the risks.

A final example:

The Kurdish MP Sebahat Tuncel Party for a Democratic Society (HDP) submitted to the Turkish Parliament a bill demanding recognition of the 1915 genocide and massacres committed against the Kurds and Alevis during the Republican period.

Tuncel invite the president to apologize to the rostrum of Parliament to the victims of these crimes against humanity. It also requires the Turkish State archives are open, that on April 24 is proclaimed as a day of remembrance and of moral and material damages are compensated by the state.

The Belgian authorities and leaders of Europalia should they not be courageous like this Kurdish politician, toujous threatened by reactionary forces and demand the recognition of the 1915 genocide by the Turkish state before the implementation of the festival program?

If they really want “apolitical”!