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Gonca Sönmez-Poole: Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide

January 29, 2015 By administrator

By: Hambersom Aghbashian

Gonca Sönmez-Poole In her article “Armenian genocide: Why many Turkish people have trouble accepting it” (May 4, 2012), she wrote “I now use the word genocide when speaking about the massacres of 1915 because doing otherwise would be a retreat into ignorance on two fronts, both intellectual and personal. I know I simply cannot go on denying the true depth of brutality and suffering brought upon the Ottoman Armenians, and the animosity and hatred 1915 perpetuated for nearly a century. On a more personal level, such a denial would be an affront to all of my new friends and acquaintances … not only because they happen to be Armenian, but because they are human beings whom I care about.”(3)

On May 4, 2012, Gonca Sönmez-Poole wrote in “Global post, ” Many Turkish people, who are just starting to learn about their own history, feel that somebody is always trying to shut them up unless they start any sentence with the “G” word. Genocide is the word that encapsulates the events of 1915: large-scale deportations and massacres. To Armenians, this is known as the Armenian Genocide. Turkish people speak of the same events in the context of other factors that occurred during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. They don’t deny there were large-scale deportations and even murders. They acknowledge the killing of women and children as a result of the deportations. But they have a hard time describing all of this as “genocide.”(4)

Gonca Sönmez-Poole is an American citizen of Turkish descent. She is a TV producer, filmmaker, writer, and a member of the Boston media community for the past 28 years. She has spent two decades working for WCVB-TV’s Chronicle program, followed by thirteen years managing her own nonprofit organization, Mediation Way, Inc.. She holds a BA in mass communication from Emerson College and is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy’s mid-career MA program. After earning her master’s degree, she has worked in television both within the United States and internationally, and since 2007, she has been volunteering for a number of Armenian-Turkish dialogue projects in and around Boston. She is the founder of TAWA (Turkish-Armenian Women’s Alliance), a grassroots effort among a diverse group of Boston-based Armenian and Turkish women who met at regular intervals between September 2012 and May 2014. For the past seven years, she has dedicated her free time to Armenian-Turkish dialogue work around Boston, Massachusetts.(1)(2)

” When they died ” is Gonca Sönmez-Poole’s article where she wrote “…many Turkish people, don’t disguise the elephant in the room. Whether the realization comes after a quarter of a century, as it did for me, or overnight with luck and soul-searching, I believe that all Turkish people need to know and accept one simple truth: somewhere, somehow, an ancestor of theirs may have taken the life of an innocent Armenian person just because that person was Armenian. When that bit of information is understood, genuinely accepted, digested, and settled into the hearts and minds of every Turkish person, then, and only then, can we all start a new chapter. And in that chapter, the discussion will no longer be an argument about the term genocide, the definition of intent, or the total tally of killings on either side, it will simply be a discussion about the question we want to leave for our children to ponder: how do we deal with the “other”?(5)

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“Elephant in the room” is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is either being ignored or going unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss. It is based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with the looming big issue.

1- http://www.fletcherforum.org/2013/04/15/sonmez-poole/

2- http://goncasp.net/?page_id=27

3- http://neweasternpolitics.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/armenian-genocide

4- http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/commentary/armenian-genocide-why-turkish-people-have-trouble-accepting-it

5- http://goncasp.net/?page_id=18

Writer Tuba Çandar: Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide

January 22, 2015 By administrator

By: Hambersom Aghbashian

Born in 1948, Tuba Candar completed her education in the United States after secondary schooling in Austria High School in Turkey. She graduated from the International Relations Department of the Ankara University Faculty of Political Science. She lived in Germany following March 12 military coup. Returning to Turkey, she became the editor-in-chief of “Bizim Almanca” magazine under Cumhuriyet daily. She also worked as an editor at “Gergedan” magazine. At Yeni Yüzyıl daily, she wrote culture and arts and travel pieces. She had a “Portraits” column in “Gazete Pazar.” Her first book about the life of Mualla Eyubığlu Anhegger, “Hitit Güneşi” (Hitite Sun), was in 2003. In 2007, she had “Murat Belge Bir Hayat” (Murat Belge A Life). Her latest book, “Hrant” came out on the birthday of Hrant Dink on Sept. 15 in 2010.(1).

Hrant Dink was born in Malatya on September 15, 1954. A Turkish intellectuals of Armenian descent. He was shot on 19 January 2007 on the sidewalk in front of his Agos newspaper. Tuba Candar’s book “Hrant” is the story of his unique life. According to www.goodreads.com , the average rating of her book “Hrant” is rated 4.8 which is almost 5 stars.(2). About Candar’s “Hrant” book , “istanbulgibbs.blogspot.com” mentioned “The writers are the hundreds of friends, relatives and coworkers that loved and admired Hrant. They tell his story from birth to death. I liked Hrant Dink. He seemed like he had been a man of integrity. He reached out to all sides on the Armenian issue and became the first to speak out on taboos decades old in an effort to reconcile Armenians and Turks. And he spoke out for others as well, for all of Turkey’s downtrodden and martyred without fear or compromise, regardless of race, creed, or political background. He had been branded a traitor and a hater of Turks by the media for suggesting Sabiha Gökçen, Atatürk’s adopted daughter, had been an Armenian orphan.(3)

Hrant Dink biography writer Tuba Candar says, “We were all shot. It was not Hrant only who was shot. We were all shot that day.”

In an interview with civilinet.am, on Jan. 12, 2012, Hrant Dink’s biography writer Tuba Candar said, “We were all shot. It was not Hrant only who was shot. We were all shot that day.” It took her 3.5 years to finish the 700 pages biography, which is in Turkish and was very well in Istanbul, also in Diyarbakir, Malatya, Ankara and Izmir. The book will be translated by a london based publisher to other languages.(4)

Tuba Candar is one of the Turkish intellectuals who is supporting the Armenian cause, by disclosing and revealing the fact about the Armenian Genocide. Her 700 pages book about Hrant Dink, originally wrote in Turkish is a good source for the young Turkish generation who like to now some of the fact about the Armenian Genocide.

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1-http://www.recon-project.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=27:tuba-candar&Itemid=157&lang=en

2- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4406617.Tuba_andar

3- http://istanbulgibbs.blogspot.com/2011/11/translation-of-hrant-by-tuba-candar.html

4- http://civilnet.am/2012/01/19/tuba-candar-qwe-were-all-shot-that-dayq/#.VGfWfMnUiqk

Turkey, Kurdish leader: We recognize Armenian Genocide without question

January 19, 2015 By administrator

Selahattin Demirtas, who is co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish “Peoples’ Democratic Party” (HDP) and an ex-presidential candidate, has reiterated that they recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Demirtas responded to numerous questions, including the query on the recognition the Armenian Genocide, on the air of CNN Turk.

“We recognize the Armenian Genocide without question. The Kurds and others certainly have played a role in the Armenian Genocide, but the political will [to commit this genocide] was that of the Young Turks’ party, led by Enver and Talaat Pashas.

“If Turkey claims to own the Ottoman heritage, let it own it [, the Armenian Genocide], too. If not, let it come to grips with this tragedy,” Selahattin Demirtas specifically noted.

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide 48-Nilüfer Göle

January 16, 2015 By administrator

By : Hambersom Aghbashian,

Nilüfer Göle (born 1953) is a prominent Turkish French sociologist and a leading authority on the political movement of today’s educated, urbanized, religious Muslim women. From 1986 to 2001, she was a professor at the Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, and currently at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences Centre d’Analyse et d’Intervention Sociologiques (CADIS) in Paris. Through personal interviews, Göle has developed detailed case studies of young Turkish women who are turning to the tenets of fundamental Islamic gender codes. Her sociological approach has also produced a broader critique of Euro centrism (European exceptionalism) with regard to emerging Islamic identities at the close of the twentieth century. She has explored the specific topic of covering, as well as the complexities of living in a multicultural world. Göle has published many books, amongst them “Interpénétrations: L’Islam et l’Europe. (Paris: Galaade Editions, 2005)”, “Islamisme et féminisme en Turquie: regards croisés,” in Le foulard islamique en questions (Paris: Éditions Amsterdam, 2004)”, and others.(1)

Under the title ” Europe – an identity or a project?” Nilüfer Göle wrote on Dec.15, 2005, ” …the Armenian question still remains a major taboo for Turkish nationalism. The official view of the past is based on the suppression and denial of the 1915 genocide that created a sort of short-memory and diffused amnesia about the past for the generations of the Republic. One question is how to remember the past and the second is to develop and express points of view that are independent of the official one. The choice of words to label the events, whether it is “deportation,” “ethnic cleansing,” “massacres,” or “genocide” is becoming a battle ground for the public debate that begins. The debate is initiated by few Turkish intellectuals, historians, including those of the Armenian community who challenged the ideological version of the events, defying the taboos of Turkish nationalism and exploring new ways of relating to the emotional trauma of Armenians and developing a new narrative on the historical past, albeit under the pressures of nationalist forces and juridical intimidation.” (2)

Nilüfer Göle was one of the Turkish intellectual who have signed a Petition Against Denialist Exhibition in Denmark , reminding the Denmark’s authorities that by giving the Turkish government the opportunity to present an “alternative exhibit”, against the Genocide recognition ,they support their policy of suppression and intimidation. And that their support constitutes an obstacle to democratization efforts in Turkey today.(3)

According to “www.projetaladin.org” , Nilüfer Göle said, “Today we cannot talk about the Europeanism of Europe without historical consciousness of the Holocaust. We cannot be a citizen of Europe today without this memory, so it affects all citizens of all faiths, including immigrants who become European citizens or countries such as Turkey who want to join the European Union. This memory is part of Europe today and so it is imperative to make it one’s own as part of European historical consciousness. I feel concerned not only as a European citizen, but also due to my own experience as someone from Turkey, bringing to mind the events of 1915 and the issue of the Armenian genocide”.(4)

In her article entitled “A Libertarian and Unifying Movement” about Gazi protest in Turkey, Nilüfer Göle mentioned “ when the taboo of the Armenian Genocide is lifted, then it becomes possible to make peace with Kurdish nationalists and when the army is withdrawn from public life, this movement announces the need for a new public culture based on recognition and bringing people together”.(5)

A group of academics, journalists, artists and intellectuals have released a statement condemning the “open hatred and hostility” towards Armenians in Turkish schoolbooks, which were exposed by Agos and Taraf newspapers, who published reports on hateful remarks targeting Armenians in the textbooks used in history classes, according to Today’s Zaman. A letter accompanying the text of the condemnation, written by historian Taner Akçam, notes that including such expressions as lesson material to teach children is a disgrace. Nilüfer Göle was one of the academics who have participated in releasing the statement.(6)

———————————————————————————————————————1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nil%C3%BCfer_G%C3%B6le

2- http://www.signandsight.com/features/514.html

3- http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/19.12.12.php

4- http://www.projetaladin.org/en/nil%C3%BCfer-g%C3%B6le-en.html

5- http://en.qantara.de/content/gezi-protests-in-turkey-a-libertarian-and-unifying-movement

6- Turkish Intellectuals Condemn Anti-Armenian Textbooks. Asbarez.com.Sept. 30th, 2014

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide Oktay Ozel

January 11, 2015 By administrator

By: Hambersom Aghbashian

Oktay Ozel is a Turkish historian and assistant professor in the Department of History at Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey). A graduate of Hacettepe University, Dept. of History ( BA -1983, and MA -1986) . He completed his post graduate studies at Manchester University, Department of Middle Eastern Studies and earned his PhD in 1993. He has taught several courses on Ottoman socio-economic history; demographic changes; and methods and problems in historical writings. He recently began working on the late-19th century history of mass migrations, immigrants, and inter-communal relations in the central Black Sea region. He has also published several articles in journals and newspapers publicly criticizing the popular and political pressure on Turkish scholars in discussing the Armenian Genocide. He is currently a visiting scholar at Harvard University.(1)(2)

Dr. Oktay Ozel participated in the conference entitled “The Armenians during the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire” that was held at Istanbul’s Bogazici University in September 2005, and he said that “days between the War of 93 and 1923 was a period of tension and clashes. At the end of this period, the Black Sea region was purified from non-Muslim population,” (3).

Propaganda Press Monitor, wrote on Feb. 7, 2009, “Friends of Hrant Dink, a new Cambridge-based nonprofit group, organized an event at MIT dedicated to the cause of human rights. Rakel Dink , Dink’s widow, Oktay Ozel, a professor of Ottoman history; Peter Balakian, author of a best-selling book about the Armenian genocide; and Andrew Tarsy” where on the list of speakers(4).

About the same conference levon kuyumcuyan wrote in ” TURKISH ARMENIAN FRIENDSHIP ” the following, ” Invited by newly formed nonprofit and human rights advocate organization “Friends of Hrant Dink, Inc.” Mrs. Rakel Dink, the widow of assassinated journalist Hrant Dink was in Boston to participate in the panel discussion at MIT. Oktay Ozel, a history professor at Ankara’s Bilkent University working as a visiting scholar at Harvard, said Dink’s writing inspired him to encourage other scholars to look more closely at the Armenian Genocide, a plea, which he said, may gain traction in the wake of Dink’s death.”For us historians, along with this sense of guilt, I think the bitter legacy of Hrant’s death is that historians should do better,” said Ozel . They will feel much better when they do (their job) with a little decency. Then they won’t need to do anything extraordinary `just do their job properly. That’s the job in front of historians in Turkey.”(5)

In his research “1915: Righteous Muslims during the Genocide of 1915”, Nov.2010, Sydney, Australia, Dr. Racho Donef mentioned that “Most sources on the genocide readily identify Turks, Kurds, Lazes and Circassians as participants to the massacres. To this the Persians who attacked Armenians and Assyrians in Salmas and Ourmiah should be added. But even this list is not definitive.” An Armenian survivor he interviewed, Mr Manuel Kerkesharian, told him that” his convoy was attacked by Chechens on the way to Aleppo…”. Dr. Racho Donef added ” To this ever-growing list of Muslim nations participating in the massacres, the Georgian Muslims can also be added. In 2008, Turkish researcher Oktay Özel in a conference in Tbilisi said that the leader of Georgian Muslims, Ali-Pasha Tavgerizade, was involved in forming armed groupings and that Georgian muslims were also privy to mass killing of Armenians and Greeks in Ottoman Empire. It’s hard to say when Georgians were fulfilling the orders of the Ottoman government and when they were driven by their bellicose spirit but they were killing along with Cherkess [Circassians] and other muhajirs.^* Most likely, they wanted to demonstrate their loyalty to the Sultan”.(6)

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* Muslim immigrants from the Balkans and elsewhere

1- http://history.bilkent.edu.tr/index_files/OktayOzel.doc

2- http://www.armenianweekly.com/author/oktay-ozel/

3- http://www.armeniandiaspora.com/showthread.php?37680-ANKARA-Turkish-academics-view-aspects-of-Armenian-Genocide

4- http://rockthetruth2.blogspot.com/2009/02/armenian-reporter-assassinated.html

5- https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TURKISHARMENIANFRIENDSHIP/conversations/topics/36160

6- http://www.atour.com/history/1900/20101105a.html

Serbia, Russia’s position on Kosovo “firm and reliable”

December 3, 2014 By administrator

Source: Beta, Tanjug

BELGRADE — Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin has said that his country’s position not to recognize Kosovo as independent was “firm and reliable.”

“It’s a firm and reliable position and we have proved that many times,” he said during a panel dubbed, “From Kosovo to Crimea: Unilateralism and Manipulations of the Right to Self-Determination.”

Chepurin added that “here Russia supports the Serbs,” and would continue to do so.

“Russia’s stance is clear and firm and that is a tradition that does not change,” he said, when asked “under which circumstances” his country would recognize Kosovo.

“There is UN Security Council Resolution 1244, legally binding for everyone in the world, and its essence is that Kosovo is under the sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia,” he added.

“In line with all valid international documents, Kosovo is a part of Serbia,” the Russian diplomat said, and added that “the relationship between Belgrade and Priština represents a completely different issue.”

He argued that, conversely, no such resolution regulates the status of Crimea – a peninsula gifted to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev, when both Russia and Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union. Chepurin added that the move was not line with the Soviet Constitution.

“Kosovo never before the Second World War had the territory that it has today. Crimea has a statehood tradition going back to the 15th century,” he said.

Chepurin also stated that a coup took place in Kiev and that the new authorities did not receive the backing from all regions of Ukraine.

“The new authorities undertook unilateral steps that diminished Crimea’s autonomy. Later 96 percent of the population of Crimea voted in favor of independence,” he said.

Speaking about the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center in the southern Serbian town of Nis, Chepurin stressed that it was “neither a military base nor an espionage center of any kind.”

“The agreement on the center was signed a long time ago and this is not about signing something new, but about signing annexes,” he explained, and added that Russia will earmark USD 102 million by 2017 for humanitarian assistance to Serbia.

He asked “why the personnel at the center would not be offered some kind of paper, a document,” but rejected that it would mean giving the Russian experts stationed there diplomatic status.

“Why is the Russian humanitarian center being shown in a negative light,” he wondered, and noted that Russia previously helped Serbia clear its territory of bombs left over from NATO’s attacks in 1999, and also provided assistance during natural disasters.

The ambassador announced that a report on the work of the center will be presented on December 13, and that the equipment that has been acquired for it will be shown then.

“Everything is transparent at the center, I have invited many ambassadors to come and see for themselves,” Chepurin concluded.

Bolivia’s Parliament Recognizes 1915 Armenian Genocide

December 1, 2014 By administrator

The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia have approved documents recognizing the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

The documents were handed over to Armenia’s Ambassador to Argentina Vahagn Melkikyan in a ceremony that took place on November 30 at the St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Buenos Aires.

Zonia Guardia Melgar, Acting President of the Senate, and Chamber of Deputies MP Farides Walla Suarez de Suarez, were present at the handing over ceremony.

In her address, Melgar said that, “We offer our full support, solidarity and comradeship to the Armenian people because our state constitution, the law of laws, says no to discrimination and the violation of human rights and genocide.”

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide Ali Ertem

November 27, 2014 By administrator

By:Hambersom Aghbasian

Ali Ertem is a Turkish journalist ( Turkish citizen living in Germany). He is the Chairman of the “Union Against Genocide” , an Anti- Genocide organization based in Frankfurt- Germany , established by Turks residing in Germany. He is one of the Turkish intellectuals who have recognized the Armenia Genocide and is an active advocate of the Genocide recognition.

panarmenian.net wrote on April 20, 2007, “ On the initiative of “Union Against Genocide” an event will be organized in Frankfurt on April 24, dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. Organizers demand to proclaim April 24 as a universal mourning day for all nations of Turkey. According to Turkish journalist Ali Ertem, head of the organization, other organizations will participate in the event too. Particularly they are , Federation of Turkish workers of Germany, Federation of Democratic Nations of Germany, Federation of Worker Immigrants of Germany, Union of Workers – Brotherhood of Nations organization and Union for Struggle newspaper. In its statement “Union Against Genocide” mentioned that , “Immigrants from Turkey feel great sorrow concerning the fact, that genocides, which took place 92 years ago and were committed between 1915-23 towards Christian nations of the Ottoman Empire with the aim to exterminate them, are being denied. The cutting of Christian population down to 0.1% , which before 1915 approximately was 1/3 of the Ottoman society, as well as bragging of Turkish nationalist leaders as if 99.9 percent of Turkey’s population was turned to Islam, is nothing else than a peculiar recognition of committing genocide towards our Christian neighbors. ” (1)

NOYAN TAPAN, wrote on April 25, 2006″ It is already several years that journalist Ali Ertem, a citizen of Turkey living in Germany, Chairman of the “Union Against Genocide” org., comes to Armenia on April 24 to pay the tribute of his respect to the memory of 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Only some years ago the Turkish intellectual collected 11000 signatures from Turks of Germany and submitted them to the German and different European countries parliaments, and doing so, rendered assistance to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. According to Ali Ertem, the top priority task of the organization headed by him is the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey and Turkish society. They first submitted these signatures to the Turkish parliament, who checked and returned them giving no answer. “Hostility cannot last forever. One day Turkey should reconcile itself to the fact and should recognize the Armenian Genocide. I am convinced that the peoples living in Turkey will also condemn and admit this fact,” the Turkish journalist emphasized. In Ali Ertem’s opinion, in this respect the international organizations have much to do: they should be mediators in the dialogue between the Turkish and Armenian peoples in the issue of liquidation of the consequences of the Genocide.”(2)

According to Asbarez .com, April 17th, 2003, (Noyan Tapan) reported that , The Chairman of the Frankfurt-based Union Against Genocide–Turkish journalist Ali Ertem stressed during a roundtable in Yerevan on April 17–that “The Turkish Government must offer an apology to the victims of the Armenian Genocide and their descendants.” The roundtable was organized by the students of Yerevan State University’s history department. After such an apology to set the stage–Ertem said that “what was taken from the Armenian people should be returned.”(3)

panarmenian.net , wrote on April 17, 2003 , ” As reported by “Arka” agency, chairman of “Union Against Genocide” Ali Ertem , when giving a speech at Yerevan State University today said Turkey should be punished for the Armenian Genocide in 1915.” In his words,” it is Turkey’s duty to accept all consequences of the crime committed.” A. Ertem emphasized “the historical truth should be recognized in order to establish normal relations between the two peoples.” In his opinion, Turkey first of all has to apologize to the generation, which suffered the genocide. “The massacre of the Armenian people was perpetrated at the indifferent silence of “the civilized” European states, but the recent events in Iraq show the real degree of these countries’ being civilized,” A. Ertem said and added that sanctions against Iraq should have been applied to Turkey in their time. (4)

Under the title “TURKISH INTELLECTUALS SAY TURKEY MUST RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”, tallarmeniantale.com, an Anti- Genocide recognition source mentioned the following, “At commemoration ceremonies in Yerevan and Los Angeles, Turkish intellectuals called on Ankara to recognize Turkey’s responsibility for the Armenian Genocide. In Yerevan a delegation of Turkish intellectuals presented signatures from 10,000 Turks collected by a Frankfurt-based group called The Union Against Genocide. Ali Ertem, who headed the visiting delegation, read the letter accompanying the collected signatures. It said, “We have come to apologize to you and stretch out our hand of reconciliation.” The letter added, “Only recognition and confession can prevent the repetition of such tragedies in the future.” A similar gesture took place during commemoration ceremonies.(5)

According to “ www.newworldencyclopedia.org “, Oct 16, 2006, Some Turkish intellectuals also support the genocide thesis despite opposition from Turkish nationalists; these include Ragip Zarakolu, Ali Ertem, Taner Akçam, Halil Berktay, Fatma Muge Gocek and Fikret Adanir. (6)

AIM, May 1999, stated that Ali Ertem, the president of the Association Against Genocide, declared in a letter addressed to the Armenian people “We are trying to correct the mistakes of our forefathers”, he added “As a Turk, I am ashamed. Today, the same Genocide continues against the Kurds.” Ertem headed a delegation of Turks, Kurds and Assyrians which participated in the Armenian Genocide commemoration ceremonies held at the Tsitsernakabert memorial in Yerevan. The members of the delegation were received by National Assembly Speaker Khosrov Harutunian and met with journalists and members of minority groups.” Ertem expressed his sorrow that “even after 85 years, his government has not sought the forgiveness of the Armenian people.” For Ertem, the Armenian Genocide is a crime against humanity.”(7)

Ali Ertem was criticized by “ www.tallarmeniantale.com” an Anti-Genocide recognition source because of his recognition of the Armenian Genocide.(8)

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1-http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/21886/

2- http://www.armeniandiaspora.com/showthread.php?46623-Ali-Ertem-One-Day-Turkey-Should-Reconcile-Itself-To-The-Fact-AndRe

3- http://asbarez.com/48535/ali-ertem-says-turkey-owes-apology-to-armenian-genocide-victims/

4- http://panarmenian.net/eng/news/894

5- http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/TURKISH-SCHOLARS.htm-

6- http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Armenian_Genocide

7- http://www.network54.com/Forum/13181/message/929566670/Ali+Ertem,+President+of+the+

8-http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/TURKISH-SCHOLARS.htm

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide 39-Sait Çetinoğlu

November 15, 2014 By administrator

By : Hambersom Aghbashian

Sait Çetinoğlu is a Turkish scholar. His interests include The Young Turks, The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and Kemalism. He has published many original articles based on research of the National Archives in Turkey.(1)

According to http://www.variant.org.uk , Sait Çetinoğlu, author of The Malta Documents and Economic and Cultural Genocide, 1942-1944, and an organizing member of the Ankara Freedom of Thought Initiative that hosted the “1915 Within Its Pre-and Post-Historical Periods: Denial and Confrontation” conference which took place in Ankara on 24th April 2010, highlighted the dangers that still exist in Turkey for those that seek to expose the genocidal realities of the past. He added “What happened at the conference which we organized in Ankara showed how difficult and dangerous is discussing the topic. Despite the fact that we faced tremendous obstacles, we as socialists of Turkey discussed this question for two days with oppressed people, socialists and poor people of Turkey, and scholars from Turkey and abroad.”(2)

According to The Armenian weekly (April 28, 2010) , ” On April 24, as genocide commemoration events were being held one after the other in different locations in Istanbul, a groundbreaking two-day conference on the Armenian Genocide began at the Princess Hotel in Ankara. The conference, organized by the Ankara Freedom of Thought Initiative, was held under tight security measures. The conference attracted around 200 attendees, mostly activists and intellectuals who support genocide recognition. Among the prominent names from Turkey were Ismail Besikci, Baskin Oran, Sevan Nishanian, Ragip Zarakolu, Temel Demirer, and Sait Cetinoglu.”(3)

According to Lilit Muradyan “Radiolur”, April 25, 2013, ” 10 Turkish intellectuals visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial on April 24 to pay tribute to the memory of the innocent victims. Ali Sait Çetinoğlu , a Turkish intellectual and the founder of the Free University system of Turkey, which publishes brochures presenting the real and undistorted history to the Turkish society said at a meeting with Armenians today , shared his pain for the greatest crime of the 20^th century and said it was an honor for him to stand in front of representatives of a nation, which survived the great calamity and thrived.” “I have devoted my live to revealing that evil. I declare we must not believe the masks of the Turkish authorities and their calls for friendship between the two nations. What we should believe in is their actions” said Çetinoğlu and addressed a question to all attendees: “Have you asked the Turkish intellectuals you met before where their grandfathers were in 1915? Will you ask from now on?”(4)

In a long Study/Article titled “Foundations of non-Muslim Communities: The Last Object of Confiscation“, Sait Çetinoğlu mentioned that “During the process of 1915 Armenian Genocide, the immovable properties belonging to Armenians who left or entrusted them to their neighbors were looted and/or sold by those who turned war conditions as a ground of opportunity. These properties naturally were seized by powerful locals. With decree number 1457-246/7, which was enacted in 25 January 1925, those who had seized these properties became entitled to get deed titles in a short period of time. The main character of the measures introduced after expulsions during the 1923 Population Exchange is that they were systematic measures aimed at disturbing, expulsing and deporting non-Muslims and that they systematically followed each other.(5)

Sait Cetinoglu presented a paper on “The Mechanisms of Terrorizing Minorities: The Work Battalions and the Capital Tax [Varlik Vergisi] in Turkey During World War Two”. He detailed the manner in which the tax was designed to intentionally “exterminate the economic and cultural existence … of the non-Muslim minorities, …[to] loot their properties and living means and, in parallel, to Turkify the economy of the country. This tax”, he clarified, must be assessed as “a continuation of the tradition of the Committee of Union and Progress and has the structure of an ethnic cleansing” mechanism. “The government of that time, through this law that implemented the Capital Tax, achieved in great part its aim of acting to destroy the minorities economically and culturally in order to promote ethnic homogenization.” This genocidal initiative, following in the tradition of the Committee of Union and Progress, he noted, followed other terrible actions against minorities. The anti-Jewish pogroms in Thrace in 1934, the intimidatory campaign “Citizen Speak Turkish” and the mobilization of work battalions for the ‘minorities’ during 1941-42.(3)

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1- http://www.keghart.com/Cetinoglu-Malta

2-http://www.variant.org.uk/37_38texts/report37.html

3- http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/04/28/ankara-conference/

4-http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/04/25/ask-turks-were-their-grandfathers-were-in-1915-turkish-intellectual-tells-armenians/

5- http://neweasternpolitics.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/foundations-of-non-muslim-communities-the-last-object-of-confiscation-by-sait-cetinoglu/

Istanbul The Greens party recognize the Turkish genocide of Armenians

November 11, 2014 By administrator

During a plenary session, bringing together the European components of the Green Party in Istanbul from 7 to 9 November 2014, the spokesperson of the Greens Turks told #greenCouncil “We recognize unequivocally the Armenian genocide.”