By: Hambersom Aghbashian

Ayse Hur (b. 1956, Artvin ), is a Turkish researcher, author , historian and columnist. Her parents ( father of Pomak*- Bulgarian speaking Muslim- origin and her mother of Turkish origin) were both teachers (1) .She lived with her parents in Urfa and Edirne, then moved to Istanbul. Having completed her double major in 1992 from the departments of history and international relations at Bogazici University, she joined the History Foundation of Turkey and worked on such projects as the Istanbul Encyclopedia. In 2004, she completed her master’s thesis on “The European Union’s Policies of Reconciling with History and the Armenian Question” at the Ataturk Institute of Bogazici University, then  pursued her doctorate degree at the same institution. She is a member of the editorial board of Social History, and writes historical and political articles in various newspapers and journals, including Taraf, Radikal, Birikim, and Agos.(2)

                              According to Turkish literatureblog.wordpress.com (Dec.8, 2013), ” Being a historian, Ayşe Hür is particularly known for her articles in the widely read Turkish newspaper Radikal. Her texts often deal with current political issues and provide related historical insights at the same time. In her articles entitled “I apologize for not apologizing” published in the Armenian Weekly in 2009,  she wrote about the Armenian genocide and the very sensitive topic of collective amnesia as opposed to cosmopolitan memory. She attempts to make peace with the past.(2)

In a  speech which  was delivered at a conference on the Legacy of the 1915 Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, held in Stockholm, Sweden on the 23 March 2009, Ayse Hur  recalled  the reply of Kiazim Karabekir to Georgi Chicherin in the early 20’s: “In Turkey there has been neither an Armenia nor territory inhabited by Armenians” . Since then indeed, Turkey’s policies didn’t really changed up to the eve of the 21st century. Basically, it followed the classical patterns of inconsistent denial, i.e. gross minimization, condoning, rationalization and trivialization. These patterns which are not specific to the denial of the Armenian Genocide but which are common to any Genocide denial: they have been extensively described by many prominent scholars. The old-style Kemalist denial aimed at reaching the provisional acquittal of Turkey. The new-style denial aims at the permanent deferment of the verdict.She concluded her speech  by an optimistic observation” How malicious is this new denial strategy, it could eventually turn against its promoters.”(3)

                                     Ayşe Hür was one of the Turkish intellectuals who signed a letter asking  the Royal Library in Copenhagen” not to  Stand Before Turkey’s Democratization and Confrontation with its History”. The Turkish embassy’s initiative to open an alternative exhibition at the Royal Library in Copenhagen, where the exhibition “The Armenian Genocide and the Scandinavian Response” opened on November 6 ,2012 was the motive to the letter where they mentioned that ” Over one million Ottoman Armenian citizens were forced out of their homes and annihilated in furtherance of an intentional state policy. What exists today is nothing other than the blatant denial of this reality by the Turkish government.(4)

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*Pomaks (Bulgarian – Turkish: Pomaklar) is a term used for Bulgarian-speaking Muslims who are indigenous to southern Bulgaria, Northern Greece, Turkey, Albania, Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo.

1- http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ay%C5%9Fe_H%C3%BCr

2- http://www.armenianweekly.com/author/ayse-hur/

3-http://turkishliteratureblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/ayse-hur-a-free-spirit/

4- http://eurotopie.leylekian.eu/2009/06/turkeys-policies-and-holes-with-regard.html

5- http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/The_Armenian_Genocide_and_the_Scandinavian_Response

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Nor Or, May 22, 2014

By:Hambersom Aghbashian

Ali Bayramoğlu (b. 1956) is a Turkish writer and political commentator. He is a columnist in the Turkish daily newspaper Yeni Safak, writing from a liberal pro-Islamic viewpoint. He has campaigned against ultra-nationalism, militarism and restrictions on Islamic political parties in Turkey, and in favor of greater recognition of, and accommodation with, the Kurdish population of Turkey, and a break with what he sees as Ottomanist tendencies which prevent Turkey from moving forward on issues such as the Armenian genocide.(1)

                       Ali Bayramoglu is a journalist specialized in social movements in Turkey, and was a Senior lecturer in the political and administrative studies in Marmara University in Istanbul, then a lecturer at Istanbul Kültür Üniversitesi. He wrote a thesis about the role of the army in the Turkish political life. He was also a political commentator in several Turkish daily papers before joining the daily Yeni Safak. In 2005 he published “Les laïcs et les religieux face au processus de democratisation”, research conducted for TESEV, published at the editory house The Foundation for economical and political studies about Turkey.(2)

                         According to ” thegurdian”, Dec. 7, 2008, Academics and writers in Turkey have risked a fierce official backlash by issuing a public apology which reads: “My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers. I apologize to them.” Breaking one of Turkish society’s biggest taboos, the apology comes in an open letter that invites Turks to sign an online petition supporting its sentiments. The contents expose its authors – three scholars, Ahmet Insel, Baskin Oran and Cengiz Aktar, and a journalist, Ali Bayramoglu – to the wrath of the Turkish state, which has prosecuted writers, including the Nobel prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, for supporting Armenian genocide claims.(3)

                            On March 15, 2011,  Ali Bayramoğlu participated in  ” BUILDING AWARENESS OF TURKISH SOCIETY REGARDING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” international conference in Yerevan where he moderated one of the panels where ” Turkey’s Denial of the Armenian Genocide. History, Current Trends, Prospects “, ” Developing a Policy of Memory in Turkey” and other issues were discussed.(4)

During his talk in the conference on the ‘I Apologize’ campaign, Ali Bayramoğlu stressed that recognition of the genocide is not enough; relationships must be repaired and the political and cultural connections between Turks and Armenians must be mended.(5)

                           According to www.demotix.com “Activists gathered together at Taksim Square in Istanbul to commemorate ninety-eighth anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Journalist Ali Bayramoglu was among the participants.”(6)

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1-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Bayramo%C4%9Flu

2-http://www.recon-project.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=28&Itemid=159&lang=en

3- http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/08/armenian-genocide-turkey-apology-petition

4- http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CD8QFjAD&url=http

5- http://crrc-caucasus.blogspot.com/2011/03/conference-summary-building-turkish_24.html

6- http://www.demotix.com/photo/1991389/armenians-and-supporters-commemorate-armenian-genocide

also Published on

Nor Or, May 15, 2014

By Hambersom Aghbashian

Murat Belge (born March 16, 1943 in Ankara, Turkey) is an outspoken left-liberal Turkish intellectual, academic, translator, literary critic, columnist, and civil rights activist. Since 1996 he has been a professor of comparative literature at Istanbul Bilgi University. For several years he wrote columns for the daily Radikal, before shifting to Taraf in June 2008. Belge has translated works of James Joyce, Charles Dickens, D. H. Lawrence, William Faulkner and John Berger into Turkish.
Murat Belge was a member of the organizing committee for a two-day academic conference that started on September 24, 2005, held at Bilgi University in Istanbul, titled “Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of the Empire: Issues of Scientific Responsibility and Democracy”. The conference offered an open dispute of the official Turkish account of the Armenian Genocide, and was denounced by nationalists as treacherous. This is a fight of “can we discuss this thing, or can we not discuss this thing?”. This is something that’s directly related to the question of what kind of country Turkey is going to be.(Belge, during the conference opening). Belge’s remarks led to his facing a ten-year jail sentence for criticizing the judicial ban; he was acquitted.(1)
The conference was held after two previous attempts which were blocked by the Turkish government. The self-avowed goal of the conference was to call into question the official Turkish account of events. The participants discussed the plight of the Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire, a politically correct way in Turkey of saying the Armenian Genocide. It was the first time this subject was ever discussed so openly in Turkey. Discussing the mass killings of Armenians has long been taboo in Turkey, and scholars who use the word genocide can be prosecuted under a clause in the Turkish penal code on insulting the national character.(2)

http://www.opendemocracy.net mentioned that ” Murat Belge, one of the Turkish journalists facing trial in Istanbul over public discussion of the 1915 Armenian massacres, sees his case as an emblem of Turkey’s struggle against the country’s anti-democratic “deep state”.(3)
Murat Belge’s book, titled “Armenians in Literature”, was published in Turkey by Yayın İletişim publishing house (News.am- Sept.23, 2013). The new work by Belge, who is known for his studies on the Armenian Genocide, is devoted to the Armenians that lived in the Ottoman Empire. The book looks into what role the Armenians had in which period and in which novel, how the Armenians—who were a part of the Ottoman society—became enemies, and how the Armenians are portrayed in the post-Genocide novels.
To note, Murat Belge was a friend of Hrant Dink, founder and chief editor of Istanbul’s Agos Armenian bilingual weekly, who was gunned down in 2007 in front of his office building. During a discussion in Armenia, Belge had stressed that Turkey should recognize the Armenian Genocide.(4)

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1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murat_Belge
2- http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Conference:_Ottoman_Armenians_During_the_Decline
3- http://www.opendemocracy.net/author/murat-belge
4- http://news.am/eng/news/172746.html

Also Published on Nor Or, May 8, 2014