Garo Paylan: Armenian and Kurdish questions are taboo again

August 7, 2017 By administrator

Turkey Armenian Kurd Taboo The Turkish Parliament member of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Garo Paylan has touched upon the Turkish policy towards Armenian and Kurdish questions at the meeting with the party members in Diyarbakır, Artsakhpress reports.

According to Cumhuriyet, Palyan said that the limitations of freedom of speech are already being embedded in the Parliament as the open discussion of Armenian and Kurdish questions is henceforth banned for the Parliament members.

“Just as the average citizens are forbidden to talk freely, the same is going to be done to the Parliament members. Turkey goes back to the former state in the terms of the Armenian and Kurdish questions, when those questions were a taboo. All this is done by the hands of the ruling “Justice and Development Party”, Garo Palyan said.

Powerful Photos Dig Into Turkey’s Taboo History of the Armenian Genocide (Book)

May 29, 2014 By administrator

By: Jakob Schiller

May 29, 2014 – 13:07 AMT

A flock of birds flies over the coast of Lake Van in eastern Turkey where the largest population of Turkey’s Armenians had lived for centuries.

Kathryn Cook

Kathryn Cook’s book Memory of Trees tells a complicated and moving story of the Armenian genocide through a visceral and broadly visual survey of the people and places that were, and still are, affected by the tragic events of a century ago.

“I hope that it presents a unique way of looking at the issue,” she says. “I think photography perhaps is one of the only ways to keep exploring the story because it leaves room for interpretation and can capture some of the pieces that people haven’t already heard.”

Historians peg the start of the genocide as April 24, 1915, when the government arrested more than 200 Armenian community leaders in Constantinople. Some 1.5 million Armenians were killed as the Ottoman Empire crumbled and what is now Turkey took shape. Discrimination against Armenians continued for decades, and even now many Turkish citizens of Armenian descent hide their identity and history for fear of reprisals.

Cook was drawn to the story shortly after moving to Turkey in 2006 and seeing how the issue of Armenian identity and history bubbled under surface. She decided to explore the issue through photography after Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, was assassinated because of his outspoken views on Armenian identity. His death helped prompt a growing social movement to address the Armenian plight in Turkey.

“I photographed the funeral, and from there things just took off,” she says.

Cook started photographing sites throughout Turkey linked to the Armenian community–churches, monasteries, and other Armenian buildings that were destroyed or left to crumble from neglect. For her, these structures represented disappearance and erasure. To this day, the Turkish government disputes the notion that Armenians were systematically targeted, but these destroyed buildings seemed to say otherwise.

What broke the story open for Cook was her visiting the small village of Ağaçlı in southeastern Turkey. She happened upon the village after reading about the mayor’s decision to resurrect the Armenian tradition of weaving headscarves from the cocoons of silk worms. The scarves and silk cultivation had become an important source of income for the community, and Cook was fascinated that the tradition had been revived–and in a Kurdish community. “It was exactly the kind of work I wanted to dive into because it was on the human level,” she says. “It was this subtle way of remembering and celebrating the legacy of a people and a very charged topic.”

Over time, Cook took half a dozen trips to Ağaçlı and got to know the community well. The name of her book comes from the name of the town, which means “place of trees.” As she spent more time in the town, her connections grew and she met more and more people willing to be photographed. The project still unfolded slowly, but she’d finally found a way into the Armenian communities. “I just had to be patient,” she says.

Cook also traveled the well-known routes along which Armenians were forcibly evacuated during the genocide. She visited locations in the Syrian desert, for example, where men, women and children were prodded along death marches toward concentration camps. She also went out into the Black Sea and made pictures where boats full of Armenians were purposely sunk. Without knowing the historical context or the significance of the location, many of Cook’s photos can be hard to read. But as viewers come to know the story, her seemingly abstract approach makes sense. Many of the photos seem overly vacant, for example, but that’s intentional, because so much of the story is about absence.

“In this context, the emptiness means something,” she says. “It’s sort of like everything that’s not said, speaks.”

Cook spent seven years on Memory of Trees and says she could have kept going for many more. But she felt the work needed to be seen. The timing of the book also coincides with what continues to be a growing movement in Turkey of people demanding justice for ethnic Armenians and others who face discrimination.

“I think a new national narrative is slowly starting to get written,” she says. “And hopefully the work plays a part in exploring this change.”

Photo: Kathryn Cook

Wired. Powerful Photos Dig Into Turkey’s Taboo History of the Armenian Genocide

Rasim Ozan Kutahyali, Erdogan erases Armenian taboo in Turkey

April 28, 2014 By administrator

A day before the annual commemoration of the 1915 Armenian genocide, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences to the grandchildren of those who lost their lives. As the BBC noted, issued in nine languages, was unprecedented in the history of the Turkish republic. Specifically, he said, “We wish that the Armenians who lost their lives in the context of the early 20th century rest in peace, and we convey our condolences to their grandchildren.” He also stated, “Millions of people of all religions and ethnicities lost their lives in the First World War. Having experienced events which had inhumane consequences — such as relocation, during the First World War — should not prevent Turks and Armenians from establishing compassion and mutually humane attitudes towards one another.”

Devlet Bahceli, chairman of the opposition Nationalist Action Party (MHP), when asked to comment on Erdogan’s statement said, “There is nothing to assess here. It is too much to torment this nation like this.”

Faruk Lologlu, deputy chairman of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the most important aspect of Erdogan’s statement was his use of the word “condolences.” He asserted, “Condolence is a sacred notion, so there is no need to take offense.” Lologlu did, however, question why, after being in power so long, Erdogan had chosen 2014 to make his statement.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu added his voice, stating, “History is not black and white. … Everyone needs to show virtue by sharing the pains of the past. I hope the hand we extended will be reciprocated. Turkey does not make such statements under pressure. It is not a declaration made because of timing requirements.”

Armenia and the Armenian diaspora want the deaths of some 1.5 million Armenians forcefully deported during the Ottoman Empire to be recognized as genocide. Some 20 countries, including France, Germany, Russia and Sweden, recognize the 1915 events as such, but the United States, with a large Armenian diaspora, has not yet done so. I am one of those Turks who considers the deaths genocide and have openly said so in the Turkish media and through Al-Monitor. Many people recognize me on the street in Turkey because I am also a TV personality. Some Turks support me for this opinion, but others hate me.

The reality is that in pre-Erdogan Turkey, no one — whether a well-known, popular media figure or someone working in the most marginal media — would have written that the 1915 events were genocide. Doing so would have resulted in immediate imprisonment. In the Erdogan era, speaking about 1915 has gradually come to be accepted. Today in Turkey, the Armenian genocide can be freely discussed. Turkey has made significant progress in respect to freedom of expression on this and the Kurdish issue.

Some writers who personally dislike Erdogan and the Gulenist movement, whose secretive penetration of the state is now known, still insist on presenting an incorrect portrait of Turkey to the world. Sure, some of Erdogan’s policies have been bad — there is much to criticize about his 11-year rule — but as prime minister, he has proven that he is a leader who learns from his mistakes. He has no immovable obsessions and is flexible. His political speeches are provocative, and he stands firm against his rivals, but when it comes to official policies, he can dispense with rigidity and reverse positions.

For example, Erdogan’s analysis of the situation in Syria was faulty, which led to bad policy decisions. With his Syrian policy at an impasse, Erdogan is now likely to take a more realistic position. We should not ignore, as Mustafa Akyol’s analysis for Al-Monitor suggests, that Erdogan will be the most important political figure in Turkey for the next 10 years. The Erdogan phenomenon must therefore be examined impartially, free of personal animosities.

A prominent Turkish writer who knew and shared my views about the 1915 Armenian genocide predicted that Erdogan would have me fired from my newspaper. I disagreed, saying that I understood Erdogan’s approach to the Armenian issue, but being a wise politician, he would tackle public perceptions step by step and at the end eliminate the taboo surrounding 1915. I do not feel that anything justifies portraying Erdogan as a reactionary in regard to the Armenian question.

I asked a friend of mine sensitive about the Armenian issue if he would still be unsatisfied if on April 24, 2015, Erdogan traveled to Yerevan as the new president of Turkey, prayed for the genocide’s victims and laid a wreath on their memorial. His response was that Erdogan should not be the president of Turkey, and that we had to be freed of the man. My friend was accepting that anyone other than Erdogan become president, even if he was a fascist who would justify what we did to the Armenians.

Erdogan’s Turkey will from now on confront 1915. Many more steps could follow in 2015. When it comes to facing up to the past, Erdogan is far ahead of his party and cabinet. Davutoglu’s comment on the issue was in a language reminiscent of the Kemalist diplomatic tradition. Turkish diplomacy under Davutolgu must support Erdogan’s courageous move and not create obstructions for Erdogan.

With Erdogan’s statement on 1915, the last taboo of the Turkish republic is gone. True, most people still think as they were conditioned to by Kemalist Turkish nationalists, but Erdogan’s approach will soften this unaccommodating mentality. Erdogan is a leader who can change the minds of people. The Turkish nation must, indeed, convey our condolences to the grandchildren of our Armenian brothers and sisters massacred by the Talat Pasha government in 1915. In this, Erdogan has once again proven to the world that he is not a leader from the usual mold. Those assessing Turkey in Washington must take care to accurately analyze the Erdogan phenomenon.

Rasim Ozan Kutahyali has been a columnist for Sabah since 2011 after writing for Taraf from 2008 to 2011. He is a popular political commentator on various TV programs, having started at CNNTurk and now appearing on Beyaz TV. Kutahyali is known for his anti-militarist and liberal political views. He can be reached at rasim.ozan@hotmail.com