‘IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO IDEALIZE ANY STAGE OF OTTOMAN-ARMENIAN RELATIONS’
A series of alternative workshops followed the controversial conference "The Ottoman Armenians at the Decline of the Empire" that was held last September. The last one in the series titled "The Art of Coexistence in the Ottoman Society on The Example of Turkish-Armenian Relations" was organized by the Kayseri University on April 20-22.
Besides its scientific council the workshop had a council of honored members that included former Turkish state minister, Kyamran Inan, retired ambassadors Bilal Simsir, Syukry Elekdag, Nyuzhet Kandemir, Omer Lutem, president of Turkish History Foundation Yusuf Halacoglu, rector of Erjies University Jengiz Utas and others.
Members of both councils were all exclusively adherents of Turkish official denailist stance on the Armenian genocide.
Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Mesrop II Mutafian, held a speech in the workshop in the status of an honored guest. Meanwhile, the Patriarch had declined invitation of Prof. Metin Hulagul of Erjies University and posted the refusal in the official website of the on October 26.
Here is the Patriarch’s answer to the invitation: "The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople is the spiritual center of Turkish-Armenians. I don’t think it is right that this center shows initiative in such issues that can be politicized and have potential for tensions or take part in workshops that discuss sad events of the past."
The patriarch’s speech at the conference shows that the organizers downplayed validity of his refusal. In other words, Mesrop II Mutafian opted in the workshop against his will.
In his speech that Haytert published on April 26, Patriarch Mutafian emphasizes the need of overcoming the impasse in Armenian-Turkish relations, fostering good-neighborly relations between the two peoples and settling urgent issues facing the both countries as well as underscores the hollowness of sowing intolerance in Turkish society.
Patriarch Mutafian conditions improvement of Turkish-Armenian relations by self-sacrificing and emphasizes the importance of guidance by values common to all mankind meanwhile condemning manifestation of xenophobia both in Turkish and Armenian societies.
Topicality of issues that the Patriarch raised adds to their importance. Yet, the comments of these issues are arguable. More so when taking up the issue of "moral criteria of the historiography". The Patriarch says about this issue: "It’s impossible to idealize any stage of Ottoman-Armenian relations saying that the Armenians had no problems. Yet we know that first contact between Armenians and Turks goes back 1300 years. If Yeghishe indeed wrote the story of Armenian-Persian war in the 5th century then these relations are 1500 years old. Between nations with such an old history of trade and political relations cases of violence are rare."
"The influence of national upsurge that the Great French Revolution begot gradually spread in other countries including Turkey. Those responsible for the tension in Turkish-Armenian relations in 19 century are Germany, America, France, England and above all Russia as well as Armenian political parties and the Armenian Patriarchate functioning under the Ottoman Parliament. It is morally unacceptable that one of the sides – no matter who is more responsible for the sore results – admits all responsibility or shirk it blaming it on the other side."
Our aim is not to comment on Patriarch Mutafian’s report. We simply want to note that the first mentioning of the Turkic tribes dates back to 7th century AD in Chinese sources in a pillage context. As to the Turks, their ancestors, nomadic Oguz-Turks, penetrated the South Caucasus only in 40s of 11th century. They penetrated the Asia Minor from the Armenian Plateau after the battle of Manazkert in 1071. They settled in the Asia Minor only in 13th century (according to Turkish historian Osman Turan) and the settled lifestyle is a necessary condition for a nomadic tribe to turn into a people. Thus, Patriarch Mutafian’s figures are erroneous at best. Not only the Turkish people does not have a history of 1500 years but also Oguzes and Turkmens as the first mentioning of the Oguzes can be found in the sources of 9th century and in the 10th for Turkmens.
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