DENYING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, ANKARA CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT DEMOCRACY MEANS

The Truth about the Armenian Genocide Is That It Is True! The denial policy of Turkey and the corresponding justification of the genocide sends the wrong message to the new generations of Turkey; worse, it breeds the potential justification of mass murder in the world as a whole, Edward Papelian writes in “Turkey’s Chronic Inability to Face the Truth” article published in Global Politician on April 29, 2008. Indeed, as the former Israeli Minister of Education and a Member of Knesset wrote in reference to the Armenian Genocide: "We cannot accept victims without murderers, genocide without the responsible. An orphaned genocide is the father of the next genocide." The article continues: “Co-existence Is an Obligation of the People of the World: generations have had to deal with the genocide of the Armenians. And much time and energy has been wasted - time and energy which could have been constructively used for compensation and reconciliation. As long as Ankara continues to carry out international diplomatic feuds and to view the acknowledgment and condemnation of the genocide as only provocation or national humiliation, it has not and cannot understand what humanity, democracy, compensation, reconciliation civilized society, Europe and the culture of remembrance means. As a result, communication and interrelations with the free, democratic world will naturally remain troubled and disturbed. That is why the time has come for Turkey to look in the mirror. “Turkey has to understand that the invented glorious history of Turkish politicians/bureaucrats – the very ideology of the state itself – is not only biased and based on racism, but that the corresponding industry of genocide denial is outdated. Cosmetic "reforms" and cosmetic "changes" to notorious penal codes are meaningless and change nothing. It is the mentality of the Turkish politicians which has to be changed, not the facts on Armenian Genocide. What was happened was and remains genocide. “Even in "modern" Turkey, independent historians and journalists do not have an easy life, especially if they undertake any attempt to question the official national dogma regarding the Armenian Genocide and destruction of other Christian minorities. When they do so, the Turkish Minister of Justice speaks of the "stabbing Turkey in the back with a dagger" and of the betrayal of the fatherland. (In Turkey, such utterances – especially when coming from a minister of the government – can be the equivalent of a death sentence and are reminiscent of the fatwa of the religious fanatics.) Among others, the Noble Prize winner Orhan Pamuk was forced to go to exile due to his questioning of the official stance, and the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink – an outspoken voice of the tiny Armenian community still in Turkey (foreigners in there historic home land!) – was executed in cold blood in 2007 in front of his office after the Turkish judiciary publicly persecuted him.”

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