Armenian genocide debate

24-04-2007
Radio Netherlands
by Johan Huizinga

"Let's unearth the truth about what happened in 1915 together". That was the headline of a page-wide advertisement from the Turkish government in some international newspapers. Ankara hopes to win public support over the issue of the Armenian genocide in 1915.

The proposal to let Armenian and Turkish historians investigate the matter together, however, is not new and neither is the support from Washington for this idea. But the timing of the adverstisment, just before the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, was very clever.

In the advertisement, Ankara invites Armenia to establish a joint commission of historians to investigate the 1915 killings of thousands of Armenians in the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Estimates range from 800,000 to 1.2 million Armenians who have died between 1915 and 1917 in the mass killings and deportation of Armenians. However, for mainly nationalistic reasons, Ankara still refuses to acknowledge that what happened was genocide, the planned extermination of an ethnic group.

Thorny issue

The genocide denial remains a thorny issue in Turkish relations not only with Armenia, but with the US, the EU and several European countries as well. That explains the advertisement, which also quotes US President George W Bush and his Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice who are backing the proposal. But according to Professor Eric Jan Zurcher, Turkey expert at Leiden University, neither the proposal, nor the American support is new.

The proposal is a few years old and has been categorically rejected by the Armenian government. The Armenians claim no extra research is needed to establish the historical facts. The Americans support the Turkish proposal since they are bound by the need to maintain good relations with Turkey and the demands from Armenian pressure groups. So in the end, the advertisement very much looks like a publicity stunt to win time for Turkey.

Fruitless debates

And the chances of any joint commission of historians reaching the same conclusions are still very small, fears Mr Zurcher. Historians appointed by the Armenian and Turkish governments will first of all be selected for their loyalty to the national points of view on this issue. So the attempt to find a common conclusion will most likely end up in some fruitless debates.

Then there remains another possible pitfall, warns Professor Zurcher. In the initial stages, Ankara hinted that such a joint commission of historians would get exclusive rights on the issue.

That could bar independent historians from using Turkish archives, for instance and it would possibly silence the debate on the Armenian Genocide for the time being which might be exactly what the Turks are after.

This leaves the Armenians, demonstrating at the Turkish embassy in The Hague, with their clear demands: a penalty on denial of the Armenian Genocide and no Turkish EU-membership without acknowledging the genocide by Ankara. Whether the Armenians will have it their way remains very doubtful however. Although more than 90 years have passed since the atrocities took place, the discussion is a long way from reaching a conclusion.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.