During the last days of 2008, a group of Turkish intellectuals wrote a declaration of apology for Armenians, regarding to the 1915 events. Additionally, they established a website in order for this letter to be signed by larger number of people. Consequently, this created a massive discussion. Against this attempt, opposing campaigns are created including the websites “We are not apologizing” or “They should apologize”. Following the complaints, Ankara Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Republic, Media Crimes Investigation Agency started an investigation. This investigation resulted with no legal action because of the lack of grounds, for the reason that “In a democratic society, opposite ideas are also under protection of freedom of thought, so there is no need for a prosecution.”

 

[resim1sag]Now, in accordance with the news took place in the Turkish press, a group of Armenian intellectuals explained that they are going to write a declaration as well, called “We are apologizing to Turks”, in order to support the initiative created by the Turkish intellectuals. The draft of the declaration, which is going to be opened for signature by the co-president of Turkish-Armenian Dialogue, Dr. Armen Gakavian, includes the following words:

 

 

This draft will be given its final edition in the end of next week and it will be opened for the signature of all the Armenians in the world. Speaking to a newspaper in Turkey, Gakavian mentioned: “We are going to show our welcome to the ‘apology’ campaign of Turkish intellectuals with all our hearts, with the campaign that we are going to carry out. The prepared declaration aims to apologize to Turks because of the committed murders by the Armenian gangs and the activities of ASALA. We are rejecting all the violence happened in the past and is going to take place in the future. I hope the campaign will be successful.”

 

At the first glance, this declaration can be considered as a very positive initiative. It can be understood as a mutual declaration of apology signed by both of the communities’ intellectuals because of the events happened in the past. But when we analyze the declaration we see that it is something different. Additionally, it is surprising for them to start such an initiative now, after refusing all the proposal coming from Turkey; leaving aside the apology, who did not even approached to establish a “Joint History Commission”.

 

First, the initiative for an apology in Turkey got a massive reaction and resulted with a limited scope. By the February 2, 2009, the campaign which is carried out from http://www.ozurdiliyoruz.com website, got 28.965 supporters. Besides, there is a suspicion that most of these people are imaginary. Because, many of the people mentioned that their names are written in the website without their consent. Furthermore, a martyr Turkish diplomat is also written among the supporters. When you take these developments into consideration, you see that, the campaign is extremely behind the aimed one million signatures. If a similar initiative comes from Armenia, this can increase the number of the Turkish signatures.

 

Second, when we look at the both declarations of apology we see the real intentions behind this initiative clearly. The apology campaign started in Turkey was mentioning: “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 and sisters. I apologize to them.” The crucial point in this declaration is the phrase “Great Catastrophe”. This phrase is not well known by the Turkish community. When we scan the phrase in the Armenian and the World literatures, we see the real intentions behind the initiative. In this regard, in our article established in December 23, 2008, article called “Apologizing Intellectuals” (http://www.turksam.org/tr/a1550.htmlwe mentioned this issue in a more detailed way. However, it is useful to re-read the article by quoting some of the sections:),

 

“When you read the article, at the first glance you recognize the expression used is very careful and there is the impression of not accusing Turkey with classic “genocide” allegations. Instead of “genocide” the declaration uses the term “Great Catastrophe (Calamity)”. In Armenian this phrase means “Mets Eghern (ՄեծԵղեռն)”. In the international literature, we see that the synonymous of this phrase is “Armenian Genocide”, “Armenian Holocaust” and “Armenian Massacres”.

 

In Armenia and among Armenians, “Great Catastrophe – Mets Eghern” also means the crucifixion of Jesus and this phrase includes religious motives as well. When you talk to an ordinary Armenian, you will see that he/she understands the great destruction and great genocide from the phrase. As the word “genocide” entered the literature after the World War II, the phrase is used as a synonym for the word “genocide”. The reason why Armenians prefer using this phrase in the World literature is that, inspired from the Jews identifying their genocides with the word “Holocaust”, Armenians wanted to use “Great Catastrophe – Mets Eghern” as a phrase to identify their own genocide.

 

After this explanations, it should be clear that, the usage of the phrase “Great Catastrophe – Mets Eghern” in the declaration of apology is not a simple and innocent move. The ones who are apologizing in this declaration are also accepting the biggest of all crimes both in Turkey and the World: “genocide”. Furthermore, in the declaration there is an obvious witticism and as the details are not well understood by and not explained to the Turkish society, many people perceive this declaration as a simple apology and because of this they are supporting by signing it.” Sinan Ogan, “Apologizing Intellectuals”, December 23, 2008, http://www.turksam.org/tr/a1550.html

 

Yet, we don’t come across with any terms as “Great Catastrophe” or such in the Armenian declaration of apology. Here, as it is observable in the following text given again, the common murders are apologized for:

 

 

If two communities are to sincerely apologize from each other, there needs to be a parallel correspondence between the declarations of apologies. Otherwise, while the Turkish people were apologizing for a genocide that has never been committed, the Armenian people would just be apologizing for the common murders. Legal, moral, historical and as well economic results and responsibilities of both incidents (apologies) are fundamentally different.

 

On the other hand, the Armenian issue should be handled as a whole. Now, Armenians also wish to put another point into life as they are long trying for. According to this point, the case of the Azerbaijan Turks and Turkey’s case are separated from each other. Yet, we cannot hold the occupation and the genocides that are carried out against the Azerbaijan Turks apart. Where are the Armenian apologies for the genocide committed in Hocali and for the occupation of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan Turks killed during these wars? Alongside with these incidents, which terms is going to be used for slaughter of approximately 530 thousand Turks as a result of the genocides committed by the Armenian gangs in Anatolia in the beginning of the century. Is the term “murder” that is used in cases of common killings, enough or applicable for the slaughter of our diplomats and also 530 thousand Turks?

 

There is an additional point worth mentioning. This initiative has not been originated from Armenia. Dr. Armen Gakavian, co-president of the Turkish-Armenian Dialogue, who started this initiative is a faculty member of Macquarie University of Sydney, Australia. It is not yet clear that how Armenia and the Diaspora are going to react to this initiative.