I apologize to them." This was the declaration signed and put on a Web site by a group of academics, writers and commentators calling on others to join their campaign. It was signed by more than 15,000 people in the span of a few days. I was among the first signatories. In principle, I avoid signing declarations that I am not involved in the preparation of. This is because, as a columnist and a frequent commentator on television, I have the privilege of expressing my views on issues that I believe I have the competence to deal with. I signed this declaration, however, without giving much consideration to its wording. Why? Why do I "apologize" to our Armenian brothers and sisters?In the process of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, nearly all of its subject peoples suffered great tragedies. Ottoman Armenians, however, have a special place among them. As witnessed by my writing on the subject so far, I do not, contrary to what the Armenian nationalists argue, at all believe that the tragedy that befell the Ottoman Armenians in 1915 is comparable to the genocide the Jews of Germany were subjected to by the racist Nazi regime during World War II. Armenian nationalist organizations who aimed at breaking away from the Ottoman Empire and establishing an independent Armenian state, encouraged by Western powers like Britain and France, who wanted to break up the empire, collaborated with Russia against the Ottoman state, engaged in terrorism and killed numerous Turkish and Muslim compatriots. In retaliation, the Ottoman government of the time, or rather an inner clique led by Interior Minister Talat Paşa, decided to deport all Armenians, except those living in İstanbul and İzmir, to the Syrian desert.
About half of the nearly 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians who were subjected to forced deportation lost their lives on the way, either through killings by members of the security forces and bandits, or as a result of epidemics and hunger. Some of them survived the ordeal through protection by Turks and Muslims and conversion to Islam. Others were able to eventually flee to the West, mainly to France and the United States, where most of the Armenian diaspora lives today. There remain only about 70,000 Armenian citizens of the Republic of Turkey today living almost entirely in İstanbul. Those Armenians who served in the Ottoman army upon their return from the war found that their families and communities had all disappeared and that their possessions had been confiscated.
Armenian nationalists maintain that the decision of the Committee of Union and Progress rulers to deport the Ottoman Armenians was part of a plan aimed at their total annihilation. This argument has never been proven, being disputed even by distinguished non-Turkish Ottoman historians. The fact, however, that the Ottoman government collectively and inhumanly punished its Armenian citizens by deportation in retaliation for the crimes of Armenian nationalist rebels who collaborated with the enemy is beyond dispute. The stories of the tragedies that befell Turks and Muslims in the process of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, of those who were kicked out of and murdered in the Balkans, of those in northeast Anatolia who lost their lives at the hands of Armenian nationalist rebels and of Circassian Muslims who were driven out of Russia in the middle of the 19th century are all well known in Turkey today. The tragedy that befell the Ottoman Armenians as a result of treatment by their own state, however, is only recently being properly discussed and investigated. Those responsible for the tragedy that befell Ottoman Armenians are, certainly, neither the Turkish people nor the government of the Republic of Turkey, but the infamous Committee of Union and Progress dictators who, with their policies, paved the way to the Ottoman Empire's destruction.
Surely I personally have no responsibility in the tragedy that befell the Ottoman Armenians. I do, however, feel deep grief and sorrow for a tragedy that befell compatriots, a tragedy that has been covered up and made the subject of a taboo by the state authorities. The main reason I signed the declaration was an obligation of conscience. Secondly, I want Turkey to further democratize so that it can face its history and that no issue remains covered up. Thirdly, I attach great importance to the reinstitution of the historical friendship and amity that united the Turks and the Armenians for centuries prior to the advent of the age of nationalisms, and to the normalization of relations with the neighboring Republic of Armenia. I consequently want an end to "genocide resolutions" in an increasing number of foreign parliaments that contribute to the perpetuation of animosity.
