There were two historians in the studio, and one was joining in from the US via satellite. The two in the studio were just repeating the “official Turkish history” thesis, but the academici from the US was fighting quite passionately against the official narrative of 1915. He is Turkish historian Taner Akçam.
Akçam has been fighting against official Turkish history for quite some time. To ultranationalist Turks, he is a “traitor.” For me, he represents the conscience of Turkey. Many people in Turkey are not aware of this, but Akçam is the figure who showed Armenians that, like the ones who saved the lives of Armenians in 1915 despite the threat of execution, there are indeed “good Turks.” Akçam may be the only Turk some diaspora Armenians have ever seen in their lifetimes, and he changed the image of “Turks” in their minds forever. Akçam is quite an intelligent man. He is very cultured. I deeply admire his analysis of Turkey. But he is also a man who speaks from the bottom of his heart, like Hrant Dink. To me, he represents the future of Turkey, which will have no taboos and will be free from the burden of the past.
It is very unfortunate that we still have not passed that threshold after which we will value people for who they really are. But in today’s Turkey, the brightest people, like Akçam himself and Orhan Pamuk, are still under serious threat.
Akçam wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that he published in the Taraf newspaper on March 13, 2010.
I would like to quote this article at length, as I believe it is full of extremely valuable insights about Turkey’s past and present. I really hope his message will reach our government:
“…Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. Arınç, I ask that you put this bit of information somewhere in the corner of your minds: you will never resolve the problem of 1915 by repeating a lie that’s been memorized over the past 95 years. If it could have been resolved by rote repetition, there were those before you, who were much louder, who would have achieved it. A black stain was smeared on the brow of the Turkish nation in 1915. The ones who did this were the Unionist murderers. If you don’t identify that stain and if you don’t put some distance between yourselves and those who placed that stain upon the brow of the Turkish nation, you won’t be able to take a single step forward on this issue. Don’t even bother trying. …
“Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. Arınç, the answers to the problems that are the legacy of 1915 can’t be found in the denialist policies of Veli Küçük, Doğu Perinçek, Şükrü Elekdağ and Yusuf Halaçoğlu. Don’t search for the answers there. You won’t get anywhere repeating the chorus they’ve been singing for 95 years. They are your adversaries on the issue of 1915, just as they are when it comes to the Kurdish issue and the issue of the military’s place in politics. You cannot construct your response to 1915 by holding rank with those who want to drag the country into chaos, who murdered Hrant Dink, who have planned massacres against Christians and who have been plotting coups against you.
“If you are going to respond to 1915, you need to search for an answer different from the answers given by Ergenekon or by those who plotted the coups. To do this, you should follow your Muslim roots in Anatolia that have grown alongside your party and take a closer look at what these roots did during 1915. …
“Mr. Arınç, these words are for you. With reason, you were angered by the way the women of the CHP [Republican People’s Party] in Mersin tore up the Muslim veil. Do you realize, however, that with the position that you have taken, you have torn the deep fabric of Anatolian Islam, have ripped apart the cultural legacy of Anatolian Muslims who can walk with heads held high for bravely challenging the murders of 1915? Do you know that when the Unionist gangs were murdering Armenians in 1915, the ones who put up the biggest fight, who challenged them the most were the Muslims of Anatolia? Did you have any idea that it was the Muslim community of Kastamonu that marched upon the governor’s office, declaring, ‘We won’t stand for our neighbors being murdered’? Or that it was the Muslims of Yozgat who opposed Killer Kemal of Boğazlayan, yelling, ‘There’s no place in the Quran for the murder of innocents!’? Have you never heard of the important role the written testimony of the grand mufti of Boğazlayan, Abdullahzade Mehmed, played in the hanging of Killer Kemal? Did you know that in opposing the murders being committed by Killer Kemal, this Muslim mufti said: ‘Allah stands above us all. I fear his wrath’?
“Mr. Arınç, are you aware of the order given by Commander Kamil Pasha of the 3rd Army in 1915? He stated, ‘Whoever tries to hide Armenians in their homes will be executed in front of his front door and his home will be burned to the ground.’ Despite this order, do you know that Haji Halil, a Muslim from Urfa, hid an Armenian family of eight in the attic of his home in the market of Urfa for one full year in spite of the threats of death and burning? Go to eastern Anatolia and ask the members of Parliament from your own party about this. They’ll tell you dozens, hundreds, of similar stories.
“I don’t need to point out that when the Unionists were massacring Armenians in Anatolia, pious Muslims were opposing what was happening and saying that the murder of innocents has no place in the Quran. Whichever conference I attend and whenever I’m talking with Armenians, they tell me, ‘If we are alive today, it is without a doubt because of the aid of some Muslims.’ But they’ll also add, ‘Because of your government’s policy of denial, we can’t talk about it openly.’…
“Mr. Arınç, you can’t build a future on the backs of murderers. You can build a future on the backs of those righteous Muslims in Anatolia who challenged the murderers. In the same way that you can’t resolve today’s problems by supporting Hrant’s murderers, the ‘Samasts’ and the ‘Veli Küçüks,’ you won’t get anywhere supporting the murderers of the Hrants of the past. The answers to 1915 can’t be found in the answers of Doğu Perinçek or Veli Küçük. They are members of the Ergenekon gang that killed Hrant Dink; it’s natural that they defend the murderers of the Hrants of the past. Let the ‘Veli Küçüks’ defend the murderer Samast of today and the murderers Talat, Enver and Kemal of yesterday. Your place is not at the side of Veli Küçük. Your duty is to stand by the side of the ‘Haji Halils,’ to stand up for those Muslims who put themselves and their families at risk by opposing the massacres.”
