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Others’ violations and genocides
by
ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
by
ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
As regular readers of this column know very well, I am one of the most critical voices in Turkey on the situation of minorities and past atrocities committed in this country. I do, however, refuse invitations to lecture on the situation of Greek minorities in Turkey in a panel discussion in Greece. If you think I am trying to avoid nationalist reactions in Turkey, you are mistaken. Because of my writings and my activities I have had enough threats, insults and rebukes from certain circles, and I do not care if this increases for any particular reason. I turn down these kinds of invitations just because I am extremely allergic to talking about human rights when nationalistic feelings and high “political interests” are running in the background.
When you invite someone from Turkey to Greece to give a lecture on the situation of Greek minorities, you are actually organizing a “political event,” unless you do not add a component on the situation of Turkish minorities in Greece into your panel discussion. I would definitely refuse to talk about Turkish minorities’ situation in Greece before Turkish nationalists and I do the same abroad, too.
Politicizing human rights is a meaningless endeavor that does not serve anyone’s interests and just harms the very human rights it claims to fight for. In a genuine human rights struggle there is an inevitable element of criticism of your own government, your country and so on. You may be fighting to improve the human rights situation in your own country, and this almost always involves some risks. You may be targeted by the government or civilians, you may be prosecuted and imprisoned, you will be excluded and marginalized. Or you may be fighting for the rights of others in other countries. This is, for example, what members of Amnesty International do in developed countries for the citizens in other countries. A Dutch, Danish or Swedish member of Amnesty International fights for the rights of Chinese or Russian dissidents or for the victims in Darfur and so on. This second type of human rights advocacy may not involve too much risk for the person doing it, but this type of advocacy also has its own distinguishing features. It embraces deep sympathy and passion for victims, and the hostility is always directed to the regime, not the country itself. In short they fight against China for the sake of Chinese people, and they wish good for China in the long run. You can also see these people are equally sensitive to the human rights violations that their countries have committed.
In the political usage of human rights you cannot see these elements. In political usage the hostility is directed towards the country itself, not a regime or certain administration. In the political usage of human rights you cannot see a genuine concern for human suffering. From here I will come to the very hot issue of this “Armenian genocide resolution” in the US Congress.
This resolution is also a perfect example of the political usage of human rights discourse. It will be voted on by US congressmen, who would possibly reject any resolution for a similar declaration for the massacres of Native Americans or slaves who lived and were killed on US soil a century and a half ago. This resolution will be supported by certain interest groups who at this junction just want to hurt Turkey. But under different circumstances they may be taking a completely different course of action. So we all talk about politics. If this resolution passes, it will only strengthen the hand of Turkish nationalists here in this country and block genuine discussion of the issue concerned.
I have just returned from Washington, D.C., with these thoughts in my mind, which is suffering deeply from jet lag. Maybe I should return to this subject later on to better explain what I mean.
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