14 09 2007 - How Much Longer Should Turkey Be Allowed to Abuse and Suppress the Basic Human Rights of Millions of Its Non-Turkish Citizens?

By Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher/Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine

appojabarian@gmail.com

Turkey's population is by no means homogenous. Although successive Turkish administrations have tried to sell to the world the idea that Turkey is a monolithic country that speaks with one voice. In its make up, Modern Turkey is no different from its predecessor: the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

That's why Turkey's official chief "historian," Turkish Historical Society (TTK) President Prof. Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu has invented a new "social engineering" project that is designed to "help" the current Turkish state expand the genocide of 1915-1923 in more subtle ways. It is widely feared in Turkey, that Halacoglu’s backers are seeking new, heinous ways to bring yet another "final solution" to the mushrooming Kurdish, Alevi and Armenian problems.
Recently, Halacoglu, who is also known as "kitchen historian," resorted to new acts of hallucination. On 18 August, Halacoglu made controversial comments on the ethnic make-up of Turkey at a symposium in Kayseri. His outrageous and racist comments caused widespread indignation in Turkish society. Several ethnic associations called for his resignation.

The Turkish Daily News reported that during the symposium, Halacoglu stated, "Kurds are converted Turkmen and Kurdish Alevis are converted Armenians. ... They are unfortunately of Armenian origin. ... For example when some PKK members are arrested it becomes apparent that they are not circumcised. ... Many of these 'converts' were not even sincere, since they were known to try to establish churches. The state had in the years 1936-37 used a 'house by house' method to identify these converts. ... Everyone has the right to find out about his or her origins (and that) everyone’s identity is whatever he or she feels it to be."

Sahin Alpay harshly criticized Halacoglu in the pages of the Zaman newspaper: "The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party and Alevi associations are absolutely right to declare that Halacoglu’s statements are 'racist and divisive,' and to demand that he is removed from office and prosecuted. If Halacoglu sincerely believed in the scientific and democratic principle that 'everyone’s identity is whatever he or she feels it to be,' he would never have engaged in the kind of research he has, and never made the kind of statements he has made. In a democratic society, citizens’ ethnic and/or religious identities are determined only by 'whatever they feel it to be.' They are, of course, individually entitled to investigate their origins, but the state has no right whatsoever to investigate citizens’ ethnic and religious identities; it is absolutely obliged to respect all ethnic and religious identities and to treat them equally. It is only Nazi or fascist regimes with their racist ideologies that investigate the ethnic and religious origins of their citizens."

Alpay continued: "Halacoglu’s claim that some Alevi Kurds are of Armenian origin as indicated by the fact that some PKK members are found to be 'uncircumcised' is related to the notorious claim that the separatist, terrorist PKK is in fact an Armenian and not a Kurdish organization. Halacoglu’s logic is clearly that 'the PKK is evil because it is Armenian and all Armenians are evil.' There is no doubt that his claims are of a racist character and denigrate all Armenians, among them all Turkish citizens of Armenian origin."

Ýsmet Berkan, in an Aug. 23 column in Radikal, titled "What did the Minorities Auxiliary Commission do?" commented on Halacoglu’s outlandish claims: "Minorities Auxiliary Commission was the name until recently of a commission composed of representatives from the National Intelligence Organization, the Ministry of Interior, the General Directorate of Foundations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its main function was to make life difficult for minorities and encourage them to leave the country. This commission did a good job, and the numbers of non-Muslim minorities have shrunk significantly. … It is perhaps the case that our state has continued to pursue Armenian families who adopted Islam in order to escape deportation and death. … Halacoglu claims that the state conducted a survey of these ‘converts’ in 1936 and that he has himself updated that study. … Can it be the case that the list he claims to possess is used as a ‘guide’ in the recruitment and promotion of state and armed forces personnel? ... The discourse of ‘reliable’ and ‘unreliable’ ethnic origins in state offices is one of well-known secrets of Ankara. … We will only be able to discover the truth behind all this when this country becomes a true democracy, and when the state becomes accountable."

Alpay concluded: "It is high time that someone who is committed to democratic principles and is a qualified and respected historian is appointed to the presidency of the Turkish Historical Society. This will be a test case for the new government soon to assume office."

Nazan Maksudyan, the author of the book "Measuring Turkishness: Science Fiction Anthropology and Turkish Nationalism's Racist Aspect (1925-1939)," and a PhD candidate in history at Sabanci University, has commented: "It is impossible to read Halacoglu's comments without feeling alarmed. It has long been accepted by scientists that the concept of 'race' has no scientific base. Categorizing people as Armenian, Kurdish, Turkmen and ascribing certain characteristics to these groups and assuming that they behave in a certain way is at best a simplification, but at its worst racism."

The Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Association has lambasted Halacoglu and characterized his position as "an act of hostility towards science" and has also called for his resignation: "With his comments on Alevi culture and beliefs and Kurdish identity, Halacoglu has committed the crime of separatism in the face of Turkey's reality... When one looks at the formation of this institution and its research since then, it is clear that the TTK has been given a mission. Since the 12 September 1980 military coup, its studies have been far from scientific. It is not the duty of scientists to interpret history in the framework of written laws and to agree with official ideology, but to defend the truths of scientific history in the framework of universal law."

At the turn of the 20th century, just like may centuries before it; the Turks in the Ottoman Empire were a minority. Now after 92 years of its attempt to wipe out the remnants of the indigenous Armenians of Western Armenia, the indigenous Greeks of the Pontus and Smyrna, along with the Kurds, Assyrians, the Arabs, and others, Turkey is still struggling to become a state with mostly a "homogenous" population.

Halacoglu's seemingly premeditated statements should serve as precursor to what's to come if the ultra-nationalists are not subdued under President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Regep Tayip Erdogan. If Halacoglu and his allies have it their way, the list of martyrs like Hrant Dink will grow longer.
Proactive vigilance and willingness to speak out inside and outside Turkey could be the difference of life and death for many in Turkey. President Sarkozy of France and his European allies shall not overlook Turkey's blatantly criminal intentions towards its minorities, and should take appropriate measures to curtail further human rights abuses.

How much longer should Turkey be allowed to abuse and suppress the basic human rights of millions of its non-Turkish citizens?

Annette Melikian