Turks And Armenians Prepare For Dueling Anniversaries On Friday
Armenians are preparing to mark on Friday the 100th anniversary of the killing of as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors by the Ottoman Empire. And Turks are getting ready to celebrate the centennial of a major military victory by the Ottoman forces over the Allied powers at Gallipoli in World War I.
Turkey traditionally holds the Gallipoli ceremonies on April 25, which falls on Saturday this year. But it is moving up the events by one day to Friday in what critics call a clumsy attempt to overshadow Armenian Remembrance Day.
All this historic symbolism is tied to a terrible period in the early 20th century that is still playing itself out today.
In the courtyard of the St. Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakir, in southeastern Turkey, Armenian Turk Remzi Demir is asked whether he thinks Turkey is trying to draw attention away from the 100th anniversary of the killings that swept away much of his family. He puffs on his cigarette and then bursts out laughing.
"It's so obvious, we don't even need to hear the explanation," he says. "It's plain what they intended to do by moving the date."
Growing Agreement Among Historians
Turkish schoolkids photograph one another next to soldiers dressed as World War I Ottoman troops at the Canakkale Martyrs' Memorial. The memorial, near Sedd el-Bahr, Turkey, is a tribute to the Ottoman victory at Gallipoli in 1915 over British, French, Australian and New Zealand soldiers.
For the better part of a century, Turkey has suppressed accounts of the Armenian killings beneath a wave of national pride at the establishment of an independent Turkish republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish officials have denied and defied growing agreement among historians that the Armenian killings and expulsions fit the modern definition of genocide. Many European states call it a genocide, though the United States does not. Pope Francis set off a diplomatic dispute between Turkey and the Holy See last Sunday when he referred to the killings as genocide.
At Istanbul's military museum, a colorful and energetic Janissary band re-creates the martial music that accompanied Ottoman conquests. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's triumph at Gallipoli, where forces from Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand were defeated, has multiple exhibits.
There is also one room, not easy to find, devoted to "Turkish-Armenian relations." A plaque at the entrance makes its point of view clear. It says "the aim of these unfounded genocide claims is to decrease the power of Turkey in the region."
The walls are lined with historical photographs, not one of which shows a slain Armenian — only the bodies of Turks said to have been tortured and killed by "Armenian gangs."
A man walks by photographs at the Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan, Armenia, on Tuesday. Armenians will mark the 100th anniversary of the killings on Friday.
Turkey argues that it was the move by some Armenians to fight with Russia against the Ottomans that made the deportations necessary. Armenians say that could never justify a collective punishment with such a massive death toll.
Political scientist Cengiz Aktar says Turkey's government does seem to recognize that it has a problem. After years of seeing Turks prosecuted for mentioning the Armenian genocide, he now feels free to talk about it. And in 2014, then prime minister, now President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered condolences to Armenia in terms that were, by Turkish standards, ground-breaking.
The problem, says Aktar, is that while the government is creating a better climate for open discussion at the street level, it's stuck at the official level. It can't reconcile the need to acknowledge past atrocities with the creation myth of modern Turkey, which turns on the notion of transforming an ethnically diverse empire into a more homogeneous nation-state.
"But the bottom line," he says, "is that Turkey, in order to become, you know, a healthy and genuine democracy, needs definitely to heal itself from this major sin."
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Transcript
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
This week marks the 100th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces in what was then the Ottoman Empire. Armenians around the world will mourn what they and most historians consider an act of genocide. Pope Francis calls it that, too. President Obama has avoided the word genocide. In a moment we'll talk about the controversy over that word. But first, here's NPR's Peter Kenyon in Istanbul on Turkey's efforts to downplay the anniversary.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: For Armenians, April means honoring the memory of as many as a million and a half Ottoman Armenians who perished in what is now Turkey. For Turkish leaders who reject the term genocide, April means something else, a celebration of the Ottoman military victory World War I Allied forces at Gallipoli. The anniversaries actually fall one day apart. But this year, Turkey has moved up its Gallipoli ceremonies so that they begin on Friday, Armenian Remembrance Day. Critics call it a clumsy attempt to overshadow the Armenian events.
In the courtyard of the Saint Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakir, Armenian Turk Remzi Demir is asked whether he thinks Turkey is trying to draw attention away from the hundredth anniversary of the killings that swept away much of his family. He puffs on his cigarette and then bursts out laughing.
REMZI DEMIR: (Speaking Turkish). (Laughter).
KENYON: "It's so obvious we don't even need to hear the explanation," he says. "It's plain what they intended to do by moving the date."
For a century, Turkey has suppressed accounts of the Armenian killings beneath a wave of national pride at the establishment of an independent Turkish republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
(SOUNDBITE OF MARTIAL MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED BAND: (Singing in Turkish).
KENYON: Turkish officials have denied and defied a growing consensus among historians that the Armenian killings and expulsions fit the modern definition of genocide.
(SOUNDBITE OF MARTIAL MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED BAND: (Singing in Turkish).
KENYON: At Istanbul's Military Museum, a colorful and energetic janissary band re-creates the martial music that celebrated Ottoman conquests. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's triumph at Gallipoli has multiple exhibits here. There is also one room, not easy to find, devoted to, quote, "Turkish-Armenian relations." A plaque at the entrance makes its point of view clear. It says, (reading) the aim of these unfounded genocide claims is to decrease the power of Turkey in the region.
The walls are lined with historical photographs, not one of which shows a slain Armenian - only the bodies of Turks said to have been tortured and killed by, quote, "Armenian gangs." Turkey argues that it was the move by some Armenians to fight with Russia against the Ottomans that made their deportation necessary. Armenians say that could never justify a collective punishment with such a massive death toll.
At an Istanbul Cafe, political scientist Cengiz Aktar says the government does seem to recognize that it has a problem. For years, Turkey would even prosecute people for mentioning the Armenian genocide, but Aktar now feels free to talk about it. And last year, then-prime minister, now-President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered condolences to Armenia in terms that were, by Turkish standards, groundbreaking. The problems, says Aktar, is that the government seems stuck. It can't reconcile the need to acknowledge past atrocities with the creation myth of modern Turkey, which turns on the notion of transforming an ethnically diverse empire into a more homogenous nation state.
CENGIZ AKTAR: The bottom line is, Turkey, in order to become, you know, a healthy and genuine democracy, needs definitely to heal itself from this major sin.
KENYON: How or when that might happen remains an open question. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Istanbul. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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