1915 Events commemorated in Turkey once more

Sunday, April 24, 2011

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Commemorations of the tragic events of 1915 are held in a variety of cities across Turkey including Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Diyarbakır, Bursa and Bodrum. ‘Intellectuals are not sufficient for Turkey to face itself; the NGOs need to have a clear stance. Facing the Armenian taboo will mean Turkey will have to face its own history,’ an NGO member says

The 'Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism!' initiative gathered at Taksim Square. Their slogan was, 'This pain belongs to all of us.'

Commemorations of the traumatic events of 1915 were held in six cities across Turkey on Sunday, as small gatherings came together to mark April 24, the annual date recognized internationally for remembering the victims of violence at the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Apart from two events in Istanbul, sit-ins were held simultaneously in Ankara, İzmir, Diyarbakır, Bursa and Bodrum. Prayers for the tragedies were conducted in all Armenian churches in Istanbul after the Easters prayer. The church’s limited their commemorations to prayers and no statement were made.

The first of the events in Istanbul was held in Sultanahmet by the Human Rights Association, or İHD, in front of the Turk Islam Artifacts Museum at 2 p.m. The crowd gathered with red cloves and read a press statement. The cloves had the names of Armenian intellectuals who were taken from their homes in Istanbul on April 24, 1915, and died in exile. The black banners held by the crowd read, “The Museum – prison of 1915” and “The intellectuals were held before sent to the journey of death.” The names of 250 intellectuals were read and the crowd left the cloves and banners near a tree in front of the museum before disassembling.

Ayşe Günarsu, member of the İHD Istanbul branch and the Commission Against Racism and Discrimination, spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. She said they were there to refresh a memory that society was made to forget. “This location where the museum stands used to be İbrahimpaşa Palace in those years; also called the Central Prison. The intellectuals were gathered here and then sent to exile from Haydarpaşa train station. Many of the intellectuals never returned.” Günaysu said the Turkish intellectuals are too late “to commemorate the genocide.” İHD held a protest at Haydarpaşa last year.

“This is a matter of conscience,” said İhsan Kaçar, another member of the commission. “Intellectuals are not sufficient for Turkey to face itself. The NGOs need to have a clear stance on this matter. Facing the Armenian taboo will mean Turkey has to face its own history.”

Lawyer Ahmet Tamer, member of İHD, said: “No punches are pulled when the Jewish genocide or Native American genocide is mentioned, but, and who knows why, we hesitate to speak about the genocide experienced in these lands. I guess it is hard for us to face ourselves.”

At 5 p.m., the “Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism!” initiative gathered at Taksim Square. Their slogan was, “This pain belongs to all of us,” and the attendants included well-known faces from Turkish press, politics, literature and art circles alongside members of several NGOs. The event consisted of a sit-in strike and was silent by nature; no slogans were shouted like last year. The attendants stood up one by one and voiced the names and professions of the Armenian intellectuals. Easter cookies and eggs were handed out during the event.

The People’s Liberation Party, or HKP, staged counter-demonstrations at Taksim, İzmir and Ankara at the same locations, arguing that the events of 1915 is a “lie of imperialism” by slogans.