Armenian Genocide centennial

[Antwort]

It is misleading to discuss what happened with reference to genocide, which is merely a legal and technical term. No technical term is vast enough to contain these incidents, which are therefore indescribable. Atrocities and massacres are incompatible with human values. It is more degrading to be regarded as a criminal in the collective conscience of humanity than to be tried on charges of genocide.

A regime that hinges upon concealing and denying the truth will make the state and the society sick and decadent. The politicians, academics, journalists, historians and clerical officials in Turkey should try to ensure that the society can face the truth. To face the truth is to become free. We can derive no honor or dignity from defending our ancestors who were responsible for these tragedies. It is not a humane or ethical stance to support and defend the actions of Abdülhamit II and senior CUP members and their affiliated groups, gangs and marauders. Turkey should declare to the world that it accepts said atrocities and massacres and that in connection with this, it advocates the highest human values of truth, justice and humanism while condemning the mentality and actions of those who committed them in the past. DR. ÜMIT KARDAŞ - May 2010

^^^posted in the New York Times earlier today on http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/world/europe/armenian-genocide-100th-anniversary.html?_r=0

Today’s Turkey is not accountable for what happened one hundred years ago, but it bears the accountability for the consequences. Bundestag President Norbert Lammert, also today



A future made of true peace and genuine fraternity can only be built by embracing the truth and leaving behind the shadows of the past.

The Armenian people deserves recognition for the immense tragedy it suffered, while Turkey needs to recognize the complete legacy of the Ottoman Empire in order to distance itself from its darkest chapters.

Accepting one's history and the mistakes of ancestors (alongside the celebrations of their triumphs) is not a sign of weakness, but of courage. Germany is a great example in that. True patriots are not those oblivious to the pitfalls of past and present in their countries, but those willing to recognize them and work for their removal.

May those brave voices, like Dr. Kardaș, who are now only a minority in Turkey become in time the majority! Then and only then will the healing truly begin, both for the Armenian people AND the Turkish nation.


But beyond borders and wars we must never forget we all belong to ONE FAMILY called HUMANITY. May we never forget the tragic lessons of the Medz Yeghern, Shoah, Cambodia and Rwanda and may our children and their children NEVER AGAIN witness such scenes of utter barbarity.