London-based journalist Firdevs Robinson, whose work for the last 25 years has focused on the domestic and foreign policies of Turkey and its place in the world, comments on the situation Turkey has found itself in following the German recognition of the Armenian Genocide on her blog Firdeves Talk Turkey, which takes its name from an American- English idiom “Talking Turkey”, meaning discussing something honestly, directly, and tackling difficult issues head-on and that is exactly what she does in her piece History Can no Longer be Left to Historians Alone.
History Can no Longer be Left to Historians Alone
The German parliamentary resolution titled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916” may only be a symbolic act with no legal effect but the Turkish authorities are wrong to dismiss it as “null and void”, and resorting to hateful comments to whip up Turkish nationalist sentiments at home.
The resolution, approved by a near-unanimous support from all parties in Germany differs from the previous recognitions by 26 other countries.
For the first time, it explicitly underlines Germany’s role as the Ottoman Empire’s military ally and accepts German complicity in turning a blind eye to Ottoman deportations and massacres of Armenians, “despite having clear information” at the time.
It emphasizes that the aim is not to blame “the current generation of Turks” but to encourage acknowledgement of “the darker moments in their nation’s history”. It expresses a hope to facilitate a revival of the reconciliation process between Turkey and Armenia.
However painful and damaging the German resolution may be perceived by an equally overwhelming majority in Turkey, it must be met with a measured and statesman-like response.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s instant rebuke by saying “The way to close dark pages in Germany’s own history is not to defame the history of other countries with irresponsible and baseless parliament decisions,” cannot be described as such.
One of Turkey’s most senior diplomats, its ambassador to Washington D.C, Serdar Kilic, posted a Twitter message minutes after the vote and addressing the Germans as “feckless”, he has asked whether they thought they would get away with their own two ‘real genocides’ in forty years by accusing Turkey with one ‘imagined’ one.
Presidential chief advisor, a professor of constitutional law, Burhan Kuzu, has raised the stakes further. Claiming the resolution was a reflection of German discomfort for Turkey’s growth, he said that the “German infidels once again did what they knew best”.
As for the new Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, his earlier comment claiming that the events of the 1915 were ‘the kind of things that could have happened anywhere, in any country during a war’ was truly disgraceful. After the vote in the Bundestag, Mr. Yildirim has qualified his strong condemnation of Germany by saying that despite Germany’s historical mistake, bilateral relations would continue.
In Germany, before the motion was put to vote, a vigorous debate had taken place on whether the Parliament was the right place for passing judgement on another country’s history.
Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s Editor in Chief Alexander Kudascheffcalled it “a morally honorable gesture but also presumptuous, arrogant, and what’s worse, without consequence”.
Others warned that it would strengthen the hand of the ultra-nationalists in Turkey. Germany’s 3-million strong Turkish minority held several demonstrations against the resolution.
Chancellor Merkel and her Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also warned against jeopardizing a highly sensitive process of EU migration deal with Turkey.
But Germany is not Turkey and neither the legislative nor the judiciary are controlled by the Chancellor.
Mr Erdogan’s tightening grip on all Turkey’s institutions, deteriorating freedom of expression in the country and threatening messages sent to German MPs, predominantly those of Turkish origin, have contributed to near-unanimous decision at the Bundestag.
It should now be clear that Turkey’s main argument that “history should only be judged by historians” does not sound convincing anymore.
A careful reading of the text adopted by the German Parliament shows that there is little confidence in the integrity of such academic endeavors, especially the officially sanctioned ones in Turkey. There is a reference to the 2009 Zurich protocols. It envisaged the creation of a commission of scholars from Turkey and Armenia but neither country’s parliament has ratified it.
Turkey sighed a relief last year when the centenary of 1915 passed relatively easily on the diplomatic front. Its diplomats have missed the wider picture. They overlooked the growing scholarly and literary interest in Germany and elsewhere on the subject.
You only had to visit the London Book Fair last year to see how many new books were published about the 1915 mass killings of Armenians.
The world premiere of a documentary drama, I wish to Die Singing , played to full houses in London’s Finsborough Theatre in 2015, was precisely about the newly-emerging eye-witness accounts of the mass deportation and killings of Armenians, including considerable detail of the German complicity at the time.
Turkey has strong bilateral relations with Germany. Apart from recalling its ambassador for consultations and repeating the usual strongly-worded threats for a few more days, Turkish officials are most likely to go into a damage-limitation mode in response to another symbolic decision by yet another country’s parliament.
Symbolic, it may be, the resolution by the Bundestag, coming at a time when Turkey finds itself increasingly isolated on the international stage, should be seen as a reminder that selectively glorifying the past is easier to do at home than abroad.
It is high time to reevaluate the past as well as the present.