“1915” by Prof. Ihsan Yilmaz (2)

Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz
Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz


Date posted: April 26, 2013

İHSAN YILMAZ

Retrospectively using the word “genocide” to describe what happened to Armenian Ottoman citizens in 1915 complicates the matter further and does not help Turks in facing their country’s history. A second major hurdle is the insistence in limiting the issue to legal discussions.

The issue is much more complicated and, rather than thinking in terms of legal ramifications, we must focus on historical, humanitarian, political and social aspects of the issue. Third, foreign powers such as Russia, the British Empire and France were negatively and abusively influential in the emergence of the Armenian question, and their insistence on interference with the matter makes Turks understandably more defensive. Saying all this does not mean that Turks, especially practicing Muslim Turks such as myself, must not revisit their history and must not disown the mistakes of the secular nationalist Young Turks.

I think what happened in 1915 must be left to the civilian public sphere, where academics, historians, intellectuals and journalists from all areas can be engaged in civilized discussion. There must be no preconditions or requirements, such as accepting the term genocide. What matters is to know and come to terms with what really happened. There will, of course, be a variety of opinions, and we cannot compel people to accept only one of these views. But free debate will help both sides to empathically understand each other’s position. When we deal with states, legal terms, etc., it makes people nervous. If we can open up a debate, the public will be more informed about what really happened, not only in 1915 but also before and after. At the moment, sides are busy cherry-picking points that will prove their position.

Especially Armenians, but also Kurds and Turks, must empathically try to understand what happened during the 1800s and in and after 1917. Kurds and Turks must try to empathically understand what happened during 1915-1916. We must be self-critical, not anachronistic and not try to put the blame on the other side. Kurds and Turks must accept that, whatever brutality the Armenian gangs committed against their ancestors, this could not, for instance, justify the forceful deportation of Western Anatolian Armenians who were not near the war zone. We must also accept that the lack of all sorts of precautions, ranging from security to providing food to forcing Armenians to go to Syria on foot, are not just neutral or natural results of war conditions. We must also never downplay some of the Kurds’ attacks on these innocent civilians. We must never forget who benefited from the goods, monies and properties left by the Armenians who had only 24 hours to leave.

It is not human to just say that the Armenian gangs started it first, that some Armenians revolted and that some massacred Muslims. I am also equally aware of the threats the Ottoman state faced and the Armenian policies of the Russian, British and French governments. Yet a state is a state bound by laws. Gangs are not teachers of the state. Even during the time of World War I, thousands of innocent lives could have been saved, but the secularist nationalist Young Turks did not prefer to do so.

When Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan documented and apologized for the Young Turks (who were called Kemalists in the republican era) who brutally massacred and chemically gassed thousands of innocent civilians — children, women, the elderly — in Dersim during peace time in 1938, practicing Muslims did not try to defend the Young Turks. They did not say that it was impossible that our “noble” nation could ever commit such atrocities. Let me remind them of a Nasreddin Hodja quip: You believe when I say that the pot gave birth but do not believe when I say it is dead. We practicing Muslims believe what the secularist nationalist Young Turks could do to our Muslim “non-enemies,” but we do not believe it when it is said that the Young Turks possibly did things during wartime to the Armenians, who, as the deportation decision proves, were obviously seen as an existential threat.

“1915” by Prof. Ihsan Yilmaz (1)

Source: Today’s Zaman, 26 April 2013


Related News

Turkish NGO Kimse Yok Mu handed over 296 houses for flood affectees

Staff Reporter / Lahore A protocol was signed between Punjab government and an international NGO of Turkey, Kimse Yok Mu, at Model Town, here today under which Turkish NGO has handed over a modern village consisting of 296 houses for flood affectees at moza Rakh Khanpur district Muzaffargarh, to Provincial Disaster Management Authority. Punjab government had […]

Those not supporting Erdogan regime labelled as Gulen follower, given harsh punishment

M Behzad Fatmi, a Turkish political expert and commentator, has said that Ankara’s crackdown on Gullen followers amounts to “social and economic genocide” and asserted that the self-exiled scholar had no connection in the coup d’etat aimed at overthrowing the Erdogan regime.

Orange County’s Anatolian Festival: A Meeting of Worlds

ARTUR ASLANYAN For the past five years, Orange County, Calif. has hosted the Anatolian Cultures & Foods Festival, a four-day event full of music, dances, food and family fun. The weekend of May 16th through the 19th continued the tradition, putting on the largest version yet. The event is described by many to be “the closest […]

Turkish Olympiads built on legacy of linguistic, cultural interaction

MESUT ÇEVİKALP, İSTANBUL Some 1,000 students from 130 countries have come to Turkey to attend the Ninth International Turkish Olympics. Students from different cultures are bringing their poems, songs and folk dances to the Turkish language festival. This year’s Olympiads, themed after Yunus Emre’s famous call, “Come and let’s get acquainted,” are much more colorful. […]

Strange alignment of PKK and government against Hizmet

Close relations between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which began with a settlement process over the Kurdish issue, have deepened with a new alliance aimed at destroying the Hizmet movement.

Gülen says paying price for not supporting Erdoğan’s desire for presidential system

“Mr Erdoğan put pressure on me and Hizmet sympathizers to publicly support his idea of a presidential system. He increased the pressure by supporting government-funded alternatives to Hizmet institutions and then began threatening to close them down,” Gülen stated in a written interview with Nahal Toosi, which was published on Friday. According to Gülen, Hizmet sympathizers are paying a heavy price for their independence.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

US voices concern about press freedom over Karaca’s arrest

Fethullah Gülen’s Eid message: Let’s pray for each other

Fethullah Gulen and Gulen Movement Has No Political Agenda, Says Expert

Businessmen released following operation against Gülen movement

Filipina, infant freed from Turkish jail, but…

Cambodia’s Zaman Institutes Get Big-Name Backing

Kazakh President Nazarbayev hails Turkish schools in his country

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News