"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they
fight you, then you win"
USA Armenian Life Magazine, April 24, 2006
By Appo K. Jabarian
Executive Publisher/Managing Editor
Turkey recently shifted its nine-decade long strategy of
dealing with the Armenian Genocide from silence to belligerent
denial. What's next?
"First they ignore you (1920's-early 1970)
In an effort to avoid responsibility for the Armenian
Genocide, and in order to be able to legally appropriate the
lands and treasures of the Armenians, Turkish leader Ataturk in
1923 instituted the policy of "Clean Break" from the past by
jettisoning certain Ottomanisms. Soon after, Turkish deniers
embarked on a campaign of passive-aggressively not responding to
any demands presented by Armenians regarding the issue of
Turkish-usurped Western Armenian lands. This campaign of
"ignoring" to obstruct justice lasted for 50 years. In 1965
however, this untenable strategy was shattered when the Latin
American republic of Uruguay adopted a Parliamentary Resolution
recognizing the Armenian Genocide. This monumental event however
didn't register on the radar of the Turks. The occupiers of
Western Armenia went back to sleep in their imperial palaces
relocated from Istanbul to Ankara. The Turks remained quiescent
even when the Congress of the United States on April 9, 1975
passed the United States House of Representatives Joint
Resolution 148, which recognized the fact of the Armenian
Genocide.
"then they ridicule you ..." (1970's- early 2000's)
Soon after the passage of the Joint Resolution 148, Turkish
Denialists in Ankara and their cronies in the West stepped up
their campaign of ridiculing the victims of the Armenian
Genocide and their heirs. The Denialists began to channel the
doctrine of their criminal ancestors by ridiculing the victims,
by branding them as traitors, and by always adding the qualifier
"alleged" anytime any Turk anywhere used the word Genocide.
As the number of countries, world leaders and international
organizations that officially recognize the Armenian Genocide
grew, the political heat finally got to the Turkish Elites. The
Denialists quickly allocated large sums, designated official
spinners, and hired lobbyists in the USA in order to assert
their alternate history, and to derail Armenian claims.
"then they fight you ..." (early 2000's-present)
Knowing full well that membership in the European Union
would solve a number of their entrenched problems, the Denialist
leaders of Turkey began to actively seek membership. They
thought they would just be able to waltz in by making vague
promises and saying whatever was necessary. They were however
unpleasantly surprised when the Eu presented them with 30,000
conditions for acceptance - including the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.
Meanwhile, the emergence of Armenian political power and
savvy in the West and around the world began to yield tangible
results for the Armenian Cause. In a span of 91 years, 93
countries, world leaders, international organizations, states
and cities around the world have recognized the veracity of the
Armenian Genocide.
The Turkish Denialist establishment facing one political
defeat after another, then attempted to defraud Armenians with
the false ploy of the "Turkish Armenian Reconciliation
Commission" among several others. The Turkish political ploys
also included behind-the-scenes pressure on various world
leaders not to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.
"then you win" (late 2000's-Future)
Why are Turkish Denialists so nervous? Because they know
that their shaky "throne" sits uneasily atop the ashes of
occupied, martyred Western Armenia. Unlike other empires in
contemporary history, the Turkish Ottoman Empire, just like the
Soviet Empire, was not a homegrown enterprise. Rather it was
imported and imposed upon the local peoples by outsiders. It was
the Mongolian Turks who invaded from the Steppes of Central Asia
and occupied Armenia, and used it as a seed country or stepping
stone.
Furthermore, the Mongolian Turkish invaders also embarked
on a campaign of forcible Turkification of various peoples of
the Caucasus and the Mediterranean basin.
The same Mongolian Turks embarked on a futile attempt to
forcibly Turkify the Kurds calling them "Mountain Turks". Of
course the forcible Turkification plan failed miserably. The
ethnic Mongolian Turks also know that the Levantine "Turks",
when given the opportunity under a future European Union
mandate, would revert to their ancestral roots.
Homegrown Empires vs. Imported and Imposed Ones: The
Persian Empire had Persia (Iran) as seed country. The Roman
Empire had Roma, Italy as a seed country. The Armenian Empire
had Armenia as seed country. The Byzantine Empire had the
conglomeration of ancient Greek municipalities as a seed. The
Russian Empire had Russia; The Assyrian, Assyria; the
Austro-Hungarian, Austria and Hungary; the British Empire,
England, etc.
As you see, each and every former empire except for the
Soviet and the Ottoman Turkish Empires was launched from a seed
country.
A careful analytical look at world history of the last two
millennia can surely point only in one direction. Every single
empire that originated from a seed country receded back to its
original borders. The Soviet Empire was imported from outside
the borders of Russia and the rest of the former Soviet
republics. Therefore, when time matured, it evaporated into
oblivion without a trace. Similarly, the Turkish Ottoman Empire
began with the occupation of Armenia and it will end with the
complete liberation of Armenia.
The Turkish Ottoman Empire did not have a seed country. Its
"founders" came from outside of the Caucasus, the Armenian
Highlands, and the Mediterranean basin.
One can visualize the magnitude and multiplicity of the
problems currently faced by the Denialist Turks. Denialist
Turks not only inherited the assets of the diminishing Ottoman
Turkish Empire, but also all its liabilities. A few of the most
notable liabilities are: 1) The inevitability of returning the
Turkish-occupied Armenian lands, and the payment of reparations
to the heirs of the victims of the Armenian Genocide committed
at the hands of their Turkish grandparents' generation
(1915-1923); 2) Acknowledging the Kurdish aspirations to an
independent homeland; 3) Acknowledging the human rights of its
forcibly Turkified citizens to return to their ancestral ethnic
Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, Arab, Kurdish, Jewish, Circassian,
Georgian, Druze and other Levantine roots.
It's in Denialist Turks' interest to see Armenians waste
their time and energy as they try to prove the veracity of the
Armenian Genocide to wider circles of peoples. Keeping the
Armenians occupied with the first stage of "Recognition" would
take them away from the task of focusing on phase two, three,
and four of the Armenian Case. I am sorry to say that the
Denialists were successful in diverting the course of public
discussion away from the core issues of: A) Reparations for the
immense personal and real property losses inflicted on the
Armenians by the genocidal Turkish occupation government of
Young Turks in 1915-1923; B) Restoration of Turkish-occupied
Armenian ancestral lands to their rightful owners - the
Armenians.
Now more than ever, Armenian activists and their allies are
showing more determination in the pursuit of the restoration and
the reparations issues. Many young Armenians are disappointed
that their leaders still focus mostly upon the "recognition"
phase. The infectious enthusiasm of the younger generation is
bringing many intellectuals who had walked away from the
Armenian Cause back to the fold. The Armenian Case transcends
generational differences. The people are one, the cause is one.
One shouldn't be surprised to learn that it's not the "G"
word - Genocide - that the Denialists detest most, but the "D'
word - the Disintegration of the so-called country of Turkey,
the last vestige of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.