Open Wound

A few days ago a diplomatic scandal between the Vatican and Turkey broke.

During Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s in the Vatican, on April 12, 2015, the Pontiff said that during the twentieth century, humanity has experienced three «great unprecedented tragedies»: the Armenian genocide, Nazism and Stalinism.

The Pope defined as “the first genocide of the twentieth century” all tragic events against Armenians, Orthodox, Syrian Catholics and Greek during the Ottoman regime during the First World War and right after it. According to experts, during the mass killings that began on April 24, 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were killed.

The Armenian people still nowadays expresses the pain and defines that tragedy by the words “Medz Yeghern” which in Armenian means “great slaughter,” “great evil”, because a century ago, the term “genocide” did not exist yet, was designed only in 1944 by a prominent lawyer and fighter for human rights, Rafael Lemkin, a researcher on the massacres of the thirties of ‘900.

Even Members of the European Parliament supported the Pope to recognize the Armenian genocide.

Three days after the declaration of Pope Francis, the Members of the European Parliament have supported the Pope and approved a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, after which they appealed to the leader of Turkey so that he does the same thing, and so to renew diplomatic relations with Armenia.

During the meeting of the European Parliament, the deputies from the Italian movement “Five Star” (Fabio Massimo Castaldo and Laura Agea) said: «No matter if the victims were eight hundred thousand or more than a million. No matter if there were more deaths from cold, hunger and disease than for tortures, rapes and killings. No matter the fruitless struggle on numbers and justifications. Because, what could be more odious and intolerable than persecution of the other just because other than oneself? This is the greatest horror of Genocide. Of each genocide».

The two deputes stated: «Accepting the mistakes of the past is a great relief for a people: well aware are the Europeans, that they could not prevent neither the horrors of dictatorship nor those of colonialism. Well aware are the Italians, who were guilty of both. Precisely these wounds make us true and sincere friends of Armenia and Turkey». Fabio Massimo Castaldo stressed that «today we’re asking the Armenians, Turks and all peoples of the world to put a bookmark on this page, and do not remove it. Never». As Laura Agea noted, «averagely 4100 men, women and children were slaughtered every day in every possible and hardly imaginable way, only because they were Armenians. This is a real “genocide” and nobody can deny it. That is what is told by history and the Ottoman Court, which condemned the perpetrators of the genocide. That is what even Turkish historians state, including Taner Akçam who said: ” it would be enough only archive data to define that crime as a genocide»”.

In Austria parliamentarians have recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. As “Der Spiegel” writes: Members of the Austrian Parliament issued a statement, with which they have called on Turkey to «shed light on the dark past and recognize that the crimes of the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians were a genocide». All six parliamentary groups have condemned the genocide and, according to them, Ankara should follow their example.

Even Germany has taken the first steps towards the recognition of the Armenian genocide. Today, April 24, the Bundenstag organized a debate to recognize the crimes against Armenians as genocide. The “Reuters” noted that to date the German Government has behaved with great caution about the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and preferred to avoid the use of the term “genocide”. This diplomatic approach by the German authorities have a clear meaning not to complicate relations with Turkey.

Just a few days ago, the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an interview with “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that «everything that happened in 1915 can be summed up by the term “genocide”», says “Rosbalt”, the news agency Russian.

A similar statement was delivered by the Vice President of Bundenstag, Franz Josef. He said that his party intends to define the mass killings of Armenians as “genocide”, despite protests from Ankara.

Meanwhile, in Klaipeda, a port city of Lithuania, in memory of the genocide of the Armenian people, recognized at the official level, a stone cross was laid, the news agency “Regnum” confirms, which adds that «it is a symbol in basalt by an Armenian sculptor, donated to the city on behalf of the Armenian community; and this is the third cross in Lithuania».

Let’s remember that the Armenian Genocide has already been recognized and condemned by many countries and international organizations, including: Italy, Russia, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Meanwhile, the Danish government has not officially recognized the Armenian genocide, although «does not hide the magnitude of the tragic events of 1915». This is what the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Martin Lidegaard, declared to the Danish magazine “The Copenhagen Post “.

America avoids the word “genocide”.

For many years, in the official speech on the occasion of the tragedy of the Armenian people, the president of the United States has declined to pronounce “the embarrassing word”. Also this time, Barack Obama has expressed his support to the Armenian people surviving the “great distress”, but did not use the term “genocide” to describe the tragic events that occurred during the reign of the Ottoman Empire.

In fact, even today, April 24, on the occasion of the centenary of that tragedy, Barack Obama has not said the word that starts with “G” in his official speech. As written by “Limes on line”, with reference to CNN, «For geopolitical convenience, the White House has chosen not to irritate Turkey using the word “genocide” to describe the massacre of the Armenians perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire during the first war world».

This opinion is also shared by Sergey Markedonov (Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy Studies at the Russian State University in Humanities), who published an article on the portal “Lenta.ru”, where he described the reasons why America does not want to exacerbate relations with Turkey, and also notes that «the Armenian question creates a serious difficulty to the policies of Washington in its relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan».

«The importance of Turkey for the United States cannot be underestimated. This country has the second largest army in NATO (alliance that has always been a key tool of American dominance in Europe). Moreover, in Turkey, at Ingirlik, there is the military base of the United States which has a key role in the US operations in the Middle East … Washington turns his gaze to Ankara over “the Syrian track,” as a potential outpost against the “Islamic State”», said Sergey Markedonov.

“Limes online” supposed «if Obama followed the example of the Pope, the Turkish government would be forced to react and jeopardize the fragile truce between Ankara and Washington, putting it in danger … In light of the difficult situation in the Middle East, is better not imagine the consequences of such a scenario».

The reaction of Ankara

At the Mass, during which the Pope Francis has called the mass killings in 1915 the first genocide of the twentieth century, was present also the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargasyan. In an interview with the Italian news agency “Ansa” he said, «I’m almost convinced that the Pope’s words will be misinterpreted by the Turkish government and the leader of Turkey». To the chagrin of the international community, his words have come true.

Ankara reacted harshly to the recognition of the genocide by the Pope and called for consultations its ambassador to the Vatican. «I consider the statement of the Pope immoral, and I cannot connect it with the basic values of Christianity», said the Grand Mufti, Mehmet Gormez, quoted by the Turkish site “Zaman online”.

However, today in Istanbul for the first time the memorial ceremony dedicated to the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian genocide was held. The Prime Minister Davutoglu however has stated that Turkey does not recognize the term “genocide”.

In a BBC interview, the Turkish Prime Minister said that the country «shares the pain» of Armenians and reiterated that rejects the use of the term “genocide” about the incident a hundred years ago. «Reducing everything to a single word and lean responsibility to Turkey alone is problematic, both in legal and ethical terms», Davutoglu said. Despite that, the Prime Minister has recognized the facts concerning the deportation, and he reiterated: “We remember with respect, once again, and we share the pain of the children and grandchildren of Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives in the 1915 deportations.”

Incidentally, even before the vote in the European Parliament, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has warned that Turkey would not take into account the opinion of European Deputes. «Personally, I am serene, because we are not guilty and do not live in the shadow of genocide».

The reaction of Ankara was also commented the Foreign Minister of Italy, Paolo Gentiloni: «The rigid tone of Turkish authorities seems unreasonable to me, especially considering the fact that, 15 years ago, John Paul II has made the same declaration».

“Il Fatto Quotidiano” quoted the words of the leader of Armenia, who declared: «I use to keep separate Turkish authorities and Turkish people. I am convinced that the Pope’s words have touched the hearts of many Turks, who will have the opportunity to re-evaluate their position on the Armenian genocide and free their consciousness from the weight of history». “Il Fatto Quotidiano” also quoted the words of the Armenian Foreign Minister, Edward Nalbandian: «We are in a situation in which Turkey speaks a language completely different from that of the international community, which seems to be unable to express itself differently. In recent days several international organizations have made statements that recognize the Armenian genocide. The declaration of the Pope is as always in accordance with human values. When Turkey will understand this, it will realize that the international community and a great personality, like the Pope, are expressing in the same way».

«I must admit that Turkey has always insisted on his point of view, arguing that it was a civil war, in which both sides suffered losses, and rejected the use of the term” genocide». Furthermore, like “Il Fatto Quotidiano” explains, the use of the term “genocide” is punishable by the Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (editor’s note: that first punished those who offended the Turkish identity or “Turkishness” and, since 2008, those who insult the Turkish state and its institutions). This norm in the past allowed to prosecute dozens of journalists and writers, including the Nobel Prize Orhan Pamuk and the journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed by radical nationalists in 2007.

The Vice-President of the European Commission, Kristallina Georghieva, in an interview with “Le Figaro” said: «No matter, what words have been used to this terrible reality, but we cannot deny it», and expressed the hope that the memorial service in Turkey in the centenary of the tragedy becomes «a path to reconciliation».

Darina Stepina,

Translation by George de Surmont