Mean, Motive and Opportunity

I find it simply frightening that in this day and age, national governments can blatantly deny accountability for proven historical events. Sure, we've all heard of wackjobs who deny the occurrence (sp?) of the Holocaust, but the fact is that those are individuals (crazy Middle Eastern presidents notwithstanding) and the German government, among others, has spent the last few decades apologizing and bearing the burden for what happened.

But to this day, the Turkish government flat-out rejects the label of "genocide" when referring to the 1915 deaths of 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children, instead attributing the losses to a Civil War that also took the lives of many Muslim Turks. Historical evidence, including pictures, documents and personal accounts, however, will suggest otherwise.

In the last century, displaced Armenians from all over the world have worked together to essentially defend the honor of their fallen relatives by continuing the affirmations that this genocide did occur and, as a result, have built and maintained a fierce national pride, despite the absence of a nation to call their own.

Now, Turkish writers are being criticized for acknowledging the Armenian genocide as a historical event and supporting today's Armenian. Most recently, Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his literary work that focuses on Turkish history. He was also prosecuted several months back for stating that the Turkish government should own up to its involvement with the Armenian genocide. While he's a wildly successful novelist, he has often been criticized for being "un-Turkish" and writing to a European audience, rather than a Turkish one, and this has led to allegations by the Turkish government that Pamuk's prize was a political favor from the Swedish government.

I could go on for days about this ... in fact, I sort of have. But the fact is that although Pamuk has put a considerable amount of effort into cultivating his controversial opinion, I can't know what his real motive is--considering that he's garnered more attention outside of Turkey than inside. For being who he is, he sure chose subject matter that would get everyone's attention.

Was it opportunistic? Maybe. Did it bring him international fame as the first Turk to win the Nobel Prize? Yes. But is this prize also a powerful tool that will strengthen the Armenians' arsenal and their resolve to continue affirming their horrific history? YES.

So everyone wins. Except, of course, for the Turkish government.

Read the article.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/9f3f5ada-59f1-11db-8f16-0000779e2340.html