Letter to the Editor
Ersin Esen
Issue date: 5/18/06 Section: Op-Ed
- Page 1 of 1
In The Citizen's last issue, one of your guest columnists accused Ottoman Empire of the misleading charge of genocide (Rostom Sarkissian's "The Dread April 24").
With all respect to all who passed away during the World War I in Eastern Anatolian region (neither western Armenia nor northern Kurdistan), no one can deny the tragedy that resulted in suffering and death to all nations living in the Ottoman Empire. Armenian subjects also died during incidents. However, the fact that Turkish, Kurdish and other non-Christian people suffered in the same region during the same time has always been ignored, as your columnist did in his piece.
In fact, this selective approach to history is strongly related to groups' way of building their identities. The past successes and traumas play important roles in group identities. Groups usually select either traumas or successes from their history, and bequeath them to next generations. Groups, who feed their identities with their past traumas, usually see themselves as victims and the "other" as evil. Similarly, Armenian history narrative deems Armenians as the victims. Unfortunately, charges of ''genocide'' only fuel this hatred. Let me remind you of the ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) terror that murdered more than 40 innocent Turkish diplomats in the name of retribution for erroneously interpreted tragedies that happened 90 years ago.
What is more important than raising this hatred is to try to understand the history from the other point of view to find a common ground to share pain. An excellent example of this understanding has been lived every year on April 25, when Turkey hosts more than 20,000 guests from Australia and New Zealand for the Anzac Day. Three nations that fought against each other commemorate together for all those who fell in Gallipoli War in 1915.
Ersin Esen (MPP2)
With all respect to all who passed away during the World War I in Eastern Anatolian region (neither western Armenia nor northern Kurdistan), no one can deny the tragedy that resulted in suffering and death to all nations living in the Ottoman Empire. Armenian subjects also died during incidents. However, the fact that Turkish, Kurdish and other non-Christian people suffered in the same region during the same time has always been ignored, as your columnist did in his piece.
In fact, this selective approach to history is strongly related to groups' way of building their identities. The past successes and traumas play important roles in group identities. Groups usually select either traumas or successes from their history, and bequeath them to next generations. Groups, who feed their identities with their past traumas, usually see themselves as victims and the "other" as evil. Similarly, Armenian history narrative deems Armenians as the victims. Unfortunately, charges of ''genocide'' only fuel this hatred. Let me remind you of the ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) terror that murdered more than 40 innocent Turkish diplomats in the name of retribution for erroneously interpreted tragedies that happened 90 years ago.
What is more important than raising this hatred is to try to understand the history from the other point of view to find a common ground to share pain. An excellent example of this understanding has been lived every year on April 25, when Turkey hosts more than 20,000 guests from Australia and New Zealand for the Anzac Day. Three nations that fought against each other commemorate together for all those who fell in Gallipoli War in 1915.
Ersin Esen (MPP2)
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