APPENDIX 21
Memorandum from the Campaign for Recognition
of the Armenian Genocide (CRAG)
THE EUROPEAN
UNION AND
THE ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE
1. The European Union in general, and the
European Parliament in particular, are well versed in the political
issues surrounding the Armenian genocide and its denial by the
Turkish Government.
2. The EU Parliament's most prominent expression
of opinion regarding the Armenian genocide was given on 18 July
1987. In its "Resolution on a Political Solution to the Armenian
question" (Doc A2-33/87) it stated, amongst other points,
the following:
2.1 The tragic events in 1915-17 involving
the Armenians living in the territory of the Ottorman Empire constitute
genocide;
2.2 To date, the Turkish Government, by
refusing to recognise the genocide of 1915, continues to deprive
the Armenian people of the right to their own history;
2.3 The recognition of the Armenian genocide
by Turkey must therefore be viewed as a profoundly humane act
of moral rehabilitation towards the Armenians, which can only
bring honour to the Turkish Government;
2.4 The obdurate stance of every Turkish
Government towards the Armenian question has in no way helped
to reduce the tension;
2.5 Democracy cannot be solidly implanted
in a country unless the latter recognises and enriches its history
with its ethnic and cultural diversity;
2.6 Neither political nor legal or material
claims against present-day Turkey can be derived from the recognition
of this historical event as an act of genocide;
2.7 The refusal by the present Turkish Government
to acknowledge the genocide . . . [Is an] insurmountable obstacle
to consideration of the possibility of Turkey's accession to the
Community.[6]
3. On 15 November 2000, an amendment was
passed to the first annual "Regular Report on Turkey's Progress
Towards Accession" (A5-0297/2000) that stated that the European
Parliament:
3.1 Calls on the Turkish Government and
the Turkish Grand National Assembly to give fresh support to the
Armenian minority, as an important part of Turkish society, in
particular by public recognition of the genocide which that minority
suffered before the establishment of the modern state of Turkey.
4. Most recently, on 28 February 2002 the
European Parliament voted by 391 for to 96 against and 15 abstentions,
within the "European Union's Relations and with the South
Caucasus" report prepared by MEP Per Gahrton stated that
it . . .
4.1 [C]alls on Turkey to take appropriate
steps in accordance with its European ambitions, especially concerning
the termination of the blockade against Armenia; reiterates in
this respect the position in its resolution of 18 June 1987 recognising
the genocide upon Armenians 1915 as a fact and calls upon Turkey
to do the same.
EUROPEAN UNION
RATIONALE IN
CALLING UPON
TURKEY TO
RECOGNISE THE
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
5. A number of clear themes are present
in the European Parliament's continued calls upon Turkey to recognise
its Genocidal past. Chief amongst these is safeguarding of the
welfare of the remaining Armenian minority present within a country.
Secondary issues relate to broad-spectrum democratisation and
the existing power relationships within the Turkish political
establishment, human rights in general and freedom of speech in
particular, Turkey's bi-lateral relations with EU member states
and Turkey's relations with Armenia.
6. Pre-genocide Armenian population within
Turkey can be realistically estimated to have stood at around
2.5 million. The present population is estimated to be no more
than 120,000, with the majority living in Istanbul. The Armenian
population do little to draw attention to themselves and yet continue
to be harassed by the Turkish establishment. Numerous examples
exist that can outline of how the Armenian minority population
are treated, from the brutal to farcical. For example the Anadolu
News Agency reported in June of 2001, how an Armenian citizen
had his licence to operate a hotel revoked because he had chosen
to give his establishment an Armenian name.
7. Kemal Yalcin is a writer and a teacher
of Turkish in Bochum. After studying education in Turkey, he studied
philosophy and was then the publisher of the newspaper Halkin
Yolu (People's Way). He arrived in Germany as a political
refugee in 1982, and was barred from returning until 1995. In
an interview with the German publication Junge Welt, in
January 2002, titled "Armenians in Turkey: Has the Silence
been broken?" he described the Armenians who chose to hide
their ethnicity as a means of protecting themselves.
7.1 "Hidden Armenians" live and
outwardly pray just like Muslims. They live their Christianity
in secret. Even the Armenian congregations knew very little about
them, and have begun on the basis of my book to take up contact
with them. Even in Germany, in Cologne, some Armenians have had
themselves baptised only after 40 years. Their own children knew
nothing. The families live as Turkish or Kurdish Muslims, and
the children have never learned their native language, Armenian.
Many of the young people only find out when they're 15 or 17 years
old that they are Armenian, and their parents tell them "Don't
talk about it".
8. The issue of Turkey's democratisation
is of paramount importance to the EU, the possibility of Turkey's
accession to the European Union without fundamental restructuring
of its political, legal and constitutional norms is highly doubtful.
The existing political, legal and constitutional structures are
markedly tilted in favour of the dominant forces within the Turkish
elite in their denial of the Armenian genocide.
9. At present it is impossible to raise
the question of the Armenian genocide in the Turkish political
arena. Any attempt to do so is quickly cut short by the Turkish
government. Most recently, in January of 2002, at a "Swedish
Business Culture Day" in Izmir, Swedish embassy officials
distributed a leaflet prefaced by Prime Minister Goeran Persson,
which discussed in part the issue of the Armenian genocide. The
event was promptly cancelled and the Swedish ambassador was summoned
to offer an explanation to the Turkish Foreign Office.
10. The Turkish legal system is presently
used as the main medium with which to halt discussion of the Armenian
genocide. Numerous individuals have been brought before the courts
on charges relating to recognising or discussing the Armenian
genocide. The late Turkish publicist Ayse Nur Zarakolu was sentenced
to two years' imprisonment for publishing in December 1993 a Turkish
translation of the French original of Yves Ternon's Les Armeniens:
histoire d'un genocide, entitled Ermeni Tabusu ("The
Armenian Taboo"). She maintained throughout, "The place
to debate our history is in books, not in courts". At present
most charges relating to those recognising the Armenian genocide
are based on Article 312 of the Turkish Criminal Code which provides
for prison sentences for "incitement to hatred on the basis
of . . . class, religion or race", which provides ample leeway
to the courts to prosecute those they see fit.
11. The Turkish constitution provides the
hierarchical justification for all those wishing to suppress debate
on the Armenian genocide. It provides in Article 13 provisions
on "Restriction of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms"
that the rights of the individual can be lawfully restricted if
it is done with the aim of "safeguarding the indivisible
integrity of the State with its territory and nation, national
sovereignty, the Republic, national security; public order, general
peace, the public interest, public morals and public health".
Article 14 "Prohibition of Abuse of Fundamental Rights and
Freedoms" goes on to state that rights are waived by the
individual if they are interpreted as being used to "establishing
the hegemony of one social class over the others, or creating
discrimination on the basis of language, race, religion or sect"
and furthermore "endangering the existence of the Turkish
State and Republic. Discussing the Armenian genocide within Turkey
can be interpreted as falling under most if not all of these provisions
on restrictions of fundamental rights, effectively outlawing discussion
as fundamentally unconstitutional.
THE TURKISH
GOVERNMENT'S
REFUSAL TO
ACKNOWLEDGE THE
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
AS AN
IMPEDIMENT TO
ITS PROSPECTS
FOR ACCESSION
12. The 1987 European Parliament resolution
clearly states that the lack of an acknowledgement on the part
of the Turkish Government is an "insurmountable obstacle"
to accession to the EU. Though the political issues of the democratisation
of Turkey, its treatment of Kurds and the issue of Cyprus take
precedent over its record as a genocide denier, Turkey's prospects
for accession are clearly being impaired by its inability to face
its responsibilities regarding the 1915 genocide. The issue has
been recognised by the European Parliament as a litmus test for
Turkey's treatment of minorities and nationalistic political practice
within Turkey.
13. The 2000 European Parliament "Progress
Towards Accession" report reaffirmed its call to Turkey to
recognise the genocide, in the spirit of giving "fresh support
to the Armenian minority". Obviously recognition of the genocide,
or at the very least the opportunity to allow, without prejudice,
the Armenians of Turkey to put forward their case for recognition
would send the right signals to the EU, that Turkey is willing
to re-examine the issue. Unfortunately the Turkish government's
pronouncements are becoming more inappropriate and extreme. Unfortunately
it is this message of increasing intolerance to discussion that
is being inferred by the EU.
14. The Gahrton "European Union's Relations
with the South Caucasus" adopted on 28 February 2002, by
a two-thirds majority, the EU has again affirmed its commitment
to the principles set out in the 1987 resolution. Once more, it
cannot be made clearer to the Turkish government that the EP does
not accept genocide denial from a country that is applying for
accession.
15. Furthermore based on the same animosities
that fuel the genocide denial, Turkey's prospects for accession
are being further damaged in that it has refused to open diplomatic
relations with Armenia, and as such at present there are no direct
communications exist between Ankara and Yerevan. The Armenian
Foreign Ministry has on numerous occasions voiced its willingness
to open a dialogue with Turkey with a view to formalising relations,
but the Turkish government has as yet refused point blank.
16. The Turkish Government has also imposed
a blockade on Armenia, all land routes between the countries are
presently closed from the Turkish side, which at present cost
Armenia 30-40 per cent of its GNP. Again this indefensible policy
does neither serve Turkish, Armenian or European interests, and
is again based on the same animosity that fuels Turkey's genocide
denial.
17. The Turkish governments chances of EU
accession are being further damaged as its policy of vicious denial
of the Armenian genocide has increased in temperament and regularity
over recent years and months. Seemingly unremitting to EU institution
and member states' petitions for empathy for the victims of this
genocide, the Turkish government is increasing further, in terms
of funding and personnel, its attempts to defend the indefensible,
both within Turkey and internationally.
THE BRITISH
GOVERNMENTS POLICY
ON THE
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
AND ITS
AFFECT ON
TURKEY'S
PROSPECTS FOR
ACCESSION TO
THE EU
18. Britain is, unfortunately, the only
major European government that ignores the academic evidence on
the Armenian Genocide, and for reasons of furthering its bi-lateral
relations with Turkey has chosen to support the Turkish government
position on the 1915-16 massacres. The British Government's position
undermines the work that the EU has undertaken in challenging
the Turkish denial, and will inevitably lead to Turkey further
distancing itself from the policy that the EU has prompted it
to adopt, if it wishes to improve its chances for accession.
19. Turkey at present relies on countries
like Britain to defend its denial of the Armenian genocide. If
Turkey were to find itself alone in its denial of the Armenian
genocide; it would have to, at the very least, moderate its tone.
An example of the British policy, of using the Armenian genocide
as a political pawn in its relations with Turkey, can be seen
in a July 2001 Foreign Office press release[7],
that was covered extensively within the Turkish media. Gunduz
Aktan, the former Turkish Ambassador to London, and prolific genocide
denier wrote in the Turkish Daily News on 30 July 2001
that:
"For the first time a Western government
assesses the 1915-16 incidents according to international law,
that is, according to the UN Genocide Convention, and reaches
the inevitable conclusion. However tragic the events must have
been, they do not fit the genocide definition given in the Convention."
And went on "One could say, The British government is a serious-minded
government. In the future, less serious-minded parliaments may
come up and take the kind of decisions which would declare the
incidents to be genocide. Regardless of all that, there is the
quite considerable possibility that the content of the press release
in question may be the beginning of the end for the genocide claims".
20. Though the Foreign Office and the British
Government have the lead in defining official policy on the Armenian
genocide, the regional administrations in both Wales and Scotland
have done much in their short period of existence to distance
themselves from the Foreign Office position.
21. In April of 2001 Jenny Randerson AM
(Welsh Deputy First Minister) gave a speech regarding the Armenian
genocide at the Welsh Centre for International Affairs where in
the presence of Rhodri Morgan and representatives of all the Welsh
political parties she stressed that:
"Turkey can certainly be blamed for its
modern denial [of the Armenian Genocide]. And I say to representatives
of the modern Turkish Government who have sought to put pressure
on me since I spoke out on this issue, that as someone who in
past life was a historian, I know how to judge evidence and weigh
up the pros and cons, and to judge where the truth lies . . .
Just as worrying as the Turkish denial is the denial by our own
government, our own UK Government." She concluded "I
am proud to speak on behalf of the assembly this morning. And
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that there are
representatives of all four parties here, united in our attendance
here today".
22. While the Scottish Executive in their
"The Holocaust—a teaching pack for primary schools"
stated clearly that "genocides that occurred in the twentieth
century include the treatment of the Armenians by the Turks in
1915". While the Glasgow Holocaust Memorial Day Website which
was supported by the Scottish Executive as the official Scottish
site for Holocaust Memorial Day describes:
22.1 Yet the Nazi Holocaust was not the
first genocide to have occurred within living memory. In the early
years of the twentieth century, over two million Armenians lived
in Ottoman Turkey. As Christians, the Armenians had no legal rights
and were periodically subjected to ruthless pogroms. In 1915 all
Armenian soldiers in the Turkish army were disarmed and assigned
to hard work—all ultimately were to meet their death. Following
this, the government issued a general decree of deportation, stating
that all Armenians must leave the country. The Armenian population
was rounded up—fit men were marched off and shot or clubbed
to death, young women taken for harems or sold off. Those remaining
were forced on death marches across the Mesopotamian Desert to
Syria. Of the two million deported from Turkey, less than half
a million survived.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
TO THE
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE REGARDING
UK RELATIONS WITH
TURKEY, WITH
REFERENCE TO
ITS PROSPECTS
FOR ACCESSION
TO THE
EU
23. Turkish accession to the EU can for
a multiplicity of reasons be charted in decades rather than years.
This is unfortunate, as a confident and democratic Turkey would
have much to add to the EU's already intricate mosaic of cultures,
religions and peoples. At present the British Government's policy
of supporting Turkey's denial of the Armenian genocide is one
of the major contributing factors that continue to undermine the
EU policy of engagement with regard to Turkey on the genocide
issue. Though in the short-term it may help boost bi-lateral relations
between Britain and Turkey, it does so at the expense of the work
being undertaken by our common EU partners, and even British MEPs.
Fundamentally the continuance of this denial is certainly not
in Turkey's best interests.
24. We respectfully recommend that the Foreign
Affairs Committee should request that the issue of Armenian genocide
recognition be re-examined tactfully by the British Government,
with a view to finding appropriate ways in which to help our European
partners find a way to end Turkey's denial of the Armenian genocide.
First and foremost amongst this must be an end to the British
Government support in Turkey's denial of the Armenian genocide,
as this clearly only exacerbates the situation further.
Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide
(CRAG)
March 2002
6 European Parliament, Resolution on a political solution
to the Armenian question, Doc A2-33/87. Back
7
Press release from British Embassy in Ankara, 23 July 2001. Back
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