Abstract
The genocide of the Armenians has been a taboo topic for us Turks for 80 years. The 80-year silence has produced such tension and a mountain of prejudice, not only between the two societies, i.e. the Turkish and the Armenian, but also in the academic world, that even the development of a common language in which the subject could be discussed is becoming a serious problem. For this reason, the fact that I, a Turkish historian, am critically approaching this subject for the first time is more important perhaps than the content of my essay. There is not only the risk that I may be accused of treason in Turkey, but also the risk that Armenians may want to perceive me as the corporate representative of the Turks, expecting from me an account for the Turkish stance of the last 80 years. Conscious of all these problems, I would like to be read as a historian who writes only in his own name.
Translated from the German by Vahakn N. Dadrian
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Notes
Norbert Elias, Studien über die Deutschen (Studies about the Germans) (Frankfurt, 1980), p. 8.
Theodore W Adorno, ‘Was bedeutet Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit?’ (What Does Bringing up the Past Mean?), Gesammelte Schriften (Collected Works), vol. 10, 2 (Frankfurt, 1977), p. 569.
Dan Diner, ‘Die Wahl der Perspektive. Bedarf eseiner besonderen Historik des Nationalsozialismus?’ (The Choice of Perspective. Is There a Need for a Special History of National Socialism?), in Wolfgang Schneider, Vernichtungspolitik (Policy of Annihilation) (Hamburg, 1991), pp. 65–75.
A more detailed development of these ideas may be found in Taner Akçam, Türk Ulusal Kimliği ve Ermeni Sorumu (Turkish National Identity and the Genocide of the Armenians) (Istanbul, 1993).
Tarik Zafer Tunaya, Türkiyede Siyasal Partiler ( Political Parties in Turkey) III, ( Istanbul, 1989 ), p. 514.
Statements by Mustafa Kemal in this regard may be found in The Protocols of the Secret Sessions of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey vol. II (Ankara, 1985), p. 355;
Kazim Öztürk, Atatürk’ün TBMM Açik ve Gizli Oturumlardindaki Konuşmalari (Speeches of Atatürk in Public and Private Sittings of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey), II (Ankara, 1990), p. 699;
Gazi Mustafa Kemal, Nutuk 1920–1927 (Speeches, 1920–1927), vol. II (Istanbul, 1934), p. 2.
Nurdoĝan Taçalan, Ege’de Kurtuluş Savaşi Başlarken (The Beginning of the War of Liberation in the Aegean) (Istanbul, 1970), pp. 165–6.
Baskin Oran, Atatürk Millyetciliği. Resmi Ideolji Dişi Bir Incelem ( The Nationalism of Atatürk. A Study of Official Ideology) (Ankara, 1988 ), p. 146.
Mete Tüncay, Türkeye Cumhuriyetinde Tek Parti Yönetiminin Kurulmasi, 1923–1931 (The Creation of One-party Domination in the Turkish Republic, 1923–1931) (Ankara, 1981), p. 36.
Halidé Edip, Memoirs of Halidé Edip (London, 1926), p. 386.
Gotthard Jäschke and Erich Pritsch, Die Turkei Seit dem Weltkriege. Geschichtskalender 1918–1928 (Turkey since the World War, 1918–1928: A Historical Calendar) (Berlin, 1929), p. 65.
Doğan Avcioĝlu, Milli Kurtuluş Tarihi (History of the National Liberation), vol. 3 (Istanbul, 1986), p. 1181.
See also Vahakn N. Dadrian, ‘The Naim-Andonian Documents on the World War I Destruction of Ottoman-Armenians: The Anatomy of a Genocide’, International Journal of Middle East Studies 18 (1986): 354.
Bilâl Şimişir, Malta Sürgünleri (The People Deported to Malta) (Ankara, 1985), p. 317.
Nuran Dağli and Belma Aktürk, eds., Hükümet ve Programlari, 1920–1960 (The Governments and their Programmes, 1920–1960), vol. I (Ankara, 1988), pp. 8ff., 26, 33. Many examples of persons who were deported to Malta and escaped to find their way into Ankara’s political apparatus can be found in this work and in Bilâl Şimsir, note 31.
Vahakn N. Dadrian, ‘The Role of Turkish Physicians in the World War I Genocide of the Ottoman Armenians’, Holocaust and Genocide Studies 1 (1986): 175.
E R. Atay, Çankaya, Atatürk’ün Doĝumandan Ölümüne Kadar ( Cankaya: From Atatürk’s Birth to his Death) (Istanbul, 1980 ), p. 236.
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Akçam, T. (1999). The Genocide of the Armenians and the Silence of the Turks. In: Chorbajian, L., Shirinian, G. (eds) Studies in Comparative Genocide. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27348-5_7
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