Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro<br />
<strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Öz<strong>et</strong>i<br />
nlan. In Turkey / 'TY.1:e<br />
In Istanbu~ the Terror of<br />
1915 Is a Fa<strong>de</strong>d Memory<br />
By Stephen Kinzer<br />
New York 1ïmes Service<br />
ISTANBUL- When the Armenian patriarc.h<br />
of Istanbul, Karekin II, died this mont!t, hIS<br />
funeral produced a scene that some foreIgn~rs<br />
found surprising. More than l ,000 Tur~sh<br />
citizens of Armenian background, tog<strong>et</strong>her ~Ith<br />
senior . diplomats and government offiCIaIs,<br />
Crow<strong>de</strong>d die stately cathedral where a ~ss was<br />
celebrated in Armenian for the repose of his soul..<br />
Although the occasion for the ~eremo~y ~~ sad,<br />
it served as a remin<strong>de</strong>r that <strong>de</strong>spIte the VICIsSItu<strong>de</strong>s<br />
of history, Istanbul' s Armenian minority remains<br />
large and vibrant. ln some parts of the worl~ Turks<br />
and Armenians are viewed as natural enemIes, but<br />
the funeral showed once again that in Istanbul, they<br />
live peacefully tog<strong>et</strong>her.<br />
There are about 70,000 Armenians in Turker,<br />
nearly all of them in Istanbul.. ~y f~ ~IS<br />
country's largest non-Muslim mmonty, mamtaming<br />
33 churches, 16 schools, several hospitals and a<br />
vari<strong>et</strong>y of other institutions. ~gely bec~us~ of<br />
religious traditions on both SI<strong>de</strong>S, there IS little<br />
intermarriage. '<br />
"I've never had any problems, and I never felt<br />
different from any other Turkish citizen, " said Ara<br />
Kocunyan, editor of the Armenian-langua~e newspaper<br />
Jan)aJlak, which was foun<strong>de</strong>d br his .greatgrandfather<br />
in 1908. "Many ArmenIans 1h the<br />
diaspora have to accentuate their <strong>et</strong>hnic i<strong>de</strong>ntity<br />
because they're so far from the homeland. We don 't<br />
bave that problem. We didn't come here from<br />
somewhere else, we're from here."<br />
Relations b<strong>et</strong>ween Turks and Armenians were<br />
good during much of the Ottoman period, but ~ey<br />
were <strong>de</strong>eply scarred by massacres of ~enI~s<br />
that pro-Ottoman forces in eas~em Anatolia earned<br />
out in the spring of 1915. D<strong>et</strong>aIls. o~what happened<br />
then are still hotly <strong>de</strong>bated, but It ISclear that v~<br />
numbers of Armenians were killed or left to die<br />
during forced marches in a burst of what is now<br />
called "<strong>et</strong>hnic cleansing." .<br />
Armenian nationalists have waged a ~orldwl<strong>de</strong><br />
campaign aimed at forcing Turkey to admit that the<br />
Ottoman government committed genoci<strong>de</strong> in 1915,<br />
but successive Turkish lea<strong>de</strong>,rshave refu~ to do so.<br />
ln the 19705 the dispute became so mtense that<br />
Armenian gunmen began killing Turkish diplomats.<br />
For many Armenians in the United S~tes and<br />
elsewhere, the nightmares of 1915 are as mtensely<br />
painful as if they had' happen~ yesterQay, .and<br />
Turkey remains a symbQl of evIl. But ArmenIans<br />
here have conclu<strong>de</strong>d that there is no point in dwelling<br />
on the unpleasant past.<br />
"Onereason we don't talk about 1915 is that we<br />
don't know much about it," said Kirkor Dostmeciyan,<br />
an e~ineer and businessman. "To tell<br />
you the truth, I m not really interested. A lot of<br />
things happened in history, and ifyou want to dwell<br />
on them you don 't have time to live in the present or<br />
think about the future ...<br />
TURKEY'S record in <strong>de</strong>aling with minorities<br />
is <strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong>dly mixed. Turks of Armenian<br />
background, like Kurds, Georgians and<br />
members of other minority groups, are free<br />
're Drom uere' to rise in every field of public or private en<strong>de</strong>avor<br />
.&-••<br />
..... W f: r j n I but they are expected to consi<strong>de</strong>r themselves Turk~<br />
______________________________ first. ITthey insist