Agos Editor-in-Chief Koptaş: Turkey cannot be democratic until the past is settled
27/12/2011
Rober Koptaş, editor-in-chief of the bilingual Armenian weekly Agos, has said Turkey will never be a fully democratic country until it faces its past regarding several topics, including the Armenian issue.
“It is necessary for Turkey to face its past in order to be a more democratic country. This is not only for the Armenian issue but also in regards to other problems that have been ignored, like the Kurdish problem, the Alevi issue and the injustices done to Muslims. We have to know what has happened in our past and we have to be courageous enough to settle these accounts,” said Koptaş, who replaced Etyen Mahçupyan in June 2010, three years after Hrant Dink, the founder and editor-in-chief of the paper, was fatally shot by an ultranationalist teenager in front of the Agos headquarters in 2007.
Asked what he calls the events of 1915, Koptaş said it is not important for him whether or not they are labeled “genocide.”
“But the reality is that a nation within Turkey was wiped out. We cannot ignore it despite 90 years of Turkish ideology that has tried to deny this. The grandchildren of these massacred people live in different countries now, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and so on. I believe these grandchildren have rights in Turkey,” he said.
What Koptaş means by “rights” is not “territorial rights.” He refers to their churches, schools, grandparents’ graves and even more importantly their culture and memories in Turkey.
“For 90 years Turkish ideology has told Turkish society that these children have been telling lies and that Turkey has not wronged the Armenians. Instead, they claim that Armenians killed Turks. Turkish ideology approaches the sensitive issue very harshly and of course this causes tension between the two nations,” he added. “I approach 1915 in this way, as it is one of the most important time periods to face. The Turkish identity has been set up to hate Armenians. We cannot structure a ‘democratic identity’ unless we settle the accounts of the past. We cannot find peace today unless we face what we did to the Armenians, both in the political and psychological sense.”
Turkish officials, who vehemently reject the term “genocide” for the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians, say the issue should be left to historians. Recently Turkey was outraged by French lawmakers who approved a bill that penalized denial of the “Armenian genocide” in France. Despite strong protests by Turkey, the French National Assembly — the lower house of parliament — voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill last Thursday, which is now scheduled for debate next year in the French senate. The bill makes denial of the alleged Armenian genocide a crime punishable by a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros.
As a result Turkey has diminished ties with Paris and recalled its ambassador in France to Turkey for consultations for an indefinite period of time.
Prejudices persist against Armenians in Turkey
Answering our questions, Koptaş also talked about prejudices against Armenians living in Turkey as he said that his name is listed in his identity card as “Murat,” a Turkish name, to avoid problems.
“I use this name in official documents but my family and friends call me Rober. My dad gave me the Turkish name to avoid problems while I served in the army. My surname already looks Turkish, thus my Armenian background is not made obvious,” he said.
In the army, Koptaş said he did not face many negative reactions for being an Armenian. Once, however, his fellow university graduates were given the duty of keeping some official records, but he was not given the same responsibility.
“Among those university graduates I was the only person outside of the military post who was dealing with the soldier training,” he said. “However, soon after, they changed my position and appointed me for a consultancy service. They thought it was dangerous to have an Armenian among their ‘long-term’ soldiers.”
In regards to how all Armenians are seen as Christians in Turkish society, Koptaş said that the same perception is true among Armenians, too.
“We have traditionally classed every Armenian as an Orthodox-Apostolic churchgoer Christian. Armenians are unfortunately always mentioned within a religious context, in connection with the patriarchate — the high-ranking Orthodox bishop. This is also enforced by the Turkish regime,” he said.
But Agos tries to reveal a more civil and independent society.
“We have recently learned that there were many Armenians in Anatolia who converted to Islam from Christianity as a result of the pressures they faced in 1915,” he said. “Nevertheless, I think most of them nowadays have learned that their families were originally Armenian Christians, but now express themselves as Muslim Armenians.”
Asked if any Christian Armenians converted to Islam out of their free-will, Koptaş said that there may be exceptional situations, but most conversions were made due to external pressure.
“Armenians have traditionally been identified with Christianity, but nowadays there are many Armenians, including me, who believe that Armenians should be identified differently. We should have a new way of recognizing Armenians which includes Armenian Muslims and other Armenians as well.”
