TURKISH INTELLECTUALS APOLOGIZE TO ARMENIANS FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002118 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SE, EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/16/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM AM TU SUBJECT: TURKISH INTELLECTUALS APOLOGIZE TO ARMENIANS FOR THE "GREAT DISASTER" AND ITS DENIAL Classified By: POL Counselor Daniel O'Grady, reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: 275 intellectuals have signed a petition apologizing for the "great disaster" suffered by Armenians in ¶1915. The apology has prompted considerable debate in Turkey, with some criticizing the authors for not calling on the state to apologize and others arguing that the apology, which does not use the term "genocide," does not go far enough. Sixty retired Turkish Ambassadors rejected the apology, calling it counter to Turkish national interests, and asking instead for Armenians to apologize for the suffering endured by Turks at the hands of Armenian rebels during World War I and Armenian terrorists in the 1970s. The timing of the "I Apologize" campaign underscores the anxiety Turkish liberals feel with the perceived lack of progress in normalizing Turkey-Armenia relations since President Gul's historic visit to Yerevan in September. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Approximately 275 Turkish academics, journalists and other liberal intellectuals have signed a petition issued December 5 by professors Baskin Oran and Ahmet Insel, liberal journalist and academic Cengiz Aktar, and Islamist-oriented "Yeni Safak" columnist Ali Bayramoglu apologizing personally for the "great disaster" suffered by Armenians in 1915 (see paragraph 7). The organizers opened a secure website to collect the signatures; the petition remains open. In issuing the apology, Oran said the authors had thought about urging the state to apologize, but decided to let individuals act according to their own conscience to this "human tragedy." ¶3. (SBU) The petition prompted considerable debate -- albeit relatively calm -- from Turks, including from a number of intellectuals and historians who argued the apology did not go far enough. Confrontation Association Coordinator Aytekin Yildiz pointed out that the Armenian community was already aware of the fact that there are many people in Turkey of conscience; the important thing was not to declare what was already known. "It is a good starting point, but not enough." She questioned the term "great disaster." "Let's name it, it is genocide," she remarked, and called on the state to apologize. Historian Ayse Hur said apologizing was the duty of those responsible for the act, and said as a non-subscriber to Turkish nationalism, she did not feel a need to apologize personally. She also pointed out that the petition concentrates only on 1915, ignoring events before and after. (NOTE: A nearly concurrent appeal by Armenian intellectuals to President Gul to recognize the Armenian "genocide" indicated to some Turks that the petition alone would not go far in persuading Armenians of Turkish good will. END NOTE.) ¶4. (SBU) Sixty Turkish retired Ambassadors and Consuls General issued a statement December 15 rejecting the apology and declaring the initiative wrong and harmful to Turkish national interests. The retired diplomats stated that the exodus of Armenians in 1915 was carried out under war conditions and that the Turkish people at that time suffered no less than the Armenian people, enduring "mass savagery" at the hands of Armenian rebels. The declaration draws attention to scores of the Turkish diplomats and their families who were "massacred" by Armenian (Revolutionary Army) terrorists (in the 1970s and 1980s),many of whom, the statement claims, remain unpunished, and asks: "Who will apologize for the suffering of Armenian terrorism?" The retired diplomats, including Republican Peoples' Party Vice-Chairman Onur Oymen and former Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies (ASAM) Armenian Studies Institute President Omer Lutem, also notes the "one million" Azerbaijanis exiled by the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan. The retired diplomats warn that the apology will trigger demands for compensation. However, the retired diplomats did not reject the effort to normalize bilateral relations with Armenia, stating only that recognition of territorial integrity and national borders was the most important condition for the development of good neighborly relations. COMMENT: DISCUSSING HISTORY OPENLY -------------- ¶5. (C) The authors of the apology petition are well-known advocates of Turkey normalizing relations with Armenia while facing up to its history and overcoming what Ali Bayramoglu called its "fears, taboos and self-defense attitude." ANKARA 00002118 002 OF 002 Writing at the time of President Gul's historic visit to Yerevan in September, Cengiz Aktar went so far as to say that, if he was President, he would lay a wreath at Yerevan's Genocide Memorial. That 275 intellectuals have signed the petition, with a considerable number rejecting it only because it did not actually go far enough for them, is evidence that discussion of the Armenian question is, in fact, more open in Turkey than is often perceived in the U.S. and Europe. Indeed, the GOT has (so far) not issued any official statement condemning the petition. But red lines remain. While it is still possible that an enterprising prosecutor will seek to file a Turkish Penal Code Section 301 case against the petitioners for "insulting the Turkish state," the intellectuals are probably protected by not having declared the events of 1915 "genocide." ¶6. (C) The large number of signatures the apology has received underscores the anxiety Turkish liberals are feeling with the perceived lack of progress on Turkey-Armenia relations since the Gul visit to Yerevan. As EU officials have pointed out in their accession reports, GOT steps toward Armenia are among the only positive developments this year in Turkey's broader EU accession effort. While the Turkish and Armenian governments are widely known by the public to remain in talks on normalizing relations, each passing day brings a sense that an opportunity might be slipping away for Turkey to overcome its historic neuralgia and emerge as a more confident nation. TEXT OF THE "I APOLOGIZE" PETITION (AS TRANSLATED) -------------- -------------- ¶7. (U) "My conscience does not accept remaining indifferent to and denying the 'Great Disaster' that the Ottoman Armenians were subject to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my own part I share the suffering and sorrow of my Armenian brothers. I apologize to them." Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey Jeffrey