Armenian Diaspora Reactions to Apology Campaign

An Armenian academic in Australia has initiated an apology campaign in reply. However, the European Armenian Federation has condemned any campaign without genocide recognition as “populist”.

Erhan Üstündağ

Armenian Diaspora Reactions to Apology Campaign

In December 2008, intellectuals in Turkey initiated an Internet apology campaign, in which more than 28,500 people have put their name under this text:

“My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them.”

A campaign in reply?

One of the initiators, academic Baskın Oran, wrote in the weekend supplement of Radikal newspaper that Armenian academic Armen Gakavian, living in Australia, has begun his own apology campaign in reply. Gakavian is the co-chair of the Turkish-Armenian Dialogue Group. Radikal quoted him as saying that “Armenia should apologize to the Turkish nation for killing several thousand of Turks in the early 20th century.”

Howver, other Armenians in Sydney have been quick to point out that this is a personal initiative by Gakavian and does not represent the “entire Armenian community”.

"No one authorised to speak for all"

An Armenian scholar living in the US, Dr. Dennis Papazian, who was reported by Radikal to be supporting the initiative, later also issued a statement of denial. He was cited on the PanArmenian Network website:

“A while back, I made a personal statement of sorrow for all bad things that happened in the Ottoman Empire to good people of all nationalities, sorry for present-day Turks who have unjustly suffered for anything I have done or claimed to be done in my name, and I pledged to work for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and reconciliation between the Armenian and Turkish people. That is all.”

He added that he would not apologise for “anything I have not done” and he said that “no one is authorised to speak for all Armenians.”

"A populist initiative"

The European Armenian Federation has reacted to the Turkish apology campaign on its own website, saying:

“While being fully receptive to genuine expressions of sympathy and outreach by Turkish individuals who choose to speak out against their own government’s policy of denial of the Armenian Genocide, we must also make clear that the cause of justice with regard to this mass crime cannot by ‘apologized’ away by populist initiatives, however well-intentioned such actions might seem to be.”(EÜ/AG