Armen Gavakian: I never said that Armenians should apologize to Turks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Dr. Armen Gakavian, lecturer at Macquarie University, Sydney, has presented his remarks regarding his recent interview with Radical Turkish newspaper.



"In an interview with Turkish Radikal Daily, published on 1st February 2009, I acknowledged and thanked the current campaign for an apology initiated by Turkish intellectuals and signed by over 30,000 Turks around the world. I emphasized that this Turkish apology is only the beginning, and clearly stated that there needs to be a Turkish state apology for the crime of the Armenian Genocide, followed by corrective action," he said in a statement obtained by PanARMENIAN.Net



The statement goes on:



"I also referred to my own "thank you" statement for the Turkish apology that I, with the help of some friends, am drafting for discussion. However I never stated that we were preparing a "counter-apology"; nor are there any plans of issuing a "counter-apology".



In the interview, I never claimed to speak for other Armenians, nor did I state that the Armenians should apologize for anything. I merely stated my own personal view, in the context of a broader discussion, that Armenian terrorist acts by groups such as ASALA were morally unjustifiable (as per international law) and that I am sorry that these acts happened.



Unfortunately, these few words were blown out of proportion, and the emphasis of my interview was lost; hence the need for this clarification. In the light of the subsequent distortions, I now regret having made these statements to the Turkish media and will be obviously more careful in future.



Responses, both positive and negative, that I have received from some Turks reveal that my main points in the interview about the Armenian Genocide were not lost on the honest and thorough Turkish reader.



In my interview, I offered a personal disagreement with terrorist acts committed by Armenians against Turks. To me, this stance reflects basic human morality. I stand by that stance, which stems from my ethical beliefs and rejection of all forms of violence against innocent civilians, as per international law.



However, I clearly stated in my interview that any crimes committed by Armenians "cannot compare to the attempted annihilation of an entire nation … and one does not negate or trivialize the other."



Let me state categorically that I distinguish between, on the one hand, legitimate and heroic acts of resistance and self-defense by Armenian revolutionaries before and during the Genocide, and, on the other hand, wanton acts of terrorist violence against civilians (such as by ASALA, recognized by international law as crimes against humanity). It is the latter that I was referring to in my interview.



The purpose of my comments about ASALA, in the context that they were made, was to illustrate my following point: "If I were the Turkish state, I would see an apology as an excellent way of restoring the dignity lost through decades of denial."



Near the end of my interview with Radikal, I wrote that "any Armenian response to the [Turkish] apology should be similar." I was referring to the fact that the Turkish apology did not attempt to "address the question of definitions and political explanations etc", and that the Armenian response would also not address questions of definitions of what happened. I did not mean that the Armenian response should match the Turkish apology with an Armenian apology - any such insinuation may have been due to a mistranslation.



Finally, it incorrectly stated that Prof. Denis Papazian was involved in the initiative. Prof. Papazian has at no stage been involved in this initiative and has never expressed his support for it. I did not mention Prof. Papazian in my interview, and I believe information about his alleged involvement was taken from an inaccurate statement, made in good faith, in an earlier edition of Radikal. Thankfully, Prof. Papazian has already personally refuted such claims."