Erdogan’s formal apologies are worth nothing

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Premier’s desire to bring to naught the political legacy of Ataturk is obvious, and it’s worth noting that he can even achieve some success in this. Decapitating the army that was the stronghold of Kemalism, Erdogan got at history. Indeed, inscrutable are the ways of the Lord: the Prime Minister apologizes for the massacre of the past century, while fighting against the same Kurds in this century.

Here is a page of history. After the destruction of the Christian population in the Ottoman Empire, the Kurds were the only remaining large non-Turkish ethnic group residing there. During the Independence War of 1918-1923 Atatürk promised national rights and autonomy to the Kurds, but after the triumphant outcome all those promises were forgotten. Kurdish community organizations were recognized outlawed. On March 4, 1925 courts martial (“Courts of Independence”) were established directed by Ismet Inonu. The courts punished the slightest manifestation of sympathy for the Kurds. It was banned to use the Kurdish language in public or wear national dresses. Books in Kurdish were confiscated and burned. The word “Kurd” and “Kurdistan” were removed from textbooks, and the Kurds themselves were declared “mountain Turks”. In 1934 the “Law on Resettlement” ('İskân Kanunu' Law No.2510) was adopted, in conformity with which the Interior Minister was granted the right to change the location of various ethnic groups in the country, depending on their level of “adaptation to the Turkish culture”. As a result, thousands of Kurds were relocated to the west of Turkey. In 1936, Ataturk declared that of all the problems the country faced, the Kurdish was perhaps the most pressing, and urged the government to put an end to it once and for all. In the same year in Dersim (now officially called Tunceli), inhabited then by Zaza Kurds (Alawites) and enjoying considerable independence, broke out a rebellion, brutally suppressed by the army. Kurdish women and children, hiding in caves, were bricked up tightly or suffocated with smoke. Those who managed to get out were thrust with bayonets. Approximately 10% of the population of Dersim was killed. However, the uprising lasted for another two years, until in September 1937 Leader of the Kurdish movement, Seyid Riza was fooled into visiting Erzincan allegedly for negotiations, and then captured and hanged. Different sources give different estimates on the number of victims, but near the mark is the figure of 100 thousand people, while official Turkish sources claim a total of 14 thousand deaths.

All this, of course, is good for the Kurds, but after the apology they will be exterminated with renewed force, so that in 70 years another Turkish premier, who shall not share Erdogan’s views, also apologizes to them. Most important is the fact that the ball is set rolling. But what about the Christian population that began to be massacred in the Ottoman Empire and buttoned up by Kemal Ataturk, who himself could not boast of purity of “Turkish blood”? Hardly is it possible that any apologies shall be addressed to the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians. Let us also note that it is always easy to apologize, having an army of 700.000 behind you, which, however, is incompetent to cope with the Kurdish rebels. Erdogan’s words are intended only for the public, since such kind of apologies usually imply moral and material compensation, which, however, should not be expected from the Turkish leadership. So, there should not be attached any importance to the words of the Premier, who is always demanding something, meanwhile putting his country on the list of states facing the “Arab Spring”. Erdogan clearly realizes that such a scenario is quite real for him, that is why by stigmatizing the ousted presidents of the Arab world and Bashar al-Assad, still in power, he hopes that history will treat him more kindly. Anyway, the apology that for a couple of hours had become the number one news in Turkey and in the neighbouring states is just formal and non-binding.