Armenian genocide debate rages on in Turkey ahead of commemorations

Thousands of Armenians and Turks will stand shoulder to shoulder this week at events held in Istanbul to remember April 24, 1915.

Aline Ozinian, 33, an editor at Armenian think tank Civilnet, appreciates the support at the annual commemorations. The same thing occurred after the killing of Armenian Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink in 2007.

"There are many people in Turkey who want justice," she says. "There are many Turks who have problems with the Turkish government."

Justice would be recognition from the Turkish government that Armenians who died during the First World War were victims of a genocide orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire, Ozinian says.

Canada is among 20 countries that refer to the mass killings as genocide. 

Armenians say 1.5 million people died when they were expelled from Turkey at the end of the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish government denies the charge and disputes the number of dead.

For many Armenians in Turkey, the debate robs them of a chance to feel completely at home in their own country.

Ozinian was born and raised in Istanbul, but as her teenage years came to an end she decided Turkey couldn't be her home any longer.

Life in Turkey as a part of the Armenian minority was difficult, she says. And the advice of her elders was starting to grate. 

"When people are always saying, 'Don't say you're Armenian, don't choose this job [because you are Armenian],' you feel a bit cornered," she explains.

Ozinian now works for a think-tank based in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

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Yetvart Danzikyan made a different choice.

Danzikyan worked for decades in Turkish television and was recently named editor of the Armenian Turkish newspaper Agos.

"We respect those who've left ... but [some of us] need to stay," he says at his office in Istanbul.  "This is the soil we were born on."

Despite his success, he admits there are difficulties living in Turkey. 

"This doesn't mean we're under threat of assault every day, but Armenians actually develop small reflexes for themselves." He says some people choose to change their names to blend in better.

A shift in tone

There seemed to be a positive shift in the relationship between Armenia and Turkey last year. 

Tayyip Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time, offered a statement of condolence to Armenians. 

It wasn't an apology and there was no mention of the word genocide, but it was still seen as a positive step.

However, since then the gap has only widened, fuelling animosity on both sides. 

The Turkish government's decision to extend commemorations of another centenary this year — the First World War Gallipoli campaign — to April 24 puzzled, angered and hurt many Armenians because it is the same day they commemorate the mass killings.

Turkey also withdrew its ambassador to the Vatican after Pope Francis used the word genocide during a special mass. 

On Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu released a new letter of condolence.

"During the last years of the Ottoman Empire, a very large number of Ottoman citizens from different ethnic and religious backgrounds endured great suffering, leaving deep scars in their memories," the letter states. "They had all lived together for centuries in peace and harmony."

Davutoglu goes on to say it is Turkey's "historical and humane duty" to keep the memory of Armenian cultural heritage alive, but "laying all blame — through generalizations — on the Turkish nation by reducing everything to one word and to compound this with hate speech is both morally and legally problematic."

Obstacles to acceptance

Part of the reason for the ramped up rhetoric could be Turkey's upcoming election, says Henri Barkey, a professor of international relations at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. 

"Because of the way Turkish politics has developed, it's become far more polarized that nobody is willing to make any concessions with respect to anyone."

Barkey says one of Turkey's biggest concerns is that Armenians will ask for reparations.

"Turkey complains that the Armenian lobby is exerting pressure and getting things done. True, absolutely true. But Turkey is also using geopolitics and threat of retaliation to prevent this from happening. So both sides are using sheer brute force. This is politics."

The final hurdle is a psychological one, Barkey says. "It's hard to admit that your grandparents or great-great-grandparents did something horrible. We all did horrible things."

Caught in the middle

There are Armenian Turks who would rather not be involved in the debate.

The head of the Armenian Orthodox Church Aram Atesyan described how some Armenian Turks feel to a local television station in 2013.

Describing Armenia as their fatherland and Turkey as their motherland, he said Armenian Turks are "the children caught in the middle." 

"The two are fighting. We are crying. We are waiting so mother and father make peace."

Sincerity and solutions

The only way to help end the debate, Barkey says, would be to gather "serious academics ...Turks, Armenians and independent people who are real experts" to settle the issue.

Danzikyan says he can't speak for everyone in his community, but believes different words could still help heal.

"At least if the government would say, 'In 1915, on this soil, harm was done to the Armenians. Harm was done and because of that we apologize,' I believe Turkey will be a bit easier to live in."