Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Armenian Leaders Should React To Istanbul Patriarch's Statements
by Harut Sassounian - California Courier - December 7, 2000
Posted: Thursday, December 07, 2000 02:44 am CST

Commentary

California Courier Publisher

The Armenians in Turkey, who are the surviving remnants of the 1915 Genocide, live in a constant state of fear and danger. While their compatriots around the world can boldly voice their demands for the recognition of the Genocide, Turkish Armenians are forced to keep quiet. As a British journalist recently reported from Istanbul, the local Armenians live among the descendants of their murderers in the very land where over a million of their ancestors were butchered. While many Turks are friendly and tolerant, there are those who are outright hostile towards all minorities. The Turkish government continues to impose bureaucratic restrictions on local Armenian churches and schools. For Armenians still living in Turkey, the Genocide is not just a painful memory. Its consequences are felt in their everyday lives. Armenians in other countries, recognizing these harsh realities, harbor a great degree of sympathy for the plight of their remaining compatriots in Turkey. Even when Turkish Armenians issue statements against the recognition of the Genocide, most Diaspora Armenians understand that such statements are made under duress.  The Turkish government has always used the local Armenian community as a hostage in trying to counter and temper the historic demands of Armenians living beyond its reach, outside its borders.
Successive Armenian Patriarchs of Turkey have been caught in an agonizing dilemma. When forced to make a statement against Armenian demands from Turkey, they have delicately balanced their desire to appease Ankara, with their moral obligation not to deny the facts of the Armenian Genocide.
In the last three months, however, Diaspora Armenians have become less understanding and more impatient with the public pronouncements of the recently elected youthful Patriarch of Istanbul, Mesrob II. While the House International Relations Committee was considering a Resolution on the Armenian Genocide in September, the Patriarch issued a statement calling the congressional action "regrettable" and "harmful." He declared that a "third party parliamentary action" (meaning the U.S. Congress) is not "a substitute for dialogue" between Armenians and Turks. The Turkish government sent copies of the Patriarch's statement to every member of the U.S. Congress. After Speaker Dennis Hastert ultimately withdrew the Resolution, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and the Turkish Ambassador in Washington, Baki Ilkin publicly thanked Patriarch Mesrob II for being "instrumental" in stopping the passage of the Resolution.
Patriarch Mesrob II made another statement on November 12, taking to task Pope John Paul II and Catholicos Karekin II for issuing a Joint Communique in which they had made a reference to the Armenian Genocide. In lecturing the Pope and the Catholicos of All Armenians-his presumed religious superior, the Patriarch said, it had been his "wish that the deliberations in Rome would be within the spheres of ecumenical dialogue and would not touch upon politically sensitive issues…. The Gospel calls for the eradication of the roots of bitterness from our hearts…. The Armenian Church and Armenian culture are so rich and deeply rooted in the Christian faith that they do not need to receive nourishment from the bitter pages of history." Surprisingly, neither the Catholicos nor other Armenian clergymen responded to the Patriarch's criticism. For some unknown reason, the Patriarch did not feel compelled to condemn the French Senate and the Italian Parliament for passing Resolutions in November recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Instead, a group of Istanbul Armenians, headed by the Patriarch, decided to focus their attention on the European Parliament's November 15 Resolution which called on Turkey "to give fresh support to the Armenian
minority, as an important part of Turkish society, in particular by public recognition of the Genocide which that minority suffered before the establishment of the modern state of Turkey." The group of "69 representatives of the Armenian Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical communities in Turkey" said that they found it "odd that the Report on Turkey ratified by the European Parliament refers to the Turkish citizens of Armenian descent, as the Armenians in Turkey do not have such expectations of 'support' nor have applied to third-parties for such support. The Armenians in Turkey have always preferred to find solutions to their minority problems by way of engaging in dialogue directly with the Turkish Government."
It is curious that the Armenians in Turkey feel compelled to distance themselves from decisions made by "third-parties" on Armenian issues. They are sometimes directly pressured to do so by Turkish governmental entities. At other times, even when they are not told to take a position, they do so in order to prove their loyalty to the Turkish homeland. They know what's expected of them and what's "good" for them. The Patriarch and the Armenians of Turkey, in their recent public statements, also seem to be sending a clear signal to Ankara that unless it directly gets involved in resolving the problems of their community, more "interference" is likely from outside parties. I hope the Turkish government understands this message and, for its own good, carries out the requested reforms.
I believe that Diaspora leaders have been wrong not to react to the Patriarch's statements.  Keeping quiet is beneficial neither to the Armenian cause nor to the Patriarch himself. Armenian leaders outside of Turkey should point out publicly, but politely that the Turks are forcing the Patriarch to serve as their spokesman. Once the international media publicizes this fact, the Turkish government might stop pressuring him, as his statements would no longer have any propaganda value for Turkey. Such an outcome would also be in the Patriarch's own interest, as he would avoid getting embroiled in political controversies and would devote his energies to his religious obligations.

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