BY MUSTAFA BALBAY
CUMHURIYET- Out of the many definitions of 'intellectual,' here is one of my favorites: Intellectuals are the witnesses of the era they live in.
Witnessing an era is not as easy as some might think. A real intellectual draws strength from reality. Intellectuals are people who can tell and write about the reality around them.
There are many difficulties for intellectuals in countries such as Turkey, at the crossroad of global developments.
On the other hand, there are some people who think that being an intellectual means being a part of global politics, instead of dealing with the realities of their time!
They started a petition with the following text: 'My conscience cannot accept the ignorance and denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and - on my own behalf - I share the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers - and I apologize to them.'
The petition drive is planned to last for about a year, which gives the impression that it's a part of a longer-term plan, not a short-term one.
Reading the petition, someone who is ignorant of history would get the impression that:
1. In 1915, only the Armenians suffered. This great injustice must be redressed.
2. Since an apology is needed, the Armenians, who were completely innocent, experienced a great tragedy.
3. The Ottoman Empire was the state holding all the power and controlling all events in its territory, and went into action against only the Armenians.
4. In that era and afterwards, no other state was strong enough to act against the Ottomans. The Ottomans saw themselves as the sole power.
5. The Republic of Turkey, the successor to the Ottoman state, has rejected all allegations, offered no information or documents about the events, has not opened its archives, and has indifferently closed its ears.
But, in fact, none of these impressions is true:
1. 1915 saw the bloodiest battles of World War I.
2. The Battle of the Dardanelles that year was the Ottomans' struggle for survival, in which they only tried to defend themselves.
3. Facing this situation, the Ottoman Empire took a series of measures against developments in Anatolia aimed against it, just as it defended itself in the Dardanelles.
4. When the British invaded Istanbul, they searched every nook and cranny in vain to find information or documents concerning a bloodbath against the Armenians. The British, American and Russian archives of that era are similarly silent.
5. In the succeeding years, Turkey proposed turning the matter over to historians, and has announced at every turn that the archives are open to researchers.
Today, certain people who care nothing about healing ties between Ankara and Yerevan are working to act against Turkey in league with Armenians:
Recognition, compensation, land.
First the alleged genocide will be recognized. Then compensation will be demanded, and finally land.
It is intellectuals' duty to reveal these facts.
If someone needs to apologize for the events of 1915, then it's the imperialist states of that time, and the modern-day implementers of these policies!