Armenian museum plans hit a nerve

[Azat]

Stephen Kinzer The New York Times

 

WASHINGTON It has become a political tradition here that every April 24, the U.S. president issues a statement to recall and deplore the massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915. These annual statements have the dual purpose of recognizing a 20th-century tragedy and catering to an influential ethnic constituency.

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Within a few years, Armenian-Americans will have a new asset in their campaign to persuade politicians and others that what happened in 1915 was not just a spasm of mass killing but genocide. They are working to raise about $75 million to build an Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial here to tell the story of this episode from the Armenian perspective.

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Plans for this museum not only touch nerves still raw from one of the last century's bloodiest episodes, they also reflect a growing recognition by advocacy groups that museums can be powerful tools to advance political causes.

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"There's been a big change in museums over the last 20 years," said Stephen Weil, scholar emeritus in the Smithsonian Institution's office of education and museum studies. "They used to be primarily about things and defined by objects. Now they're often about processes, including historical processes. Almost every ethnic group has one.

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"Museums are instruments or tools to carry out particular goals," Weil said. "People have agendas, and a museum is one way to advance an agenda. A privately funded museum doesn't have to give equal time."

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Washington already has one major institution, the United States Holocaust Museum, that documents an effort to destroy an entire people. The story it presents is beyond dispute. But the events of 1915 are still a matter of intense debate.

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Turks and Turkish-Americans claim that Armenians exaggerate the scale of the 1915 killings with the aim of humiliating Turkey and ultimately forcing it to compensate the victims' descendants. Some say the Armenian museum is being built for motives that, in the words of Ozdem Sanberk, a former Turkish ambassador to Britain, are "more political than humanitarian."

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By most historical accounts, the Ottoman Empire killed more than 1 million Armenians during World War I in a campaign of death and mass deportations aimed at eliminating the Armenian population from what is now Turkey. Some Ottoman leaders said they feared that Armenians in the region, many of whose families had lived there for centuries, were working with Russia to carve out an independent republic.

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The planned museum is to be the first of its kind outside Armenia. Planners have bought a stately classic revival building at the corner of 14th and G streets, two blocks from the White House, that once housed the National Bank of Washington, along with three adjacent structures. The museum, scheduled to open in 2007, is to have 112,000 square feet (10,400 square meters) for exhibition space and offices, making it about one-fourth the size of the Holocaust Museum.

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Ross Vartian, the museum's director of planning, said Armenian-Americans were excited about the project, and in a recent memo to supporters of the museum, he described its construction as a "sacred mission." Planners expect it to draw some 250,000 visitors a year.

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Both President Robert Kocharian of Armenia and Catholicos Karekin II, the Armenian Apostolic Church's supreme patriarch, have given their symbolic blessing to the museum by visiting the site.

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Many Armenian-Americans are descended from survivors of the 1915 attacks. Because some of them have become wealthy, fund-raising for the museum has been easy. Two donors have combined to provide $12.25 million to buy the various properties, and Vartian said he did not anticipate any difficulty in raising whatever else was needed.

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No final decisions have been made about the museum's content, but Vartian said it would feature interactive displays and would be "on the cutting edge of what modern museums can be and do."

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"For many people of Armenian descent, this museum will be a way to find closure," he said. "But there is also a larger purpose, which is the message that we should never forget and that this should never happen again."

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Many Turks and Turkish-Americans reject the Armenian version of those events. One statement published several years ago by the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations said that the Armenians' version was based on evidence from "dubious and prejudicial sources," and that "the Armenian deaths do not constitute genocide."

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"In America, every person has the right to tell his or her story," the statement said. "However, Armenian-Americans seek to deny this very right to others by branding anyone who disagrees with their portrayal a genocide denier."

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Armenian-Americans outnumber Turkish-Americans about three to one, and their lobby is considered one of the most effective in Washington. One of its goals, however, remains unfulfilled because no president has ever used the word "genocide" to describe the events of 1915. To do so would offend Turkey, a NATO ally considered an essential partner in the worldwide anti-terror campaign.

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The desire to placate Armenian-Americans without unduly offending Turkey has challenged successive U.S. presidents. Two years ago, after an appeal from President Bill Clinton, House Speaker Dennis Hastert canceled a vote in which the House seemed ready to label the 1915 killings as genocide.

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In his commemorative statement last year, President George W. Bush described "the forced exile and annihilation of approximately 1.5 million Armenians in the closing years of the Ottoman Empire" as "one of the great tragedies of history."

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Vartian said the museum would refer to "righteous Turks" who saved Armenian lives, and that it would not necessarily worsen tensions between Armenians and Turks. "We are not out to do Turkey in," he said. "It is in Turkey's self-interest to come to terms with itself, past and present."

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For more than a year, a small group of prominent Turks, Armenians and Armenian-Americans have met several times in Europe and the United States to discuss possible reconciliation. Some steps have already been taken, like an easing of visa requirements for Armenians visiting Turkey. Other steps, including the normalization of transport between the two countries and the restoration of Armenian religious sites in Turkey, are under consideration.

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Sanberk, who is a member of this group, said he feared the new museum would make resolution of Turkish-Armenian issues more difficult.

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"It is obvious that there are shining pages and dark ones in the history of all peoples and countries," he said. "Each nation has to assume its history as a whole. This said, it seems to me also obvious that the idea of the museum is not the way forward to reach the objectives of the reconciliation process between Turks and Armenians, not least since the Armenians are a vibrant part of Turkey's life today, and Turkey and Armenia are two countries that are destined to be neighbors and share a common future.

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"If those people who plan the museum are simply mourning human suffering, no one can quarrel with them," Sanberk said. "But I fear their aims are more political than humanitarian. We should not forget that at all stages of the tragic conflicts in the Caucasus, there have been victims of the Armenians as well as Armenian victims."

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David Phillips, a conflict resolution specialist who works at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and has helped organize the Turkish-Armenian meetings, said the reconciliation process was making fitful but clear progress. He said the planned museum in Washington could contribute to that process.

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"Depending on the content of the exhibits and where the reconciliation process is when the museum opens, it could have a salutary effect," he said. "If it includes material about righteous persons, and if it includes as a final exhibit the progress that has been made toward mutual understanding, then the museum can constructively advance the cause of reconciliation."

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/56051.htm

[gamavor]

Some Ottoman leaders said they feared that Armenians in the region, many of whose families had lived there for centuries, were working with Russia to carve out an independent republic.

 

When I read statements like this I wonder to laugh or to cry. What is wrong with American education? Can anybody make an effort and explain to these people that turks came to Anatolia and Caucasus around 11-12 Century. Can anybody explain to them that some turks have lived for centuries as uninvited guests on the territory that commonly is known as Turkey at present?

 

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[sen_Vahan]

Nothing is wrong with american education I guess. It is the same question as to ask: did europeans know that they were "uninvited guests" in America? Can you proove today's americans that their grandgrandpas were wrong killing domestic Indians?

[THOTH]

Gamavor -

 

I think that there is a big difference between "ancient history" (and the behaviors of "ancient" peoples and modern or recent history and the standards of accountability that should be expected today. I see no benefit to anyone crying about invasions of ancient nomads (nor even European incursions into the Americas [or Africa/Asia and elsewhere - etc). In all of these instances great tragedies took place and earth changing events were put into motion. Sure - we can "blame" those who came and conquered (and slaughtered & enslaved & such)...but of what practical purpose does it serve? No, it is better that we understand the processes and dynamics of such cultural developments/interactions and movements and learn what we can from them (about good & bad aspects of cultures, societies & human behaviors - etc). Understand the history - the dynamics of it - who the peoples were and their characteristics at the time - the motivations - the dilemas etc...but crying about this history is useless - IMO. (beyond just perhaps crying about the losses and what could have been - etc - but this changes nothing)

 

I see the recent history of the Genocide as entirely different. First - it is not yet even history - IMO - as the process of marginalizing the Armenian people continues. (through the denial and through actions aimed to destroy or cover up Armenian culture in Anatolia). Secondly - the Genocide is a modern tragedy and (many of) those who were affected are still alive today - or are just recently dead - and their direct descendents (us) are alive and continue to be affected by what occured. Third - the truth must prevail. Are we to let political expediency (etc) quash the truth - protect the perpetrators and deny us justice? NO! This is a contemporary struggle for truth and justice - not some account of ancient times. Thus we must deal with the truth in all its respects. Slinging generalities and sound bites around is not good enough. Thus we must deal with events factually - we must present our evidence and counter the false arguments precisely - and not get caught up in brandishing meanigless lables and crying about past history that we cannot change.

[gamavor]

I agree with every word both of you say. But the point is that Europeans are aware of what their ancestors did, and I'm sure you know better than me the special legislation and other measures taken to protect the native American heritage. And besides, parallels are not appropriate from a cultural point of view. In the first instance those who were perceived "civilized" were killing those who were "not-civilized", and in the Armenian, Greek and European case in general, was the opposite.

European settlers brought religious freedom and industrial growth, Ottomans brought destruction, enslavement, and retardation for the subject nations.

One more thing. America although, populated with Indians, was more or less no one's land, simply because there were no state or other organized enough social structures.

 

[ April 30, 2002, 09:23 AM: Message edited by: gamavor ]

[THOTH]

quote:

---

Originally posted by gamavor:

I agree with every word both of you say. But the point is that Europeans are aware of what their ancestors did, and I'm sure you know better than me the special legislation and other measures taken to protect the native American heritage.

---

Agreed - this is a very good point. Whenever I get this argument (from Turks) that other peoples (Europeans mostly) have done this or that of a similar nature - I respond similarly. Basically I say - well our history books don't hide it, we don't arrest people for saying it, and we have - to some degree - apologized and have instituted some restitution. Bottom line - it is not denied and we don't blame the victims.

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by gamavor:

And besides, parallels are not appropriate from a cultural point of view. In the first instance those who were perceived "civilized" were killing those who were "not-civilized", and in the Armenian, Greek and European case in general, was the opposite.

European settlers brought religious freedom and industrial growth, Ottomans brought destruction, enslavement, and retardation for the subject nations.

---

I understand your point - and I guess it is worth noting - but it doesn't fundementally change things. From our Western/Europen perspective we are more "evolved" in the categories we emphasise - technology/industry etc - but were/are we in fact more evolved spiritually? In our understandings of the ways of the earth? etc Did we bring more "freedom"? - what is the definition of this word...I would argue that by its nature saleried employment (which most of us endure) is less "free" then the hunter-gatherer or nomadic lifestyle - etc. And not only the Ottomans brought slavery into the lands they entered. I also think that your portrayal of the Turks as strictly barbaric is not the entire truth - even if we are repulsed (etc) by their method of conquest/domination/expansion etc. Still again - i say there are differences between "modern" standards and that of "ancient" peoples. And in fact much of what we know of Armenian culture today owes itself to assimilation from the Ottoman (and otherwise...and it goes both ways of course). Obviously much of what we think of as Ottoman was in fact Byzantine....and they thought of the "hill" Armenians as pretty primative (wether otr not it was true per se)....anyway - there exist multiple perspectives on these things...

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by gamavor:

One more thing. America although, populated with Indians, was more or less no one's land, simply because there were no state or other organized enough social structures.

---

Not sufficient in and of itself. A "modern" society would respect the cultures it encounters and would understand that what they were undertaking was invasion - even if there was no warfare - the imposition of European ways on the land precluded that of the various tribal ways that were in existence at the time. But - what was done cannot be changed now - and our history is not yet ended (to judge if ultimatly it was a good thing).

[sen_Vahan]

"I agree with every word both of you say. But the point is that Europeans are aware of what their ancestors did, and I'm sure you know better than me the special legislation and other measures taken to protect the native American heritage. "

 

Turks are also aware of what their ancestors did with domestic Armenians. Denial is another thing.

 

"And besides, parallels are not appropriate from a cultural point of view. In the first instance those who were perceived "civilized" were killing those who were "not-civilized", and in the Armenian, Greek and European case in general, was the opposite.European settlers brought religious freedom and industrial growth, Ottomans brought destruction,enslavement, and retardation for the subject nations. "

 

That's true. But lets not forget that by the end of 19th century even Turks themselves did not have such a rich literature as Armenians did. I do not think Turks brought only disaater and despoty.

 

Vahan

[Azat]

Armenians Save Their Tears For a New Museum

 

By Nora Boustany

Wednesday, May 8, 2002; Page A18

 

Ross Vartian, the oldest grandchild of a survivor of the Armenian genocide of 1915, still treasures the recollection of working the dough with his grandmother, Akabi Mooradian, as they made massive mounds of lahmajoun, a sort of pizza, in the kitchen of her home in Detroit. He loved making her laugh.

 

Vartian -- who is directing the planning of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial and is executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America, a lobbying group in the District -- still visits Mooradian's grave every Christmas to deliver a progress report on what he and others have done to perpetuate the memory of 1915.

 

The planned museum, which would be the first of its kind outside Armenia, will be located on the site of the former National Bank of Washington building at 14th and G streets NW. A total of $12.5 million has been donated to acquire and develop the 115,000-square-foot site, which includes three adjacent lots; $75 million must still be raised.

 

Turkey has lobbied feverishly to refute the assertion that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred from 1915 to 1923 -- during and after World War I -- and objects to branding the killings and other casualties of the period as genocide. Some historians and Turkish officials cite forced relocations and widespread fighting in the region and note that millions of Turks perished over the same period.

 

"I was raised to be conscious of my identity," Vartian said last week as he described the defining chapter in his family's history.

 

The horror began for them in 1915, when Mooradian's father, a school principal and grocer, was taken away by Ottoman armies to serve as a tailor. Eleven-year-old Mooradian, her six siblings and her mother were forced to leave their home village, Armadan. The family hid from pillaging Kurds, sold their clothes to buy food and stole bloodied garments from corpses to shield themselves from the sun, Vartian related.

 

One by one, Mooradian's siblings died of hunger, thirst and weakness. Her baby sister Nanik, 3, and two young male cousins were hurled into the Euphrates River by their mothers, who despaired of not being able to feed them. Mooradian's mother gave her up to serve as a maid to a Turkish family, but they turned her away.

 

Mooradian eventually made it to an orphanage in Aleppo, Syria. With the help of a cousin she reached France, where she married an Armenian entrepreneur and had her first child -- a daughter, Vartian's mother -- before sailing to the United States. Mooradian's husband fell on hard times and took an auto industry job in Detroit.

 

Vartian's grandmother was not inclined to feel sorry for herself. "She survived it and went on with her life, reinventing herself and starting a new family of Armenians," her grandson recalled. Mooradian's father, who had deserted the Ottoman ranks, found his way to a farming area of Soviet Armenia and started a new family there. Father and daughter corresponded and, decades later, Mooradian went to Armenia to meet his second family. "She had life experience," Vartian said. "She understood the human condition at its worst and best, and she survived it."

 

In 1975, when he was fresh out of college and imbued with family history, Vartian agreed to help run an Armenian school. Later he joined the Armenian Assembly.

 

Mooradian never shared her dramatic experiences with her grandchildren. Instead, in the early 1970s, she unburdened herself, like thousands of Armenians of her generation, to a total stranger commissioned by the Armenian National Institute, which along with other organizations was collecting oral histories for posterity. These are being translated, catalogued and organized for the museum.

 

Also on display there will be the diaries, photographs and letters of Armin T. Wegner, a German medical aide who chronicled his observations as he traveled to Aleppo and to Baghdad, Iraq, describing the state of "moving multitudes" and "swarms of the famished, ill and dying, who lay there close to madness, eating their own excrement for food."

 

Wegner wrote to the president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, asking him to help the Armenians.

 

Two years ago, linking its objections to U.S. strategic interests, Turkey lobbied to defeat a House resolution acknowledging the killings as genocide. Vartian said that defeat left him feeling "humiliated as an American. Our nation did not really grow until it began admitting its past sins." He cited Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's description of genocide and Holocaust denial as a "double killing: first you kill the people and then you kill the truth. History is supposed to be irreversible."

 

Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.), co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian issues, described Vartian as "an extraordinary lobbyist."

 

Robert A. Kaloosdian, chairman of the Armenian National Institute in the District, has worked with Vartian for 20 years. "At this moment," he said, Vartian "is the critical person in bringing the pieces [of the museum project] together in order for it to grow into the success we all envision. Most important is the significance of the museum not just for the history and displays. Hopefully it will prevent similar things from happening to other people in the future."

 

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...7-2002May7.html

[Guest Fadi]

I do not know if a Museum is a good idea, it may sound like a farce for some... afterall we are talking about mass killings, its not a place like someone will visit an Art Museum, it should have been called "Open Public Center, of the Armenian Genocide" or something like this, because it could play against us... because what stop the Turks to not do the same thing ? A Museum could also be constructed by denialists etc...

[Azat]

Domino,

In LA and I think in DC there is a museum of holocaust and it is decently a place that a lot of people visit. Especially kids who go on school trips.

Azat

[Guest Fadi]

Yes you are right... but in the case of the Holocaust there is no unhuman idiots and morons financed by a government that makes fun of a mass extermination... you will have animals like McCarthy writing idiocies, of how Armenians build now indistries etc... I just think that the name may be appopriate for the Holocaust(Museum) but not for the Armenian genocide... the aim may be the same, its just an opinion... because the word "Museum" could end up in a kind of mascarade started by organisations such as ATAA, to start their so-called Museum... and I am sure they will think of it... while an "Open Public resource center" by its name would be harder to immitate, because it will not only have the idea of a Museum, but a place for researchs etc... do not forget that in the case of the Armenian genocide(like Yves Ternon remarks) we have to provide references of a lots better quality then the Holocaust, because on the other side we have a Flaurisson government, so the image of a Museum is not enough it may end up in a mascarade... How much do you bet, that the same day that it will come out, ATAA and the likes will claim to prepare their own Museum ? This way we are making fun of our own victims(by letting them turn it on a game of mascarade)

 

This 75 million dollar could be invested to put every publications conserning the genocide freely on the internet for example(paying the authors etc...) financing universities by research grants etc... building public documentation area's with libraries... I just think that still a Museum is to soon, a Museum could be build only when the genocide is recognised by the United-States, this way at least we will have an argument when Ataaists will want to build their Museums etc...

 

[ May 08, 2002, 05:52 PM: Message edited by: Domino ]

[Azat]

I understand what you mean. And after rereading your original post I see that you said that up ther as well, it's just I did not read it good enough.

[Guest Fadi]

LOL... I just found something... this is exiting ... McCarthy made a mistake conserning Contension numbers transcriptions. Another thing to add in my data's... here I found another proof of one of a lie from McCarthy... who would say that I would have found this from an old French book ( with a lots missing pages) being published in 1918