1915: HEROES AND MURDERERS

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1915: HEROES AND MURDERERS

 

Cihan News Agency (CNA)

November 2, 2012 Friday

Turkey

 

ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- "Heroes are totalitarian." It has been a long

time since I first read the book "Cehenneme Ovgu, Gundelik Hayatta

Totalitarizm" (Prisoners of Ourselves: Totalitarianism in Everyday

Life) by Gunduz Vassaf, but I still remember this sentence from it.

 

Whenever I hear the word "hero," I cannot help but affix "totalitarian"

to it.

 

Vassaf narrates how we escape from freedom via heroes and recreate

the order again and again. Heroes are presented to us as men of

sacrifice who show courage and no human weakness. They are leaders,

military servicemen, religious clerics, revolutionaries, freedom

fighters and others.

 

Every group of people has their own heroes. As we try to become like

these heroes, we turn into men which the order we are in desires. I

recently explored a hero who is not totalitarian. This hero does not

look like the others. And we, the people of Turkey, do not know him

because knowing him requires going through an unusual cognitive and

spiritual process, remorse and a huge confrontation.

 

There is a huge paradox there. If we get to know him, we will become

richer and our souls will become more at ease. However, to become

familiar with him, we first have to go through a spiritual turbulence

and a state of discomfort. We know that he exists thanks to foreign

movies. Watching "Schindler's List" by Steven Spielberg or "Hotel

Rwanda" by Terry George, we actually witness his life. However, the

culture we grew up in prevents us from getting to know him better. We

do not know the meaning of rejecting to participate in a campaign of

murder based on individual remorse and conscience while society and

the state were committing a huge crime and that crime was becoming

a part of daily life and the symbol of a new status quo.

 

We have Hollywood Schindlers, but movies have not been made for

them in this country. Their names are not in history books. From

the perspective of our formal history, they are traitors. I believe

that one of the big losses associated with our failure to confront

the 1915 tragedy is being deprived of not knowing them. In fact,

we hold a sense of guilt in our subconscious. But we do not know the

stories of those people who did not participate in heinous acts while

the entire community was being involved, who refused to comply with

orders and harbored their Armenian neighbors in their houses.

 

We do not know them. We are not aware of how Urfali Haci Halil, who

hid his Armenian neighbors in his home for one year, bought bread for

eight extra people, what he felt about the outer world when he closed

the doors of his home, how his relations with the community changed or

how he was afraid of the death decrees for those who harbored Armenians

in their homes. For us to know and feel all these, we should first

address the lies in our history and feel the atmosphere of massacre

and tragedies in this country.

 

If we could pass these stages, we will know about not only Haci

Halil but also the Ottoman bureaucrats who did not obey orders to

deport Armenians and were executed or exiled for non-compliance. Konya

Governor Celal, Ankara Governor Hasan Mazhar, Kastamonu Governor Resit

Pasa, Basra Governor Ferit, Yozgat Governor Mehmet Cemal Bey, Kutahya

Governor Faik Ali Ozansoy, Muntefek Governor Bedii Nuri, Lice District

Governor Huseyin Nesimi Bey and Batman District Governor Sabit Bey will

all guide us on the path towards spiritual purification and serenity.

 

If we could bear the anguish and look at our history honestly, the

religious people of this country will promote the honorable tradition

of Muslims who strongly opposed the murder of Armenians in Bogazlayan,

stressing that there is no killing of innocent people in the Quran. If

we could look at 1915 honestly and talk openly about everything, we

will start to meet the real heroes. Of course, this will come after

huge pain and mourning. They will be our real heroes.

 

After so many years, we have made some progress towards confronting

the past but there is still a long way to go. I think that these

heroes will guide us on this journey. I bow to them with great respect.

 

ORHAN KEMAL CENGIZ (Cihan/Today's Zaman) CIHAN