Armenians in Turkey - Politics

Politics

The traditional Armenian political parties were known to be very active in Armenian-Turkish political life from the 1890s to 1915 at least) and this included the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF - Dashnagtsutiun), the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hunchak) and the Armenakan Party, the predecessor of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavar Party). But the activities of all these Armenian parties were curtailed after 1915 and it has been the status quo ever since that they play no legal role in Turkish-Armenian politics, though remaining very active in the rest of the Armenian diaspora.

However Armenian vigilantes belonging to these same parties, and most prominently the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) launched a campaign of assassinations of political Turkish leaders perceived to have had an active role in "planning" and "ordering" the Armenian Genocide and convicted by the Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-20. The ARF's campaign known as Operation Nemesis was continued relentlessly to pursue such leaders worldwide and at least 7 of the Ittihadist leaders were killed by the Armenian vigilantes. These included: Talât Pasha (assassinated on March 15, 1921 in Berlin), Enver Pasha (killed on August 14, 1922 in Tajikistan), Said Halim Pasha (assassinated on December 5, 1921, in Rome), Bahattin Şakir (assassinated on April 17, 1922 in Berlin), Jemal Azmi (assassinated on April 17, 1922 in Berlin) and Jemal Pasha (assassinated on July 25, 1922 in Tbilisi).

In stark difference from all other Armenian diaspora centers, that are highly politicized and where the traditional political parties of the diaspora such as "Dashnags", the "Hunchaks" and the "Ramgavars" play an important role in many aspects of Armenian political and community life and in pursuit of the Armenian Question and Armenian nationalism, the Turkish Armenians remain, for very obvious political and historical reasons, generally immune, at least publicly, to any allegiances to any of the traditional Armenian political parties, as these parties remain de facto prohibited parties in Turkey. Thus at many times, the political as well as the religious leadership of the Turkish Armenians and the Armenian-language media in Turkey as well have been known not only to shun off the political standpoints and tactics of the Armenian parties in the diaspora, but also to remain very critical regarding the more militant positions those parties take regarding the Armenian Question, as they may relate directly to the status of the Armenians in Turkey and the fear of possible repercussions on the well-being and the future of the Armenian community of Turkey. This is a unique position unparalleled anywhere else in the diaspora.

Some even point to the fact that in the early 1920s, there were a number of Armenians in Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's movement, even actively aiding him in his Turkish National Movement and supporting his Kemalist ideology and secular movement. The Armenians perceived in the secular state established by Atatürk a way of survival for the remnants of Armenians still in Turkey. They were encouraged by him ordering the trial of a number of leaders of the previous Ittihadist regime for the accusation of committing atrocities against the minorities in Turkey during World War I, including against the Armenians.

The wealth tax known as Varlık Vergisi, a Turkish tax levied on the wealthy citizens of Turkey by a law enacted on November 11, 1942, with the stated aim of raising funds for the country's defense in case of an eventual entry into World War II had devastating effect on the ethnic minorities of Turkey, and most importantly the Armenian community. The draconian law came under harsh criticism, as property holders had to sell a lot of their assets at greatly deflated prices or such assets were confiscated by the authorities. The unpopular law was abolished on March 15, 1944.

The Armenians of Turkey were also highly critical of the activist role that the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), the Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide (JCAG), Armenian Revolutionary Army (ARA) and other Armenian guerrilla organizations played in targeting Turkish diplomats and interests worldwide at the height of their anti-Turkish campaign in the 1970s and 1980s. The fears of the Turkish Armenians were justified with the fact that at many times, Turkish-Armenian institutions and even religious centers were targeted by threats and actual bombings in retaliation of the acts of ASALA, JCAG, ARA and others.

The Turkish-Armenian Artin Penik committed suicide in 1982 by self-immolation in protest of the attack on 7 August 1982 in Ankara's Esenboğa International Airport by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia. Penik died five days after he set himself on fire in Taksim plaza, the main square of Istanbul, Turkey, but his stance was highly mediatised by the Turkish mass media as a protest of most Turkish-Armenians against such attacks. Nine people had been killed and more than 70 wounded in the attack on the Turkish airport.

Another turbulent point for the Armenian community of Turkey was the highly-publicized public trial of the Armenian gunman and one of the perpetrators of the operation, the 25-years old Levon Ekmekjian, who was found guilty and eventually hanged at Ankara's civilian prison on January 30, 1983. He had been sentenced to death in September 1982 after having confessed that he had carried out the airport attack with another gunman on behalf of ASALA, and despite the fact that he publicly condemned violent acts during his own trial and appealed to the Armenian militants to stop the violence.

The Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC) was set up in July 2001 a joint project of a number of Turkish and Armenian intellectuals and political experts to discuss various aspects of the Turkish-Armenian relations and approving a set of recommendations to the governments of Turkey and Armenia on how to improve the strained relations between the two countries.

Thousands of Turks joined Turkish intellectuals in publicly apologizing for the World War I era mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The unprecedented apology was initiated by a group of 200 Turkish academics, journalists, writers and artists disagreeing with the official Turkish version of what many historians consider the first genocide of the 20th century. Their petition, entitled “I apologize,” was posted on a special website http://www.ozurdiliyoruz.com/.

On the occasion of a World Cup qualifying match between the two national football teams of Turkey and Armenia in the Armenian capital Yerevan, and following the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's invitation to attend the match, on 6 September 2008, the Turkish President Abdullah Gül paid a breakthrough landmark visit to Armenia that he said "promises hope for the future" for the two countries. The Armenian president Sargsyan will reciprocate the visit to Turkey during 2009.