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BY SEROUJ
APRAHAMIAN
 When
it comes to discussion of the Armenian Genocide, there is one
topic that has, for far too long, been the proverbial “elephant
in the room.” Although the topic is on virtually everyone's
mind, it tends to be left largely unaddressed or ignored for one
reason or another. This topic is, of course, that of
reparations.
For some, the idea of reparations is a radical “dream”; an
impossible and fanatic proposition which takes away from the
more feasible task of achieving recognition. It is taken for
granted that the most Armenians can reasonably hope for is
acknowledgment and an apology from Turkey. Among many such
individuals, the cause of reparations is looked upon with
automatic disapproval and disdain. Hence, the topic itself is
barred from any serious consideration.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are those who maintain
that recognition without reparation is meaningless; that the
Turkish government must pay for the crimes it has committed and
not be allowed to walk away scot-free. In this case, also, we
find many who consider the matter so straightforward, that they
see no need in discussing it further or elaborating upon the
reasons why reparations are so fundamentally needed.
We argue that, not only are reparations far from being an
unreachable goal, they are the only practical means for
effectively bringing the Genocide issue to any sort of a just
resolution. Given its crucial importance to healing the wounds
created by the Genocide, it is imperative that the merits and
meaning of reparations be properly explained and expounded upon.
This article will attempt to lay out some of the many reasons
why reparations are so essential.
Justice
At the core of why reparations are necessary is the concept of
justice. A colossal crime was committed against the Armenian
nation and our moral instinct demands that we redress this in an
adequate fashion. This major wrongdoing must be compensated for
in order to restore some semblance of balance and normality.
To illustrate, let us imagine for a moment that someone
tortures, rapes, and murders your family; invades and occupies
your home; steals all of your wealth and belongings; desecrates
your family heritage and possessions; and expels you by force
from your home. Not only does the perpetrator refuse to give any
compensation to your family, he aggressively denies that a crime
ever even took place. The blame is deflected, instead, upon you
and your offspring--who must struggle to even mourn or remember
their family--while the criminal portrays himself in public as
the victim.
After all of this, would it be enough for the criminal to simply
give you an apology and say he will no longer inflict any
further mistreatment on you? Of course not! It would be
perfectly reasonable for all of us to want some sort of
reparations; some form of payment for the damage that has been
done.1
In this vein, the Turkish government has a moral responsibility
to pay the huge debt it owes to the Armenian people. Just
because Turkey has, as of yet, not paid this debt does not mean
that the debt itself disappears. On the contrary, it is the
Armenian people who are continuing to bear the brunt of this
debt through the loss of years of human and material capital,
dispersion in the Diaspora, the compromise of our historic
homeland, a small and landlocked Republic, psychological
suffering, and economic hardship. Indeed, a great deal is
already being paid--the problem is that it is largely the victim
rather than the perpetrator who is doing the paying.
For this reason alone, some form of reparations proportionate to
the suffering caused by the crime is a must for anyone concerned
with upholding justice and repairing the wounds wrought by the
Genocide. As explained by genocide scholar Taner Akcam in a
recent commentary about discussions of the Genocide within
Turkey,
“The process of healing a past injustice must take place within
the realm of justice, not [just] freedom . . . Today, however,
in many democratic nations in the West . . . Injustices of the
past are freely discussed, but the wounds from the past continue
because justice remains undone. All of the powerful states'
relationships with former colonies; the massacres and genocidal
episodes from colonial periods; slavery in America, etc., all of
these remain unresolved in the realm of justice. Therefore, even
if the %u218Armenian problem' were to be discussed freely in
Turkey it would nevertheless remain unresolved.”2
Dignity
Closely related to the issue of justice is the maintenance of
human dignity for the Armenian people.
It is well known that one of the principal features of genocide
is the denigration of the target population's humanity. Once
again, as Akcam points out:
“Every large-scale massacre begins by removing the targeted
group from humanity. That group's human dignity is trampled on,
and they begin to be defined by biological terms like
%u218bacteria,' %u218parasite,' %u218germ,' or %u218cancerous
cell.' The victims aren't usually defined only as something that
needs to be removed from a healthy body: they are socially and
culturally demeaned, their humanity removed. . . Our humane duty
is to restore the dignity of these victims and show them the
respect they deserved as human beings. Reparations and other
similar moves to heal past injustice work to restore the
victims' dignity and gain meaning as a way of repairing
emotional wounds.”3
To ask that the Turkish government merely grant us an apology
without demanding that they do anything significant to rectify
our suffering--or worse, to seek “reconciliation” without
addressing the Genocide at all--is the ultimate form of
surrendering our human dignity. Giving up our rightful claims
and simply seeking to have the perpetrator acknowledge what we
already know to be true is equivalent to forfeiting our rights
as a people; and, hence, indirectly accepting the success of the
Genocide itself.4
Pursuing such an outcome will prove to be even more detrimental
to the dignity, self-respect, and self-determination of the
Armenian people than not having the Genocide recognized at all.
Security
Finally, the matter of reparations has profound meaning for the
security and viability of the Armenian Republic.
Let us not forget that the motivation behind the Genocide itself
was to destroy Armenians as an entity in the region. The present
borders of Armenia were purposely designed under pressure from
Turkey as a way of reducing the country into one incapable of
surviving on its own. Such a policy of aggression was fueled by
an institutionalized prejudice against Armenian national
self-determination which continues to manifest itself in Turkish
society to this day.
Changing this reality will require more than a mere symbolic
apology or recognition of historical facts. It will require
meaningful compensation and tangible measures which ensure
Armenia's long-term sustainability, as well as programs to
tackle the hostile attitudes in Turkish society against its
neighbors and minorities.
As scholar Henry Theriault has pointed out, recognition alone is
no guarantee of improved relations or a change in Turkey's
adversarial stance. Indeed, Ankara could stand up tomorrow and
admit the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide, only to
retract its statement or worsen relations the day after. In his
words, “The giving of reparations, especially land reparations,
transforms acknowledgment and apology into concrete, meaningful
acts rather than mere rhetoric.”5
In addition, reparations are an important deterrent for future
governments in Turkey--and potential perpetrators of genocide
around the world--from repeating similar atrocities in the
future. Failure to implement any sort of punishment for an act
as horrific as genocide sends a signal to despots everywhere
that they can commit such acts with impunity. This is certainly
the lesson Turkish leaders have drawn as they have gone on to
suppress and carry out massive ethnic cleansing operations
against their own Kurdish minority.
As Armenians, we have a moral responsibility to prevent future
atrocities and end the cycle of genocide. To give up our demands
for reparations and simply seek an apology for the Genocide
would be worst than not having it recognized at all. This is
because we would be helping Turkey tell the world that a state
can commit genocide, admit to it, and subsequently face no
consequences whatsoever.
Resolution through Reparations
For these, and a host of other reasons, it seems clear that a
lasting solution to the pain, loss, and enmity created by the
Armenian Genocide will necessarily require large-scale
reparations on behalf of the Turkish government. Otherwise, any
hope of genuine reconciliation and regional stability will
remain a hollow illusion.
To those who would still argue that, despite the merits, forcing
reparations from Turkey is a hopeless and impossible dream, we
would remind them that a mere twenty years ago, the same would
have been said about those seeking the independence of Armenia.
It would have been equally “unrealistic” to imagine then that a
Turkish Nobel laureate and countless dissident intellectuals
would be openly questioning Ankara's narrative on the Armenian
Genocide.
Today, the world is more aware than it has ever been about the
facts of the Armenian Genocide, and we see the Turkish
government increasingly on the defensive when it comes to this
issue. The momentum towards moving beyond recognition and
securing compensation for the countless losses incurred during
the Genocide is also increasingly gathering pace. Thus, rather
than being an impossible dream, the attainment of reparations
appears, in many ways, the most probable in recent memory.
Furthermore, as we have shown, seeking recognition without
reparation is potentially more harmful than not attaining
recognition at all. As such, achieving reparations remains the
most critical means for securing a just and lasting resolution.
Concurrently, to turn away from reparations would be a
disservice to all those who have suffered from the Genocide and
those who continue to struggle to overcome it.
*****
Editor's Note:
Serouj Aprahamian is an editor of the HAYTOUG
Magazine, the official publication of the Armenian Youth
Federation-Western Region. His article appeared in the special
April 24 commemorative issue of the magazine, which can be found
in community centers, schools and local book stores. To order a
free subscription to the haytoug, visit:
http://www.ayfwest.org/haytoug.php
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