Turkey has been accused of belittling the imminent centenary of the Armenian genocide by advancing its Gallipoli commemorations to the same day.
The anniversary of the 1915 military operations on the Gallipoli peninsula has always been marked on April 25th, the day after commemorations of the massacre of more than one million Armenians in the Ottoman empire.
This year, however, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited state leaders to join him in Gallipoli on April 24th.
"This is a very indecent political manoeuvre," said Ohannes Kiliçdagi, a researcher and writer for Agos, an Armenian weekly. "It's cheap politics to try to dissolve the pressure on Turkey in the year of the centennial by organising this event.
Britain's Prince Charles and Prince Harry, Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, and New Zealand prime minister John Key have all confirmed they will attend events at Gallipoli. As part of the programme on April 24th, services will be held at several military cemeteries.
At the same time, hundreds will gather on Istanbul's Taksim Square, where a commemoration of the Armenian genocide has been held since 2010. Another rally will be held in the eastern city of Diyarbakir, an important centre from where the state governor oversaw the mass killings in 1915. The main event will be held in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
The Turkish government’s efforts to divert international attention from the commemoration of the massacre have been called “disgraceful” by Armenians.
Overshadow centennial
"It's not just Gallipoli," said Nazar Büyüm, an Armenian columnist. "Someone also had the audacity to suggest the organisation of a Gallipoli memorial concert in an Armenian church in Istanbul for 24 April. The government does everything to overshadow the centennial of the genocide this year."
Turkey refuses to accept responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman empire.
Professor Ayhan Aktar of Bilgi University in Istanbul, who has long researched the denial of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, was not surprised by the government’s decision to move the date of the Gallipoli events.
“Turkey has been putting forward the Turks dying on World War I battlefields for 97 years, arguing that, yes, Armenians might have died, but so did our ancestors,” he said. “This move just continues this line of defence. It’s indecent, and a disgrace.”
While the Armenian state leader and many Armenians abroad expressed outrage at Turkey’s diplomatic gamble, the reaction in Turkey has been rather muted.
Part of the reason, Mr Kiliçdagi says, is the persistent fear of violence against the Armenian community in Turkey.
“Even though the situation has somewhat improved, and even though solidarity with the Armenian community has increased, many have learned to live with the constant fear,” he said. “It has become almost a reflex. Armenians are still a vulnerable group in Turkey.”
After Ankara’s announcement to shift all official commemorations of Gallipoli to April 24th, critics pointed out that no significant military event took place at Gallipoli that day and that Armenians had greater claim to it because April 24th, 1915 was when Ottoman authorities began arresting Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul.
Condolences
Hopes of an Armenian-Turkish thaw were raised last year, when Mr Erdogan extended condolences to the grandchildren of all killed Armenians. But this year's actions have alienated the 100,000-strong Armenian community in Turkey.
“After Erdogan’s words last year, this was a big disappointment,” said Nayat Karaköse, programme coordinator at the Hrant Dink Foundation, which promotes Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and culture.
“We expected a more positive step than to try and shift the international focus away from Armenia’s effort to raise awareness about the genocide.” – (Guardian service)