Armenian Genocide bill breaks taboo in Turkey without promising breakthrough – experts
Sebahat Tuncel, a Turkish MP of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), submitted a bill to the Turkish Parliament envisaging President Recep Erdogan’s apology to Armenians for the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.
The bill will not be adopted, but it may have serious political consequences – breaking the country’s fundamental taboo, expert in Turkic studies Hakob Chakryan told Tert.am.
“In the 1990s, saying the word ‘genocide’ was a crime in Turkey, according to Article 301 of the Criminal Code, which is still in effect, but is not actually applied. Now, however, a member of any parliamentary party can submit a bill on recognition of the Armenian Genocide to the Turkish Parliament. It means that it is not an insuperable problem either for the international community or for Turkey. It also means that, sooner or later, Turkey will have to revise its own history and admit the Armenian Genocide. That is, the Armenian Cause, which is a taboo in Turkey, is causing a split now,” the expert said.
The bill will be rejected, and it is not only Recep Erdogan’s party that will reject it. The Republican People's Party and the Nationalist Movement Party will vote against the bill as well.
According to the bill, submitted by Ms Sebahat Tuncel, President Recep Erdogan is to offer a formal apology to Armenians on behalf of the Republic of Turkey, at the Turkish Parliament. The following day, at one of the places where Armenian massacres took place, the Turkish leader is to read out a text of his apology. Thereafter, within a year, a parliamentary committee is to be formed to have access to all the state archives.
The bill proposes declaring April 24 a day of mourning and offering material and moral compensation.
Asked whether it is an independent initiative, Chakryan said he doesn’t think that Tuncel whole-heartedly proposed the idea.
Speaking to Tert.am, Turkologist Levon Hovsepyan described the move as an unprecedented scenario not acceptable to himself. The expert said he thinks that it is the continuation of the proposal on launching a parliamentary commission to investigate the facts behind the Armenian Genocide.
The proposal was advanced by outstanding figures of the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had proposed different other pro-Armenian measures back in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Among the party’s members is Osman Baydemir, the mayor of Diyarbekir who is known for his liberalistic and anti-government stance on the Armenian Genocide.
“PDP is the only pro-Kurdish party which is represented in parliament, although its figures ran as independent parliamentarians in the previous elections. This time they recorded a serious success in Turkey’s eastern Kurdish-populated regions. They are pro-oppositionist and side with what is called the Kurdish trend in Turkish politics. To an extent, there are Kurdish nationalist elements in that party’s ideology and activity,” he added.
The turkologist said he doesn’t expect that Turkey is likely to ever adopt a law with such content.
“Its importance is simply that a bill on the Armenian Genocide recognition is being submitted to the Turkey’s parliament,” he added.
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