Taner Akcam: Turkish Authorities Are Obliged to Face Their Own History

• 12.21.2017, 14:44
•  Region,  World

Horizon Weekly

The Turkish authorities are obliged to face their own history if they want to establish a democratic and human rights respecting system. Without facing the history public peace and democratic system are impossible to establish, Turkish historian Taner Akcam, who recognized the Armenian Genocide, said in his new article in T24.com, Artsakhpress reports. 

In the article titled 'Obligation to face history and barriers for it', the historian says at present it is an authoritarian and dictatorial regime in Turkey, fundamental human rights and freedoms, and especially the freedom of thought are being violated. "Hundreds of intellectuals, writers, journalists are jailed, the main democratic structures and laws do not operate, the judiciary is completely under the control of one person, the principle of the rule of law has been eliminated. The ethnic-religious issues, in particular, the Kurdish issue, the issues of Alevi, Christian and Jewish minorities are in poor situation," the historian writes.

Talking about the Armenian Genocide, Taner Akcam writes: "We have established a nation-state in 1923 and created an identity in accordance with it. And today this identity turned into a reality determining our thinking, feelings, in other words, the whole socialcultural relations of the society. But if we, for example, start talking about the Armenian Genocide, we will see how this reality begins to collapse. The Armenian Genocide is a historical fact totally destroying the identity structure of the Turkish society. This is the reason that we avoid facing the history".