NORAYR EBLIGHATIAN
It is with mixed emotions that I viewed the video of a young man cursing Armenians and declaring himself an Ottoman descendent.
First, these arguments have been used before by various groupings. Some examples are:
- Armenians are not indigenous to Lebanon & Syria and came to the Middle East as refugees.
- Armenians betrayed the Ottoman sultanate and therefor deserved to be annihilated through genocidal attempts.
- We, the descendants of the Ottomans, will continue to fight the Armenians.
Armenians have been living in Syria and Lebanon before these two countries gained their independence, therefore arguing about who came first and who came later is an absurd proposition.
As for the second and third points; a few historic clarifications are important:
- Armenians are as Ottoman as this self-proclaimed Ottoman descendent. Sultan Mehmed II in 1461 issued a ‘ferman’ (imperial decree) which organized the Armenian millet under the leadership of the Armenian Patriarchate in Constantinople.
- Armenians were considered the “faithful nation” (millet-I sadiki) for their loyalty to the Ottoman state.
- The Armenian community and political organizations strongly supported the Young Turk Revolution and the Proclamation of Liberty in July 1908.
‘Troshag’, the official organ of Tashnakgtsutiun saluted the Young Turk Revolution as follows:
History had witnessed only a few of such happy surprises. Enlightened and freedom-loving humanity salutes this beautiful step taken by the Young Turks. We are happy due to this new and powerful gain of the idea of struggle.
‘Henchag’, the official organ of the Henchagian party wrote:
The present events show that we can consider the Hamidian despotism is being collapsed…. That piece of old Turkey – which adopted the mottos of reaction and brigandry, set the races against each other, and play the role of grave digger of the nations – no more exists.
- Armenians had 11 deputies in the first parliament after the Young Turk Revolution.
- However, the pogroms and massacres of Adana in 1909, perpetrated by the Turks, changed the political euphoria.
Finally, the genocidal attempt of 1915 sealed the relationship between Armenians and Turks.
During present times, president Recep Tayipp Erdogan has been trying to revive Ottoman hegemony and expansion in many regions. Northern Syria, northern Lebanon and Libya are a few examples. These attempts are especially designed to transform Turkey into a regional power with a voice in key economic issues (e.g. oil exploitation).
Turkey’s expansionist strategy is not a novel attempt. There have been Pan-Islamic and Pan-Turkic movements before. There is the example of Enver Pasha (one of the Young Turk triumvirates) who was killed in preset day Tajikistan inciting the local Muslims to join a new Turkic empire.
Getting back to the young self-proclaimed Turk mercenary, what is the Armenian response?
Certainly, going down to his level of offensive language is a waste of energy. But we should start a broad coalition to counter this nascent movement. A few players come to mind:
- The Kurds in Lebanon are threatened as much as the Armenians by these ‘young Ottomans’.
- The Lebanese Forces have been accepted the genocide and have been commemorating it every year.
- We have strong ties with the Free Patriotic Movement, the Kataeb party, the Amal movement and the Hezbollah party.
- We should also make it extremely clear to the Future Movement Party that it cannot give credence to ‘young ottoman’ groupings of this sort and expect the Armenians not to counteract it.
We will counteract. Because an attack like this will only embolden others if it is not met with equal and stronger reaction.
To my compatriots: We survived a genocidal attempt; we can survive this guy. We will prevail.