Crime that has not been punished continues to be committed, Human Rights Association of Turkey

Commission Against Racism And Discrimination of the Human Rights Association of Turkey issued a statement on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. 

 

The statement reads:

 

The crime that has not been punished continues to be committed. Ignorance make the genocide permanent. Denial is the exoneration of the perpetrator and impeachment of the victim. By denying the Armenian Genocide and failing to punish the perpetrators, this crime continues to be committed through denial. Since the genocide and its denial, blood, tears and laments have not ended in Türkiye. Because impunity persists with the new crimes and the criminals go unpunished. Justice has not been done. The unburied dead of the genocide and subsequent victims continue to suffer.

 

We have repeatedly said: Denying genocide is not just saying “we didn’t do it”. It is much worse than that. It is to make the grandchildren of the victims of the genocide relive it over and over again through the countless details of their daily lives. It is to make murderers heroes. It is to honour those who committed genocide.

 

The denial of the genocide amounts to raise racist generations who are hostile to the “Armenian”, an endless insult to the memory of the victims and permanent bleeding of the wounds of next generations.

 

The ever-increasing tributes to Enver, Talat and Cemal Pashas and the Unionists in recent years feed and socialise racism, and the new generations continue to grow up in this line.

 

While the Armenians of Türkiye have to live with the bearers and spokespersons of denial in all spheres of life, those Armenians who are scattered all over the world, far from their ancestral lands, have to endure the constant hurting of the memories of their family elders.

 

Yes, grave human rights violations that have been committed and are committed in this territory is the cursed legacy of the genocide on which the Republic was built. At the beginning of the 20th century, genocide against Christian peoples, Armenian, Syriac/Assyrians, Greeks in Asia Minor and Northern Mesopotamia and denial of this genocide, legitimized the state to infringe its own law and to go beyond the law and this “reason of state” continued to dominate throughout the history of the Republic. It is this “reason of state” that we call the cursed legacy of the genocide.

 

Denial reached such a level that the word “genocide” was forbidden for a long time, and society itself adopted it, did not use this word, even intellectuals refrained from using it. İHD’s Commission Against Racism and Discrimination which was then operating under the İHD Istanbul branch, held a commemoration meeting on 24 April 2005, using the word “genocide” for the first time in Turkey. Years later, the word genocide was gradually started to be used, but over the years, lawsuits also started to be filed. For instance, lawsuits were filed against the Dersim branch of İHD and Diyarbakır Bar Association on charges of “insulting the Turkish nation and the Republic of Turkey” for commemorating the genocide. Both trials resulted in acquittals. In addition, our Commission Against Racism and Discrimination has been investigated on the same charge several times. The last investigation initiated in relation to our statement dated 2021 was held at the Istanbul 51st Criminal Court of First Instance. An acquittal verdict was issued on 2 May 2024. The prosecutor appealed against the acquittal. The 2nd Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice rejected the prosecutor’s objections on 24/12/2024 and thus the decision became final.

 

Genocide does not just boil down to gruesome massacres, to rivers flowing with corpses, to valleys filled with the dismembered bodies of human beings. Genocide is not only a horrific exile, where death is preferred, where death is salvation, where human beings are dehumanized; it is not only being attacked on the roads, not only being raped, subjected to hunger and disease, not only an indefinable, irretrievable cruelty. Genocide is also robbery, plunder, looting, a colossal theft. The theft is not limited to the immovable property of the genocide victims, which was confiscated and whose value is incalculable: workshops, vineyards and orchards, fields, mansions, houses, hospitals, monastery and church lands. The theft also included something little known and little talked about: the outright confiscation of the bank accounts and valuables of the massacred Armenians. This robbery is estimated to have amounted to 22 million dollars in 1915’s money.

 

Today, on the very day of the genocide commemoration, we also commemorate Sevag Şahin Balıkçı, who was shot dead by another soldier on 24 April 2011 in the province of Batman while doing his compulsory military service, and we promise to keep his memory alive.

 

Since 2005, we have been speaking out the same demand every April 24th: Denial of genocide is the perpetuation of genocide. End the denial. Admit the crime with all its legal consequences. Only then will the souls of the unburied dead, flowing down rivers, piled up in valleys, thrown off cliffs, drowned in the sea, not buried with dignity, rest in peace. Justice will prevail. Otherwise, the curse of genocide will not be lifted from these lands and Turkey will not see the light of day.

 

WE REPEAT AS WE DO EVERY YEAR ON APRIL 24: RECOGNIZE, APOLOGIZE, COMPENSATE!