BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
It rhymes, doesn’t it? Say it out loud, nay, sing it “O.E. + R.o.T. = Continuity”!
Of course, O.E. refers to the Ottoman Empire and R.o.T. to the Republic of Turkey, and any Armenian knows about the continuity, essentially seamless, between the two political entities that occupied and abused—both in the past and present day—the land and people of the Armenian Plateau, extending to Cilicia and the Mediterranean.
But I was reminded of this continuity in a very sharp way while reading Talin Suciyan’s “The Armenians in Modern Turkey.” Yes, yes, I know I’m YEARS behind in my reading. The book was published in 2016. The reminder appears in the introduction, on p.7:
“The structural and administrative continuities between the Ottoman Empire and Turkey deserve particular attention. I will dwell on these continuities and their role in reproducing denial in the first chapter of this book. Similarly, the Single Party period in Turkey should also be read in this context, by putting the institutionalization of denial at its core, and by using sources from other communities, in order to discover the intertwinement of denialist mechanisms.”
Why is this relevant now?
Most immediate and important is its utility as a pressure point on Turkey.
This serves as a counterweight to Turkey’s “indirect” pressure on Yerevan via Baku. Whether through the latter’s direct military actions and encroachments or the tacit approvals it gets for anti-Republic of Armenia policies from Russia, no doubt in part thanks to Turkey’s intercession given the waltz Ankara and Moscow have been engaged in for the past decade or so.
Broadly, Yerevan’s misguidedness in its foreign policy, specifically as it relates to Ankara, is yet another reason that creates the need for pressure on the latter.
Continuously reminding state and international authorities about Turkey’s ongoing genocidal policies and practices, including depopulation and ethnic cleansing (whether it be of Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, or Kurds) also opens the door to expose the parallel policies pursued by Azerbaijan. And, it’s worth noting here, that these policies are applied not only to Armenians, but also the Avars, Lezghis, Talysh, Tats, etc., even if only to a less murderous degree. Of course, exposing and publicizing these abuses gives diplomatic leverage to Yervean over Baku.
Expanding and capping the continuity theme between Ankara and Baku is accomplished through their own, publicly declared, “one nation, two states” declarations.
All these factors are useful levers to safeguard what little remains of Armenia under Armenian control at a time where Armenian state authorities are risking all that our nation has achieved through their political and diplomatic ineptitude or delusions. I can’t quite pinpoint which of these is the dominant characteristic.
Get out there and make all of these parallels known to all in your circles of friends, acquaintances, and even just passers-by!
