AVİM Conference Book 15 PROSPECTS FOR TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS Proceedings of the Symposium Organized by AVİM on 30 April 2015 April 2015 PROSPECTS FOR TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS AVİM (Center for Eurasian Studies) Conference Book No: 15 April 2015 Ankara AVİM CONFERENCE BOOK No: 15 EDITOR Turgut Kerem Tuncel TRANSCRIPTION Cemre Dilay Boztepe Hazel Çağan Miguel Moreno Ali Murat Taşkent Mehmet Oğuzhan Tulun PHOTOGRAPHS Hazel Çağan Design Ruhi Alagöz PUBLICATION DATE July 2015 PRINTING Özyurt Matbaacılık Büyük San. 1. Cad. Süzgün Sok. No: 7 İskitler / ANKARA Tel: 0 312 384 15 36 - Faks: 0 312 384 15 37 Copyright © AVİM (Center for Eurasian Studies) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the Publishers. To get your own copy of this or any of AVİM publications please visit http://www.avim.org.tr/ Contents Foreword...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................5 OPENING SPEECH Ambassador (R) Alev KILIÇ.................................................................................................................................................6 PANEL I - CURRENT STATE OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS The Pain Favored Forever: The Young Turks and the End of the Ottoman Empire Ambassador Altay CENGİZER......................................................................................................................................10 Not A Matter for the Historians? Geoffrey Robertson and the “Armenian Question" Dr. Jeremy SALT............................................................................................................................................................................23 Azerbaijan and the Normalization Process of Turkish-Armenian Relations Orhan GAFARLI.............................................................................................................................................................................33 The Time to Understand Armenian Nationalism Maxime GAUIN.............................................................................................................................................................................37 PANEL II - PAST TRAGEDIES AND THE LEGAL DIMENSION The Ambiguity of Genocide Prof. Michael M. GUNTER................................................................................................................................................44 Past Tragedies and the Present Prof. Hakan YAVUZ ..................................................................................................................................................................59 The Malta Tribunals Uluç GÜRKAN ................................................................................................................................................................................70 PANEL III - HISTORICAL ASPECT OF THE CONTROVERSY The Cyclicality of the Genocide Accusation Tal BUENOS......................................................................................................................................................................................76 The General Harbord Report Prof. Seçil Karal AKGÜN ...................................................................................................................................................90 Secret Armies & Revolutionary Federations: Armenian Political Violence, 1973-1994 Assist. Prof. Christopher GUNN ............................................................................................................................104 CLOSING REMARKS Ambassador (R) Ömer Engin LÜTEM ................................................................................................................113 . Foreword n 30 April 2015, AVİM (Center for Eurasian Studies) organized a symposium Otitled Prospects for the Turkish-Armenian Relations. Ten scholars from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Israel and the USA addressed an audience composed of the corps diplomatique, representatives of the civil society and the research community. Presentations at the symposium, questions and comments of the audience, and, most importantly the symposium itself were a reflection of the new perspectives that are taking root in Turkey and the world as regards to the Turkish-Armenian dispute controversy. The speeches at the symposium fell into two groups as those on the historical background of the genocide allegations and those that examine the recent forms of the controversy. The speeches on the historical background of the genocide allegations were based on scholarly research and concrete analyses of archival documents. Compared with the earlier scholarly presentations in Turkey that was mostly providing rather general information and narratives, an important characteristic of these speeches are the specific and in-depth analyses of the important historical moments of the Turkish- Armenian controversy. We believe that this change demonstrates that in the near future there will be more specific, document-based and concrete historical studies. Such an improvement would help to the development of rational arguments that would ease the resolution of the Turkish-Armenian controversy. The symposium also revealed the recent interest in the political aspects of the genocide claims in specific, and the Armenian-Turkish dispute in general. We believe this is a very noteworthy sign revealing that as time progresses, pro-Armenian discourse that targets emotions, some of which emanate from religious affinities by relying on moral concepts such as empathy and conscience at the expense of historical facts derived from archival documents is losing its persuasiveness and people are getting more aware of the political abuse of that moral discourse. We believe that this may be an important development to achieve a fair and rational resolution of the Turkish-Armenian controversy. By publishing the presentations delivered at AVİM’s symposium titled Prospects for the Turkish-Armenian Relations together in a conference book, AVİM hopes to contribute to the literature and the ongoing debates, and, ultimately, to the reconciliation between the Turks and the Armenians. AVİM Center for Eurasian Studies OPENING SPEECH Alev KILIÇ Ambassador (R) Director of AVİM (Center for Eurasian Studies) Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Friends, We are gathered here today to hold a symposium on the prospects for Turkish- Armenian relations. Today, ten esteemed speakers will give an account of their academic work that interprets recent history and the events of 1915-16 based on facts and documents at hand. In the order in which they will speak, our esteemed speakers are as follows: 6 AVİM Conference Book No: 15, 2015 PROSPECTS FOR TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS Opening Speech Altay Cengizer, Ambassador, General Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and author of the book titled Adil Hafızanın Işığında: Birinci Dünya Savaşı’na Giden Yol ve Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun Sonu (In the Light of Just Memory: The Path to the First World War and the End of the Ottoman Empire) Jeremy Salt, formerly of the Department of Political Science of Bilkent University; Orhan Gaffarlı, Eurasian expert at Research Centre for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and PhD student in International Relations at Ankara University; Maxime Gauin, researcher at the Center for Eurasian Studies and PhD candidate in History at Middle East Technical University; Professor Michael M. Gunter, of Political Science at Tennessee Technological University; Professor M. Hakan Yavuz, of Political Science at the University of Utah; Uluç Gürkan, journalist and former Deputy Speaker of Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and the author of the book titled Ermeni Katliamı Suçlaması, Yargılama ve Karar: Malta 1919-1921 (The Accusation of Armenian Massacres, Trial and Judgement: Malta 1919-1921); Tal Buenos, PhD candidate in Political Science at University of Utah; Professor Seçil Karal Akgün, formerly of History at the Middle East Technical University; Assistant Professor Christopher Gunn, of History at the Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina Considering that a number of our speakers have come from abroad, I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude and I have the distinct pleasure to welcome all of you. As we know, this symposium holds a special significance both in terms of its timing and also in terms of its approach. In terms of its timing, this symposium is going to take place in the aftermath of the date in which the Armenian wartime losses, labeled by some Armenians and their supporters as “genocide”, reached a crescendo, but apparently failed to make the desired impact. In terms of its approach, this symposium will help highlight why the genocide allegations are rejected and that denialism can actually be attributed to those who are not ready, willing and spirited to discuss historical facts. AVİM Conference Book 7 PROSPECTS FOR TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS No: 15, 2015 Alev Kılıç We, at AVİM, have never considered ourselves to be “denialist”. We are an independent think tank, not swayed by emotions, political or other influences. We try to be as objective as possible on an intellectual level. It is possible to summarize AVİM’s position