Editor’s Diary: Turkish presidency’s Armenian history

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Friday March 19, 2010

Turkish presidential residence at Cankaya from above. Wikimedia

Ankara, Turkey - For the past two days our group of nine - experts, commentators, writers from Washington, New York and Boston - has shuttled from one end of Ankara to another for meeting after meeting.

Eleven meetings in all so far: six yesterday and five today - the latest with President Abdullah Gul, from which we just came back having admired, among other things, two large marine paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky on display in the presidential palace.

Compared to abrasive Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been making all the news lately, Mr. Gul is a soft-spoken, mild-mannered man and I appreciate him taking the time to meet our group.

In that meeting I had an opportunity to ask Mr. Gul to treat Armenian Genocide with due sensitivity and not to dismiss the expression of a deeply felt connection Armenians have to a part of our homeland that is now in Turkey as mere lobbying campaign.

All Mr. Gul could afford is to express sympathy for all those who lost their lives, while emphasizing the fate of Turks who suffered in the Balkans.

Turkey is becoming a much more open country. It is a dynamic country, growing in power and confidence. But the history of the Genocide still weighs heavy here.

Even the Turkish president's residence at Çankaya is said to be located on land confiscated from an Armenian family during the Genocide.

And more obviously, one of Ankara's main boulevards is named after Talaat Pasha, one of the Young Turk architects of the Genocide later assassinated by Armenians.

95 years on the legacy of the Genocide - along with America's present-day worries over Iran - dominated nearly all of our meetings here with officials and politicians. This is of course thanks to the resolution that recently passed the House Committee.

Turkey has since recalled its Ambassador to U.S. Namik Tan and, according to officials here, is unlikely to return him to Washington before President Barack Obama's April 24 statement.

Our group's most senior member former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey (1989-91) Morton Abramowitz is certainly best known and appreciated here, in particular for his advocacy against Genocide resolutions. His presence in our group probably opened many doors for us.

Another group member my colleague from The Armenian Weekly Khatchig Mouradian earned special recognition for his fluent Istanbul Turkish.

We are guided here by a very capable young lady named Sinem Ulutürk, who is with TEPAV foundation that invited us.  (Among other distinctions Sinem shares the name of my great-great-grandmother from whom my family name originates.)

To be frank coming here I expected to be brainwashed about Turkey's greatness by both U.S. and Turkish officials. This is what normally one hears at Turkey policy events in Washington.

Instead, there have been a series of frank exchanges - particularly with U.S. Ambassador here James Jeffrey who is now managing a very troubled relationship.

With all the weight of history and officialdom Ankara has been at once a very familiar and pleasant place to be.