1363 - Condemning inhumanity

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Evi Charitidou

We tend to talk about the others according to analyses by foreigners, there are, though, texts which are determinative by themselves. They don’t need a specialized interpretation. For the experts on the genocide of the Armenians there are many; however, hardly do they appear on newspapers. The following extract is written by Dr. Mehmet Resit, commander of Diyarbakir.
“There are two possibilities. Either they clear the Turks or the Turks will clear them. I couldn’t stand indecisive before these two alternative solutions. My Turkishness was more powerful than my medical competence. I said to myself: instead of their eradicating us we ought to eradicate them. […] If history reproaches me, I will accept it. However, it is indifferent to me what other nations write or will write about me”.
With these few and simple phrases the writer explains the genocide of 1,500,000 Armenians. Nobody can say that he is a foreigner, since he is a Turk. Nobody can say that he is illiterate, since he is a doctor. Nobody can say that he is not aware of the issue, since he is a commander. In substance there is no excuse. Moreover the issue and the problem of the recognition of the genocide of the Armenians prove how the Turks deal with it. Even though the genocide has been recognized by tenths of countries and institutions at an international level, the Turks insist that it is not a genocide and we should examine the Ottoman archives, but this has been already taking place. History reproaches this crime against humanity, but the Turks do not admit it and remain intransigent. They do not change their position because the accusation does not scare them. And the reason for that is simple. For, there is not any condemnation.
The paradigm of the genocide of the Armenians is not indicative only for the genocide of the Pontiacs but for the Cypriots as well. Invasion and occupation may be pointed as accusations but they have not been condemned. And for this reason the Cypriot issue has remained undeveloped for decades. Whereas with the recourses there is condemnation and along with it there is also the cost of inhumanity. The drastic developments on the Cypriot issue over the last few years are mainly due to the recourses of the Cypriots. It is only through those that they managed to transform the accusation into condemnation. Now the Turks should not look only at their eternal present which used to determine everything. Now they should pay attention at their past as well, because it decides for their future. Through recourses and the concept of condemnation, inhumanity has now a cost. Economy functions as the dynamics of ethics and this is what they are now afraid of.