Seminar on Nationalism and Genocide: The Case of Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide
Posted on 05. Apr, 2010 by KSSO in Calender, News
KSSO seminars on Nationalism and Genocide: The Case of Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide
Speaker: Recep Marasli, the author of the book „ Armenian National Democratic Movement and The 1915 Genocide“
@Kurdish Advice Centre
24th April 2010, @ 5:00pm at Kurdish Advice Centre, 2 Birkbeck Road ondon N8 7PF 020 8347 9657
@Cafe Mostra
25th April 2010, @5:00pm at Cafe Mostra, 86 Stoke Newington High Street, Stoke Newington London N16 7PA
@ SOAS
Speakers: Recep Marasli and Dr. Choman Hardi
Unfortunately, due to his busy schedule, Dr Surhan Cam of Cardiff University is not going to come to London to chair the seminar
Date and Time: 22nd April 2010, @ 7:00pm
Venue: KLT, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG
Organised by Kurdish Studies and Students Organisation (KSSO) and Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS)
Dr. Choman Hardi will open the seminar with a brief talk on Nationalism and Genocide. Then Mr. Recep Marasli will talk about Turkish nationalism and the Armenian genocide.
Genocide and Facing Historical Facts
Most of our planet is inhabited by multi-ethnic, multi-national and multi-cultural groups of people. However the nationalist doctrines and ethnic chauvinism combined with a policy of homogenization that pushes all other ethnic entities to a secondary and dependent position, are key forces that contribute to policies of genocide. For example until the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire was significantly preserving its multinational, multiethnic, multicultural nature. However the conversion of this multi-national, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural entity to the Turkish ethnic supremacy in the form of “nation state” was only possible through systematic destruction and extermination policies. The lives of some ethnic groups (Armenians, Assyrians-Syrians and the Pontic Greeks) have been destroyed through genocide, massacres, direct/ indirect dispossession, and deportation in order to construct a Turkish nation and facilitate the Turkisation of Anatolia. The genocide of 1915 was the apex of this political process when the Turkish nationalists annihilated the oldest inhabitants of Mesopotamia and the ancient Near Eastern region. According to different sources, one and a half million Armenians have been killed (see Marashlian 1991, Noël 1994, Gaunt 2006, Henham and Behrens 2007,Schaefer 2008, Schaller and Zimmerer 2008) during systematic destruction and extermination policies of Turkish nationalists. It is also the result of such a political reality that the Kurdish nation today suffers from ethnic discrimination, displacement, assimilation and genocide (Fernandes 2007) and linguicide (Hassanpour 1992). Despite an extremely long-running political struggle and conflict it continues to remain an internationally unrecognised and oppressed nation whose rights are constantly denied. In this atmosphere of political confrontation it is important for people to understand history of systematic destruction and extermination policies of Turkish nationalist and their nation building process.
Mr. Marasli states that he has started his research in prison “with my desire to learn what actually happened. But during the research I came to the conclusion that the fates of Armenian, Greek, the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people, Kurds and Arabs in this region are interwoven and their history needs to be studied in relation to each other. I attempted to analyse the shift from a multi-cultural region to a single national, mono-cultural wasteland
How have these societies encountered a future, after experiencing such a large scale of historical and social destruction? What kind of problems has this destruction caused for different ethnic groups and for the restructuring of the Turkish Republic? What role does this historical tragedy play in the ethno-national conflicts and problems experienced today?
The lack of analysis and condemnation of these tragic events plays an important role in the repetition of the ethnic and national discrimination, oppression and annihilation policies in the 21th century.
How can ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, assimilation and intersectional national discrimination policies are prevented? How can we change the mental structures implicated in these large scale crimes against humanity? What are the obstacles and opportunities to challenge the mental structure of nationalism?”
Mr. Marasli states that “when discussing historical events, of course, what we really want to find out is how we can establish fair, equal and peaceful societies. I believe that facing the facts of our own history bravely and condemning genocide in everyday life including in political, social, cultural practices and developing international intervention policies against possible genocide can only help us to create a more secure and peaceful world”
Do I need to reserve or book place in advance?