Defining Our Demands and Course of Action at Threshold of Centennial

Other Armenians will present territorial claims, which in themselves will become a Pandora’s box, because many people and many groups have different perceptions about the size of territorial claims.

Wilsonian Armenia, which would have roughly tripled Armenia’s present territory, is a case in point as a precedent.

During the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Sevres, US President Woodrow Wilson was asked to draw the future map of Armenia. He was trying to come up with a territory which would be viable economically. Many compatriotic organizations were appealing to Wilson to include their hometowns in the map. Wilson had designated the port of Trabizon to become Armenia’s access to the world’s seaways, although Trabizon had never featured in the historic map of Armenia.

As Cilicia was excluded from the Wilsonian map, a last-ditch effort was made as a desperate move to create a fait accompli; indeed, six days before the Treaty of Sevres was to be signed (August 10, 1920), an assembly of Armenians and Assyrians declared homerule in Cilicia, under the leadership of Mihran Damadian.

Turkey is a major power with tremendous resources. Its leaders have carefully and thoroughly analyzed the Armenian issue, because that is part of their permanent political agenda, and they have to deal with it down the road. They fully realize the disarray reigning in the Armenian world and they also know how to create confusion and chaos by a surprise bold move.

Should Turkey decide to deal with the Armenian Question, where do we stand collectively at this point?

There has been a precedent in recent history and Armenians reacted in a cooperative fashion. That was in the year 1977 when ASALA was conducting a terror campaign against Turkish diplomats. Whether anyone is for or against terrorism is immaterial in this case, because that campaign forced the then-Turkish Foreign Minister Ihsan Sabri Çaglayangil to invite the leaders of the Armenian political parties — ARF, Hunchak and ADL — to meet secretly in Switzerland. The political leaders demonstrated exemplary unity by subscribing to a common agenda. But as soon as the Turkish government found out that the delivery of the cessation of hostilities was beyond the means of the political parties, it immediately dropped subsequent meetings.

This brings us to the point that Turkey may decide to give it another try for whatever reason; are we prepared for that eventuality?

Armenians have very few concrete proposals or programs to deal with that kind of situation. A recent article (“A Blueprint for Diaspora Representation in Negotiations with Turkey over Reparations, June 1, 2013) in the Armenian Weekly, signed by Avedis Hadjian, is one of them.

The author outlines a plan to develop a representative entity to deal with Turkey. He is proposing a bicameral general assembly to be elected by the Diasporan Armenians. Given the lack of feasibility of bringing voters from different countries under one roof, he proposes a virtual system, voting online, although that may pose other problems. One important suggestion is that the Armenian government has to head this assembly; that, of course, will eliminate the traditional rivalry between the diaspora groups and what is more important, it will provide legality to the assembly as a sovereign state.

If we wish to render the Genocide centennial a meaningful historic turning point, we must be thinking in these concrete terms. Of course, following the creation of the assembly comes the definition of our demands. Historians and authorities in international law must be invited to formulate our demands, which cannot be left to amateur armchair politicians.

We need to make the centennial a watershed, where Armenians go beyond commemorations to a solid political movement, mobilizing worldwide Armenians into fighting battalions. That requires more sober thinking, detached from emotional actions and reactions. Of course, we cannot eliminate layers of distrust and hatred built up over centuries because of Turkish atrocities. And no one has the right to preach to Armenians not to hate their murderers. That is not human — and not even divine. When the poet Avedik Issahakian was reminded of Christ’s advice to turn the other cheek if someone slaps one check, the poet answered: “When Christ gave that advice, Turks did not exist.”

We have to face the centennial with diverse manifestations of artistic events, asserting our survival, political rallies and above all, united political action.