99 - all you should know about the Genocide April, 2014 | Page 49

The Reasons for Denialism
Why don’t the Turks accept the fact of the Genocide?
After all, weren’t the leaders of the Union and
Progress Party once found guilty in court for the mass
murder of Armenians, among their other crimes?

and economically powerful communities in the
Ottoman Empire. After the Genocide, that massive
wealth ended up in the hands of the organizers of
the slaughter and the murderers themselves. Some
of the largest Turkish trading families and economic
players have Armenian traces in the story of how

Even Kemal Ataturk has spoken on this topic on a

they accumulated their wealth. These very powers

number of occasions and condemned the massacre,

fear that a recognition of the genocide will lead to

calling it “a shameful act” and demanding that the

a demand for reparations. The massive size of those

guilty be punished. So, theoretically, one could accept

reparations means that they can be transformed

the annihilation of the Armenians and explain that it

into territorial claims, if the Turkish state ends up

was a crime committed by the Ottoman Empire, with

unable to pay the necessary restitution.

no relation to the current Turkish republic. In reality,
the Turkish state machine and society rabidly deny
their own guilt, and there are a number of compelling
reasons for this. Several researchers have covered this
topic, identifying three main fear factors –

b) The fear of defaming heroes. A large number
of former Young Turk communist members had
joined the Kemalist movement after they had been
condemned by the government for various reasons,
including the crimes against the Armenians. Joining

a) The fear of reparations. From a cultural point of

the Turkish nationalist and revolutionary movement

view, the Armenians were one of the most developed

had been the only way they could avoid responsibility

Title: Akdamar Island of Van
Date Created/Published: c1923 Oct. 15.
Medium: 1 photographic print.
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-3215 0
(digital file from original item) LC-USZ62-130934 (b&w film copy neg.)

Title: Armenian refugees
Creator(s): Bain News Service, publisher
Date Created/Published: [1920 Dec. 3]
Medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ggbain-27083 (digital file from original negative)