Can We Have A Little Talk? Birgün, 24 February 2005

I am one of the Armenians of Turkey; once a prolific people with a four thousand-year old history, now reduced to a community of 50-60 thousand.
Despite my shortcomings, and even venturing beyond my limits a little, with my articles I attempt to leave behind my tiny ‘community pond’ and swim the vast ‘sea of citizenship of Turkey’, and go further still, into the expanse of the ‘ocean of universality’.
But I know that in the eyes of many of you I don’t exactly succeed in doing that, and appear more to be desperately splashing about within the periphery of my own pond.
And again according to many of you, my articles smack too much of being a ‘member of a Minority’, they are too ‘Armenian.’
There are probably also some among you who see me as an Armenian nationalist.
But I entreat you to try and understand my circumstances.
And if you are unable to, allow me to put it to you in a nutshell:
You might be accurate in your observation, but you should also accept that it was you, the multitude, that forced us toward and confined us within this pond.

***

The following maxim has always been imposed upon us:
“You are different, but you are the kind of different that is, by definition, always wrong.”
The mindset that has hoped to benefit from deliberately delaying the development of democracy in Turkey has consistently failed to comprehend the wealth that diversity brings. It persisted in seeing it as ‘a burden’.
“A minority in Turkey today is neither the minority defined by the Treaty of Lausanne, nor the citizen defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey.”
You may not admire the articles on minorities in the Treaty of Lausanne, and may not want to see citizens living in this land being differentiated on that basis.
These may be considered the most fundamental requirements of a democratic society.
But when you are trying to release a member of a minority from the limits determined by the Treaty of Lausanne, isn’t it then necessary to open up a space for them in your melting pot of ‘citizens of equal status’?
The sad truth is, neither the Treaty of Lausanne, nor any comparable citizenship rights apply in Turkey.

***

In democratic countries, living amidst the majority might be quite enjoyable for a member of a minority.
Yet in the garden of a country where democracy has failed to take root, to live as a member of a minority is like being a thorn amongst flowers of a single colour, or a weed that must be pulled out and cast over the garden wall.
I count myself among those who believe that the experience of living as a member of a minority has its own, unique flavour. If you were to ask us, “What kind of a taste is that?” my answer would be as follows:
“If you are free and feel secure –a state of existence that we have never tasted- it must be very sweet. But if you are not, it is awfully bitter. And if you are sometimes free and sometimes not, then it is desperately sour –and that is what we most often experience.”
The taste of being a member of a minority is directly related to the ability of the majority to contribute flavour, rather than people’s capacity to appreciate taste.
In truth, the problem lies not with the minorities, but with the multitude.

***

That is why the struggle of those in my position is a struggle that carries on in spite of you, the majority.
This is not only the case for me, but also for a Kurd, and for others whose identity has been forced into a corner.
And of course, our task under such pressure is not easy.
We must both defend our identity, and simultaneously resist becoming prisoners of that identity.
It is difficult, but we have no other option, and we will succeed.
Yet, if we carried out this struggle not in spite of you, but with your support, with you alongside us, wouldn’t it become much easier?
If only you would give it some thought, just once! If only you would give it a little thought.