March 21, 2011 - 20:05 AMT
OPINION
Armenian Genocide: Turks are tired of keeping their mouth shut

Irreversible processes are under way in Turkey: the taboo for the Armenian Genocide maintained for decades gradually recedes. Statements about the 1915 events (usage of the term Armenian Genocide is still unsafe) are voiced more often and louder. One can see in the implied sense of these statements that there is unvoiced need to recognize the Genocide.

The number of Turkish journalists and writers who refer to the Armenian Genocide is growing, while their books are purchased rapidly.

Serenade novel by Turkish writer Zulfu Livaneli, which refers to the Armenian Genocide, has become a bestseller in Turkey. 50,000 samples of the book were sold within three days. The novel tells about the Armenian Genocide, Holocaust and Kurds.

The Turkish people, at least a part of it, is tired of keeping its mouth shut or started conceiving that the country’s fathers presented the events at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries not wholly true.

Some people forfeited their lives for revelations, like editor-in-chief of Agos paper Hrant Dink, who was killed on January 19, 2007, near his office.

But he has many followers: in December 2008 over 200 representatives of Turkey’s intelligentsia initiated ‘Forgive us, Armenians’ campaign, placing a relevant petition on the web. And the campaign has sent away the fear imposed for decades with respect to the Armenian Genocide. Around 30,000 people have signed the petition.

And it is a normal result: the nation, which was forced to keep silence for many years, will finally be tired of doing it.