Zeynep Tozduman's "Apology" in English
Dear friends and brothers in Christ
Have you seen this? I flew back to the UK on the day this took place so did not witness it.
There are a lot of people now in Izmir and elsewhere in Turkey who openly discuss the genocide and apologise and ask for forgiveness as I have now experienced on a personal level. I only received love and warmth from every Turk and Kurd I met and talked to. I have laughed and cried with them and I know that healing is taking place between our nations, slowly but surely. (I have also shared with Kurds who have equally asked for forgiveness).
I have also now shared one to one with Armenian Turks I met. It was a very emotional time as you might expect. But for me the greatest thing was coming to the conclusion that half of me is from that region (probably Adana) and that I love the Turks and Kurds as much as I love all members of humanity. I now feel a very close affinity with them and I aim to go every year to support their churches. I can say before our God that I hold nothing against them and that we are all God’s children, and He loves us all without making any differentiation.
Bless you all
Ara
Subject: Zeynep Tozduman's "Apology" in English
The following is the English translation (by Raffi Bedrosyan) of the article written by Zeynep Tozduman, a columnist from Izmir. Also please find enclosed the link and the pictures of today's 24 April commemorations in Izmir.
My apology from all the peoples and faiths of Anatolia subjected to genocide
I apologize for every single day that we have remained silent since the days of genocide.
I apologize for our grandfathers who cooperated with the murderers carrying out the brutal massacre of 1.5 million people in Anatolia.
I apologize from your young girls for permanently burying their hopes into their dowry chests.
I apologize from all your people left dead without a proper burial, shroud or cemeteries.
I apologize for causing you to add the word 'converted - Donme' to your vocabulary.
I apologize from all your girls and women abused and raped, forcefully converted to Kurd, Turk, Alevi or Islam.
I apologize for forcing you to become the Diaspora and scatter like pomegranate seeds to all corners of the world.
I apologize for forcing you to long for your homeland with broken hearts from the faraway deportation points.
I apologize for preventing you from giving your children proper names and education in your mother tongue, a basic human right.
I apologize for confiscating your houses, properties, lands, farms, orchards, and shops to create our national economy, based on a disease of racism in this country.
I apologize for denying even the very existence of the original peoples of these lands after subjecting them to economic, cultural and political genocide.
I apologize for confiscating your places of worship (monastery, church, synagogue, Jem house, etc.), and converting them to mosques, museums, community centres or stables.
I apologize from the survivors of the genocide for even forbidding them from dreaming in their own language.
I apologize for forcing racism on you by making you repeat every morning 'So happy to be a Turk'.
I apologize for presenting your properties as gifts to your own murderers.
I apologize for transforming the Anatolian garden of different peoples to a cemetery of different peoples.
I apologize for realizing too late that the sorrow expressed in the song 'Sari Gelin' was in reality the sorrow of the genocide.
I apologize for wiping out the various original peoples of Anatolia living on these lands long before the arrival of the Turks, and for trying to create a single nation state.
I apologize for creating a hell of murders in this country, instead of a heaven of humanity.
I apologize for burying all the people named Agop, Kiriakos, Samuel, Ani, Maria or Sarkis in my city Smyrna (Izmir) as well as the rest of the country, and also burying our humanity in the process.
I apologize for committing crimes against humanity for one thousand and four hundred years in these lands.
I apologize for not realizing that fascism would eventually arrive and start killing us as well in these lands.
I apologize for not being able to put a stop to the denial and assimilation policies for one hundred years.
I apologize especially for our inhumane behaviour during the genocides of the Armenians, Assyrians, Pontic Greeks, Yezidis and Alevis.
And I apologize once again on this April 24 genocide commemoration day, for our inability to protect you and preserve our humanity.
Zeynep Tozduman, Izmir, Turkey
April 24, 2013
I apologize for every single day that we have remained silent since the days of genocide.
I apologize for our grandfathers who cooperated with the murderers carrying out the brutal massacre of 1.5 million people in Anatolia.
I apologize from your young girls for permanently burying their hopes into their dowry chests.
I apologize from all your people left dead without a proper burial, shroud or cemeteries.
I apologize for causing you to add the word 'converted - Donme' to your vocabulary.
I apologize from all your girls and women abused and raped, forcefully converted to Kurd, Turk, Alevi or Islam.
I apologize for forcing you to become the Diaspora and scatter like pomegranate seeds to all corners of the world.
I apologize for forcing you to long for your homeland with broken hearts from the faraway deportation points.
I apologize for preventing you from giving your children proper names and education in your mother tongue, a basic human right.
I apologize for confiscating your houses, properties, lands, farms, orchards, and shops to create our national economy, based on a disease of racism in this country.
I apologize for denying even the very existence of the original peoples of these lands after subjecting them to economic, cultural and political genocide.
I apologize for confiscating your places of worship (monastery, church, synagogue, Jem house, etc.), and converting them to mosques, museums, community centres or stables.
I apologize from the survivors of the genocide for even forbidding them from dreaming in their own language.
I apologize for forcing racism on you by making you repeat every morning 'So happy to be a Turk'.
I apologize for presenting your properties as gifts to your own murderers.
I apologize for transforming the Anatolian garden of different peoples to a cemetery of different peoples.
I apologize for realizing too late that the sorrow expressed in the song 'Sari Gelin' was in reality the sorrow of the genocide.
I apologize for wiping out the various original peoples of Anatolia living on these lands long before the arrival of the Turks, and for trying to create a single nation state.
I apologize for creating a hell of murders in this country, instead of a heaven of humanity.
I apologize for burying all the people named Agop, Kiriakos, Samuel, Ani, Maria or Sarkis in my city Smyrna (Izmir) as well as the rest of the country, and also burying our humanity in the process.
I apologize for committing crimes against humanity for one thousand and four hundred years in these lands.
I apologize for not realizing that fascism would eventually arrive and start killing us as well in these lands.
I apologize for not being able to put a stop to the denial and assimilation policies for one hundred years.
I apologize especially for our inhumane behaviour during the genocides of the Armenians, Assyrians, Pontic Greeks, Yezidis and Alevis.
And I apologize once again on this April 24 genocide commemoration day, for our inability to protect you and preserve our humanity.
Zeynep Tozduman, Izmir, Turkey
April 24, 2013
SOYKIRIM YAŞAYAN ANADOLU HALKLARINDAN VE İNANÇLARINDAN ÖZRÜMDÜR -Zeynep Tozduman
• Sizlerden, soykırımdan günümüze değin, sessiz kaldığımız her gün için özür dilerim.
• Anayurtlarınızdan, Deir-zor çöllerine tehcir adı altında sürdürüldüğünüz için özür dilerim.
• 1,5 milyon insan Anadolu coğrafyasında hunharca katledilirken, dedelerimizin katillerle işbirliği yaptığı için özür dilerim.
• Kızlarınızın umutlarının, çeyiz sandığına gömüldüğü için özür dilerim.
• Mezarsız ve kefensiz ölüleriniz için özür dilerim.
• Kelime darağacınıza “dönme” sözcüğünü soktuğumuz için özür dilerim
• Kızlarınızın, kadınlarınızın namusları kirletildiği, zorla Kürtleştirilip, Türkleştirildiği, Alevileştirildiği ve Müslümanlaştırıldığı için özür dilerim.
• Yaşamak için sizleri nar taneleri gibi Diaspora’ya ve ABD’ye göç ettirmek zorunda bıraktığımız için özür dilerim.
• Sürgünde anavatan hasretiyle, yüreklerinizi dağladığımız için özür dilerim.
• Çocuklarınıza, en temel insan hakkı olan, kendi anadilinizde isim-soy isim ve eğitim verdiremediğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Evlerinize, bağ, bahçelerinize, arazilerinize, ticarethanelerinize el koyup sermayeyi millileştirip; bu ülkeye ırkçılık hastalığını inşa ettirdiğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Ekonomik, kültürel, siyasal soykırım yaşayan yerli halkları yok sayarak, görmemezlikten geldiğimiz için özür dilerim.
• İnanç ve kutsal mabetlerinizi (Manastır, Kilise, Sinagog, Cem evi v.b. Gibi) zorla kamulaştırıp, camiye, ahıra, müzeye, Kültür merkezine v.b. Gibi, çevirdiğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Soykırımdan sağ kalanlarınızın Ana dilinde rüya görmesini engellediğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Yüzyıldır bu ülkede her sabah sizlere “Ne Mutlu Türküm” diye ırkçılık yaptığımız için özür dilerim.
• Varlığınızı, cellâtlarımıza zorla armağan ettirdiğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Anadolu halklar bahçesini, halklar mezarlığına çevirdiğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Bir “Sarı Gelin” türküsündeki hüznün, soykırımın hüznü olduğunu çok geç anladığımız için Özür dilerim.
• Biz Türklerden çok evvel ‘’bu topraklarda yaşayan’’, ülkenin en yerli halklarını ve inançlarını yok ederek, ülkeyi tek tipçiliğe kurban ettiğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Bu ülkeyi insanlık cenneti değil, katliamlar cennetine çevirdiğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Başta ülke genelinde ve yaşadığım şehir Symrna (İzmir)’de olmak üzere Agop’ları, Kuryakos’ları, Samuel’leri, Ani’leri, Maria’ları, Sarkis’leri, isimleriyle birlikte, insanlığımızı DA tarihe gömdüğümüz için özür dilerim.
• Bin dört yüz yıldır nefret ve insanlık suçu işlediğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Faşizmin bir gün gelip de, bizi de bu ülkede vurmak isteyeceğini bilemediğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Ret – inkâr ve asimilasyon politikalarına yüzyıldır dur diyemediğimiz için özür dilerim.
• Özellikle, son yüzyıldır Ermenilere, Süryanilere, Pontus Rumlara, Yezidilere, Alevilere yapılan soykırımlarda insan olamadığımız için özür dilerim.
• Soykırım yapıldığında sizlere ve insanlığımıza sahip çıkamadığımız için, 24 Nisan soykırım kurbanlarını anma gününde, bir kez daha saygıyla eğilip özür dilerim.
ZEYNEP TOZDUMAN
1 comment:
Of course all Armenians should be pleased to read Zeynep Torzduman's apology. My ancestors are from Izmir. But it makes me wonder how this apology can represent the Turks' behaviour on the long run.
I note that your blog was created after Hrant Dink's assassination. I was and witnessed the thousands of people who marched at his funeral in Bolis. But how far do you think the Turks would be prepared to go? The Genocide teaches us many lessons. You must know that after the 1908 ousting of Abdul Hamid II and the proclamation of the Ottoman Constitution, we, the Armenians believed that change has come in Turkey. We had, as you know, even a number of Armenian Parliamentarians such as Krikor Zohrab, who wanted to allow women in Turkey to vote. There was also the funeral of Simon Zavarain (1913) where and when thousands of Turks marched behind his coffin and mourning his death, as he was recognised as a prominent Ottoman intellectual with thousands of Turk following in his way. We were not there, but from what we read we know it was similar to Hrant Dink’s funeral. And you also know the fate of 1.5 million Armenians by the same leadership who offered the Armenians their rights as Ottoman citizens and then executed the Genocide. History is lessons learned. There is an Armenian saying "one flower is not spring". I don't distrust the sincerity of Zeynap, but trusting the Turks as a group, is another thing. I need to see tangible reparation to declare that Turkey has changed.
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