Wednesday, September 22, 2010 

On Sunday of this week an Armenian mass was held at the little Armenian church on Akdamar island in southeastern Turkey's Lake Van. It was the first mass to be held there since 1915 (it seems Jenny White has discussed this mass as well).

Within the Republic of Armenia, however, people are upset that the Turkish government did not allow a cross to be placed on top of the church. Turkish authorities say the cross is too heavy for the structure to bear, and instead of placing the cross on the church the cross was planted alongside it.


The cross sitting next to the church

I have no idea: perhaps the Turkish government is being paranoid and overly defensive here, perhaps Turkish authorities really are concerned about the structural soundness of the church.

But if the Turkish government is being paranoid, the Armenian government—which appears to be at least encouraging some of the anger—should consider its own actions. Armenia's Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Uinon included some regions of Turkey in the state that the declaration envisioned coming into being, and the preamble to the 1995 Constitution reaffirms the territorial scope of the Declaration of Independence. Meanwhile, some opposition parties in Armenia demand that Turkey pay restitution.

If the Turkish government were convinced that recognition of genocide would not lead, eventually, to demands (perhaps backed up by powerful states) for Turkey to pay land and money to Armenia, I think there would be much more willingness inside Turkey to explore the genocide issue in a less defensive way.


I visited Akdamar Island during my trip to Van in May of last year. Do you see the church in the middle? 

But when a country is making territorial claims on you, and when there is a late-Ottoman historical legacy (or hangover) of powerful states siding with minority Christian territorial demands against Ottoman authorities, I think some paranoia and defensiveness is probably to be expected. Turkish authorities fear the worst, and they have numerous historical examples to point to in justifying these fears.

For as long as those fears are credible, it is easier for everybody to resist changing the terms of the genocide debate.

I think that if the Armenian government were really interested in burying the hatchet with Turkey, they would renounce their territorial and financial claims. 

Or am I just being unreasonable?