Taner Akçam: The decision will be made by politicians, not historians

by Taner Akcam

Published: Tuesday September 15, 2009

Taner Akçam.

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Retroactive application of international law

In fact, the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission, which was formed in 2001, made just such an application to an organization named the ICTJ (International Center for Transitional Justice) in 2003, and asked for the issuance of its opinion. The ICTJ issued an opinion that the events of 1915 fit within the definition of genocide given in the 1948 UN Convention; however, the definition [legal judgment] could not [legally] be applied retroactively.

Still, even if we are to accept this legal principle, in no way does this provide a balm to heal our wounds, because this isn't the real problem. For example, the principle of non-retroactive application for past crimes could be used in the Jewish Holocaust. The 1948 Convention was issued after the Jews were annihilated in Europe. And what is generally not known is that in none of the prosecutions that followed, including the Nuremberg trials, did a single Nazi ever get convicted of the crime of genocide. Now, in the face of these legal arguments, are we going to state that the Jews were not targeted for genocide?

The conclusion is obvious. There is no issue regarding the decision-making, and the notion of historians coming to conclusions on what happened in history is nonsense. Unless that person is an official with the state government, you will never find a historian who will state, "I'm going to tell you what happened in 1915, and you're just going to have to accept that."

Opening state archives

Taraf: There's talk about opening up the archives. Are there archives in Turkey that are closed and which, if opened, would provide enlightening information about history? Are there closed archives in Armenia? What is your opinion about Turkey's position regarding the archives?

TA: On this subject, there are two important archives in Turkey. One is the Ottoman Archive in Istanbul and the other is the General Staff Archive [in Ankara]. The Ottoman Archive is open to researchers. We know what records have been presented to researchers there.

In other words, you don't need to form a commission to gain access to the existing records in the Ottoman Archive. If there are records that have been held back, they can be made available without resorting to the formation of a commission.

If someone says those records won't be revealed unless a commission is formed, then yes, a commission could be formed for this special purpose. You could call it the Commission to Publish the Hitherto Secret Records.

The General Staff archive (ATASE for short) is truly closed. There isn't even an application form to request research there. That source should be opened to researchers. If the ATASE has records that do not appear in the eight-volume work that they published, [those records] can be published without resorting to the formation of a commission, or a commission could be formed for the organization of those documents.

There are no archives on this subject matter in Armenia because the state of Armenia was formed in 1918, and for that reason there is nothing about the events of 1915 in the Armenian State archives.

Private archives

The Dashnak Party archives in Boston are closed to researchers. There was an announcement, however, in 2009, that a digital transcription of the records is being worked on with great haste, and that the records will be opened once that is completed. It would be a great service if this archive were opened. It is not simply that keeping them closed is wrong; it is because [opening the archive] will confirm to everyone that it does not contain information that will change any of our [general] knowledge about what occurred.

Another archive that is closed belongs to the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem. An important source of the records of military tribunal prosecutions of members of the Union and Progress Party for the events of 1915 that took place in Istanbul between 1919 and 1921 are found there. The archives are closed to researchers, but Vahakn Dadrian possesses copies of a large number of those records, and much of his research has been also supported by those records. It would be a great service if this archive were also opened to researchers.

Of course, it goes without saying that if there are records that have not been revealed in these archives, records that have not been presented to researchers, they should be made accessible immediately; there is much to be gained from their availability to researchers. There could be ad hoc commissions formed for the purpose of getting these records published, or for example, on specific subjects, like population figures, but these efforts should not be conditioned on the reconciliation of both societies or the resolution of the problems arising from their history.

I should add that none of these archives holds information that will change what we already know about 1915. It is wrong to think that a heretofore unknown record exists within these archives which will unlock the question of whether or not a genocide took place. Besides, during the 1919 prosecutions it was revealed that documents that would have provided clear and definite evidence were destroyed. Nevertheless, the documents that remain are sufficient for us to come to a conclusion about what happened.

An open-ended process

We should mention the archives of other countries like Germany, America, and Austria. As someone who is for the most part familiar with what is contained in those archives, I can say without hesitation that all of the information in these archives supports a common theme. Besides, the academic world has for the most part formed its opinion about 1915 based upon the information that was brought to light from those records. That is, that the Union and Progress Party intended to destroy the Armenians, and that it put forth policies that would ensure this would occur.