Definitely, wrong does not justify
wrong… similarly, crime does not justify crime… in this regard, I remember a
heated debate I had with late distinguished friend Dr. Ahmed Abdallah Rozza
over the attack held on a Jewish synagogue in one of the European capitals
during prayers where some Jewish children were there.
The debate was about whether the Zionist
crimes against the Palestinians, including children in worship places, schools
and streets, and before that their vicious massacre against Egyptian children
in Bahr El-Baqar primary school, justify doing the same thing against their
children, no matter by Palestinians or others… The debate was fierce indeed…
because if one rejected such behavior, he would find reasons justifying his
stance… and if one adopted this behavior; meaning killing them, he would find logic
reasons corroborating his stance as well.
Usually, under feelings of pain,
injustice and oppression, one can overreact in his feelings to the extent that
he insists his enemy must go through the same suffering he once forced him to.
I was going through a book I found on
my desk when I asked about who bought it, they said it’s a gift from the Armenian General Benevolent
Association of Cairo…
Actually, it’s not an ordinary book; it’s rectangular in shape, rising 7 cm
above the desk surface with 1372 pages of the size 34 cm x 17 cm, with words written
in small font… meaning, we have a book holding many volumes within titled “Armenian
Genocide” and authored by Dr. Remon Kiforkian who was introduced by the writer
of the book introduction; Berg Terizian; honorary president of the association
as: “Dr. Remon Kiforkian was awarded the PhD degree in Sorbonne University in
Paris at 1980… he is a historian who studied in the French institute of
political geography at Paris University… also, he was the research director in
the same institute… he also was secretary general of Nubarian Library
affiliated to the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) in Paris”… then the
association chief listed the leading positions occupied and books authored by
the author; all of them were prestigious indeed.
As to the book, it talks about the
Armenian Genocide committed by the government of Ottoman Turkey during World
War I; meaning a hundred years ago and during which million and a half
Armenians died… The main motive behind this genocide was the desire of
Al-Etihad Wat-Taraqqi party leaders – the party ruling Ottoman Turkey with tyranny
at that time – to build a national Turkish state excluding all non-Turkish
ethnic minorities.
To achieve this goal, those leaders
started following a systematic policy of extermination; they led the Armenians
in death convoys from their historic homeland to the deserts of Syria and Iraq…
in addition to robbing their assets and money; fixed and liquid.
The publisher of the book is the Armenian
General Association in Cairo, first established in Cairo in 1910 as an offshoot
of the AGBU that was established in 1906 in Cairo by Boghos Nubar Pasha; son of
Nubar Pasha Nubarian; first Premier of Egypt (1878 – 1879)… The association
works in the fields of education and providing different social services in the
domain of the Armenian community in Egypt… it also pursues cultural activities
to revive the Armenian heritage through publishing books and bulletins and
holding seminars and art exhibitions”…
That’s what I excerpted from the
introduction of the association chief… I believe it’s important to publish such
information in this article because I’m sure the information available to the
public and intellectuals as well about Armenians, Armenian Genocide and the
association are almost nothing.
It drew my attention that the book
author insisted on being unbiased in his analysis… he could gather a wealth of
documented information… also, his discipline was distinguished and new as he
did not separate the controversial relation between the aggressor and victim.
In this regard, he wrote: “… I tried
in the first place to know about the institutional, political, social, and even
psychological mechanisms that reached their maxima in exterminating the Ottoman
Armenians in specific… I worked hard to detect the consecutive phases of fundamentalism
in Al-Etihad Wat-Taraqqi party circles… I also paid special attention to
decision making processes that are complicated phenomena… if there is a
phenomenon of that name… Here I put the controversy about ideas inside Al-Etihad
Wat-Taraqqi elite leaders, forming their ideology and what followed later when
this ideology turned into fundamentalism… I put this controversy against the
parallel rise of nationalism corroborated by the Armenian revolutionary movements…
Those elite leaders of both sides,
whether when they opposed the regime of Sultan Abdel-Hamid or later when they
came in power, were discussing unceasingly the destiny of their common society…
I tried to put this into consideration… also, I paid special attention to the great
disturbing similarity between the Armenian elite leaders and Al-Etihad
Wat-Taraqqi party… As both sides regarded themselves as guardians of a sacred
mission; that is saving the nation… and so you will find this study going back
and forth between both sides’ experiments”.
The book that exceeded 1300 pages is
translated by Sahar Tawfiq whom the reader would search for her translated books
as researchers look for Red mercury… I congratulate her on this tremendous
effort, especially that one can notice the diligence and accuracy in her translation
despite the lengthy text… as the book is divided into six parts and a
conclusion… the parts in turn are divided into 60 chapters… also, there are
lists of sources, references and documents in addition to separate indices.
If one contemplates about the Armenian
Genocide where about million and a half Armenians were martyred on the hands of
Turks, he will remember the Turkish Ottoman tragedies throughout history.
I remember when I was once in a road trip
from Thessaloniki in northern
Greece heading to old United Yugoslavia – that was before it was divided into
states… I went there, accompanied by my friend, the unionist Syrian Dr. Ali
Fattal, to give a series of lectures… I have already written about this trip
before.
However, I stop by what I saw at the
region of Bosnia and Herzegovina starting from simplicity – I won’t say
deterioration common among Muslims there – to the appalling scenes I saw as
there were many walls in old churches and castles built entirely of courses of
Serbs’ skulls… I wish they had covered them with mortar but they left them
exposed with the hollow eye cavities and lipless even teeth apparent.
Years later after that trip, I realized
why the Serbs were that vicious in fighting the Bosnians… and then I remembered
the genuine novel written by Ivo Andric titled “The bridge on the Drina” and
translated by Sami ad-Dorobi… in this novel, the writer detected the terrifying
horror that spread among the region residents due to the savage behavior of the
murderer Turkish invaders… and how the river stones cried upon the scene of
murdering the Serbian resistance leader by impalement.
Then one can recall the Ottoman
invasion on Levant and Egypt… and despite the massacres were not accurately
documented like the case of Armenians and before them the Serbs, one can definitely
fill the blanks… as what is known is enough to write what is missing.
Can we imagine the number of victims
at the time when the Turkish invaders leaded by Selim I robbed Levant and Egypt
of their skilled workers, especially craftsmen, artisans and skillful workers
in thousands?... meaning masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, Khayamya
artisans, people working in brass and gold products, shoe makers, tailors,
veterinaries, apothecaries and spice dealers… to the rest of crafts… they were
all taken to Anatolia
to work by force in the Ottoman state.
Logically, some must have resisted and
tried to escape… and of course, those escaping attempts were met by the known
Turkish violence… not to mention the victims killed in battle fields and others
who died in death marches of the invading army… that army experienced in
violence and blood shedding since their ancestors first came from Central Asia
and swept the way through until they settled down in Anatolia.
It’s the Turkish Ottoman mentality
that left its footprints in many regions… and what is happening in Upper Egypt
toward Egyptian Christian citizens by excluding and forcing them to displace remind
us of the Ottoman heritage.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This article was published in Almasry
alyoum newspaper on September 21, 2016.
To see the original article, go to:
#almasry_alyoum #ahmed_elgammal
#Armenian_genocide #Ottoman_empire #Turkey #Armenians_in_Egypt #AGBU
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