Seyfo Denial – From Within?

A Commentary by Abdulmesih BarAbraham

Munich- ADO– Unlike the Armenians, Assyrians have been late in lobbying for recognition of the Genocide (Seyfo) perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks with the broad support of Kurdish Agas and their militia in 1915. Assyrians (because of confessional labeling in Genocide documents also often referred to as Chaldeans and Syriacs) lost more than half their population.

Turkey’s continued denial and its refusal to acknowledge its involvement in crimes against humanity is the kernel of the ongoing heated debates in Genocide research as well as in the political arena some 90 years after the fact. Turkey’s current effort to gain admission into the European Community has returned this issue front and center. The recent Istanbul assassination of Hrant Dink, as the editor of the Armenian-Turkish weekly newspaper Agos and most prominent advocate of Turkey’s remaining Armenian population, highlights the deep hostility of ultra-nationalist Turks towards Armenians (and consequently Assyrians) who address the slaughter during the World War I.

Assyrians and their organizations worldwide have gained some visibility in their effort to make their voices heard about the Genocide as well. The peak achievement to date is mention of the Assyrian Genocide in the 2006 European Report on Turkey’s progress towards accession. A review regarding the achievements of the Assyrians on this matter worldwide is given in my introduction for the 2nd Edition of “Forgotten Holocaust” by Gabriele Yonan, re-published in Göttingen early 2006: “A Bleeding Wound – even after 90 years” (in German). In Europe it was in fact the publication of this same book in 1989 that ignited efforts towards the recognition. It took a couple of years from there to a major milestone, the recognition of the Assyrian Genocide by the Australian State Government of South Wales in 2002. As a major step forward the trial of Rev.

Yusuf Akbulut in 2000-2001 in Diyarbakir/Turkey needs to be referenced as well. In Europe, the presentation of a Genocide Dossier to the International Court of Justice at Den Haag by the ADO in 2002 — supported by the Society of Threatened People — , and numerous debates in the parliaments of European countries, like Sweden and United Kingdom are equally noteworthy. Meanwhile numerous conferences are being held worldwide on the Genocide of the Assyrians, with some of them aimed at political audiences and parliament members – the most recent was held at the European Parliament site in Brussels (see Zindamagazine’s March 4th issue :“Seyfo: Genocide, Denial and The Right of Recognition”). Assyrian Genocide activities certainly did not remain unnoticed by the Turkish Government and its nationalist media.

Ultimately everyone involved in these activities became or is becoming an obvious target of Turkish anti-Genocide assaults including attacks of its media. As victims of one of the biggest crime against humanity in recent centuries, for Assyrians it sounds almost unbelievable that some from within the community question the Seyfo or the involvement of Turkish authorities as the mastermind of this crime. Of course, there is always discussion around the questions who is most guilty, Turks or Kurds.

The involvement of both has been never questioned, except in some tea-house level discussions! Hence it is astonishing that a leader of the community like a bishop should put a question mark behind the Turkish role in the Genocide. It naturally raises doubts about his loyalties The incident According to the Eastern News Agency (ESNA), on March 4th the orthodox Bishop Hazail Soumi of Brussels arranged a lecture about Seyfo and invited Sabri Atman to give his perspectives on the topic. Over the last few years Atman has earned much credibility for lecturing and lobbying for the recognition of Seyfo. After the lectures and according to an ESNA report (dated March 13, 2007), the bishop questioned Atman’s stand and belittled his lecture as “fairytale and falsification”, lacking any base in research. What is more striking is that the Bishop apparently defended the Turkish state as innocent of any kind of crime! He is quoted to have put forth the argument that, “if Seyfo was a Genocide, then nobody would have survived”, hence, “Turkey has not committed any Genocide”.

Indeed this is not far from a wholesale denial of Seyfo and it is scandalous!. The bishop is either naïve or ignorant. He would be naive, if he has not realized that France is penalizing Genocide denial by law. He would be ignorant demonstrating lack of knowledge of the history of his people. No matter what may be his rationale, the bishop’s statements are regarded by the Assyrians, who are still suffering from the aftermath of the Genocide as scandal and they equal self-denial!. A German friend of the Assyrians and retired Pastor of the Evangelical Church said that he is “shocked about such blindness”. Furthermore, denying Seyfo equals insulting “all the victims of his own people, of his own family”, added the Pastor. Two weeks ago both Suroyo TV and Radio Qolo of Sweden interviewed the bishop.

As expected, Suroyo TV did not confront him directly with his statements as reported by ESNA. In his talk, the bishop linked the Genocide to the martyrdom of Christianity since Jesus Christ – diverting attention from the key question and not addressing Turkey’s role as perpetrator of the Genocide against our people! Radio Qolo however stressed the critical aspects and caused the bishop to stumble, but still did not get any concrete answer to the key issues. For me personally the question remains: Why does a bishop, an educated one as he repeatedly asserts to be, questions such unimaginable act of horror against his own people? Self-denial as a concept has actually roots in Christianity and is based on self-sacrifice and self-renunciation which ultimately results in a denial of our nature as human beings. Such understanding was especially embraced in firm isolation from civilization in early phases of asceticism by many monks. The behavior was a consequence of religious devotion. Syriac-speaking Churches have a tradition in this discipline.

In the case of bishop Hazail, we can probably rule out this option. He was raised in a modern city, apparently got some education in Western comfort, and he has not really lived in caves in isolation like many of holy fathers of the Church. He is far from being predestined receiving the Holy Spirit by a Gilyono (revelation)! By the same notion we can rule out that he has received any of his knowledge from the”Holy Spirit”, as ESNA quotes him. The second option that would support the self-denial thesis is a distressing one: Collaboration! ESNA makes hints to explain this accusation. The fact that the bishop has been invited to dinners by the Turkish embassy in Brussels to honor him might be too obvious. Indeed he has not disputed this. In the mentioned interview by Radio Qolo on March 16th the bishop confirms the so-called honor dinners, adding that he has also had similar dinners with the Syrian Arab embassy.

Evidently, the bishop is hopelessly naïve, not knowing the consequences of his actions or he is impudent and believes that he can deceive the public. He has already embroiled himself in a web of contradictions. If the bishop, as he asserts, wants to keep his church out of politics, what purpose is served by these so-called dinners to honor him? The very question was asked of him in his interview with Radio Qolo, but the question remained unanswered. Personally I believe that Turkey is the only winner of such an internal dispute. Its aggressive nationalism in the past instilled amongst the oppressed Christians a sense of hopelessness, inferiority to the degree of self-denial. Occasional statements of church leaders that we are Arabs for instance have their basis in a similar symptom in the Arab countries. Apparently some of our church leaders even in the free and democratic Western countries still suffer from that syndrome.

In fact, the Turkish government invests millions of dollars each year to support it’s Genocide denial theory. Actually a recent statement of the Turkish author and Genocide denier Ali Riza Bayzan hints to the strategy we are witnessing as it is being implemented upon us. According to Bayzan, Turkey should do everything not to let the Assyrian community (in view of their name dispute) unite around the Genocide topic! In other words: “Do everything to split the community”! The bishop should apologize for his actions or step down. His statements harmed the church in general and therefore, the Patriarch is urged to make a statement on behalf of the Orthodox Church with regards to its position on Seyfo!

Munich, March 2007