"My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathise with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers. I apologise to them."

This public statement, made by a group of Turkish intellectuals apologizing for the events of 1915, has created uproar in Turkey and has lead to a backlash within national circles there. The statement is the initiative of three scholars, Ahmet Insel, Baskin Oran and Cengiz Aktar, and a journalist, Ali Bayramoglu.

Aytekin Yıldız, the coordinator of the Confrontation Association (Yüzleşme Derneği), pointed out that the Armenian community was already aware of the fact that there are many people in Turkey of conscience, and the important thing was not to declare what is already known. “It is a good starting point, but not enough. Firstly, what do they mean by ‘great disaster’? Let us name it; it is genocide. Secondly, the state has to apologize,” Yıldız stressed.

Historian Ayşe Hür said apologizing is the duty of those who were responsible for the act, or for those who share their arguments. “It seems that a very elite group discussed that petition, because I learnt about this petition from the media and I was surprised,” she said, and added, “I approach these types of events as a scientist, as a historian, not as a member of the Turkish nation. For me, all these events were the fault of Turkish nationalism flourishing at that time, and personally, I don’t identify with it, so I do not feel the need to apologize personally.”
 
She also pointed out that the petitioners are concentrating only on 1915; however, she says there were events after and before. “There is a state tradition which legitimizes all these events and prevents any discussion about them. Firstly, the state has to ensure a suitable atmosphere to discuss all these things; then it has to apologize on behalf of the perpetrators and for itself, because it has legitimized their actions through the years.”

Zeki Ertukay, National Movement Party (MHP) Deputy for Erzeroum, in an interview given to “Today’s Zaman”, charged the authors of the statement for “being in a state of hysteria”. According to Ertukay, it was not Armenians who suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Turks but rather Turks who were assaulted by Armenians. “I regard apologizing to the Armenians as an insult to the Turkish nation. People who call themselves intellectuals have not even been enlightened about their own history. A stain of shame like genocide has never taken place in the history of the Turkish nation. If there is somebody who needs to apologize, it is the Armenians and the Western states that provoked the Armenians against the Turks by promising them a state of their own.”

Behiç Çelik, a MHP deputy from Mersin, was equally enraged. "It is impossible to refer to these people as intellectuals. The so-called intellectuals trying to apologize to Armenians do not know the past. They do not know history. There has never been any genocide in the history of the Turkish nation. Apologizing even for the deportation is not acceptable, because deportations have been carried out by many nations, not just Turkey. The US relocated Native Americans; Russia deported the Kazaks and the Crimean Tatars. Their intellectuals never apologized to anybody."  

Yusuf Halaçoğlu, a well-known ultranationalist who formerly headed the Turkish Historical Society (TTK), said the real target here was linked to Turkey's new foreign policy initiative, started in early September with President Abdullah Gül and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan visiting Yerevan for a soccer match between the national teams of Turkey and Armenia. "The aim here is to foment public opinion to be able to take that earlier initiative to the next level," Halaçoğlu said.

As reported in “Today’s Zaman” Halaçoğlu said only 22,000 people died before 1915, the year of the forced deportation. "Will they apologize for those, too? Or will the Armenians declare   whom they cooperated with when the Ottoman Empire was fighting world powers? Are they going to publicly announce how many Armenians were part of the French and Russian armies at the time? Armenians, as a people who cooperated with the enemy in their own countries, have lost this war. This is the state of affairs as it stands today," he said. 

Turkish historian Cemalettin Taşkıran was quoted in nationalist newspapers as saying, "This is the biggest betrayal that could be shown to our forefathers." Taşkıran said the campaign was set up to hurt the unity of the Turkish nation and to prepare the way for Turkey's eventual recognition of Armenian claims of genocide

“Today’s Zaman” writes that, The reaction to a petition initiated by a group of intellectuals… has shown yet again how courageous one must be to publicly announce his or her unorthodox opinions in Turkey, particularly if those opinions contradict the official ideology.”

During a recent visit to Armenia, Turkish reporter Osman Koker informed “Hetq” that the public apology was severely being criticized in Turkey, especially within nationalist circles. It is true that no criminal charges have yet been brought against the statement’s authors. Mr. Koker stated, “This is an attempt to request an apology but not for something they did. I applaud this initiative and I was one of the first to sign it.” 

Cengiz Aktar, a professor of European Union studies at Istanbul's University of Bahcesehir stated, "Today many people in Turkey, with all good intentions, think that nothing happened to the Armenians," during an interview with the “Vatan” newspaper. "The official history says that this incident happened through secondary, not very important, and even mutual massacres … Unfortunately, the facts are very different." Aktar said the initiative was meant to allow Turks to offer a personal apology and to end an official silence. "We are not targeting anyone. It is an apology of individual nature. We want to tell our Armenian brothers and sisters we apologies for not being able to discuss this issue for almost 100 years.”

 The campaign’s organizers state that they will first collect signatures of intellectuals and that afterwards they will set up a website to collect signatures from the public at large (press reports claim that the petition is now available on the internet). Several contending groups have already popped in the pages of Facebook where heated discussions on the subject are being held.

At the same time, a public letter signed by 300 intellectuals in Armenia has been addressed to Turkish President Abdullah Gul. The letter notes that modern Turkey bears “hereditary responsibility” for what they consider a “monumental crime against humanity” and calls on the Turkish President to finally recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Signatories to the Armenian letter include the writer Berj Zeytunyants; USSR National Artist Sos Sargsyan;  Levon Ananyan, President of the Writers Union of Armenia; Karen Aghamyan, President of the Artists Union of Armenia; Aram Abrahamyan, Editor of “Aravot” and Harutyun Harutyunyan, Program Director of Armenian Public TV’s “Haylur” news agency. 

“Your generation of Turkish leaders must accept the undeniable truth and recognize the fact of the Armenian Genocide.  Recognition of the indisputable fact of the Armenian Genocide is first essential for the Turkish people. In addition, by doing so they will free themselves of this historical burden and stand in the company of other nations with a clear conscience. Only in that case can there be a sincere dialogue and a process of real reconciliation between our peoples,” the letter stresses.