Ararat: Art as a tool of propaganda, Actually Nothing New
markrivers
http://www.turkishweekly.net/articles.php?id=25
87-Year Old Allegations On Cinema Screen
Sedat Laciner
Ararat: Art as a tool in propaganda
By Dr. Sedat Laciner
Lecturer in Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University and the Asam Institute
for Armenian Research, Ankara
The provocative Armenian film, Ararat, which was premiered at the
Cannes Film Festival and caused a sensation and Turkish protests, will
open the 27th international Toronto Film Festival on September 5, 2002
and will be shown in cinemas worldwide in November 2002. The film
accuses the Turks of committing genocide against the Armenians in 1915,
while the Turkish authorities refuse the allegations and argue that,
"The film is full of lies and biases." It is understood that the hot
debates will continue during the Autumn of 2002 and a thorny, if not
incurable, historical problem will occupy the agenda between Turks and
Armenians instead of the real economic and political problems.
1915 And Creating a National Identity on Communal Hate
1915 was a hard year for the Ottoman State:
The First World War struck the economy and social life. Millions of
soldiers died on the fronts while more became orphans and widows in the
back yards of the war theatre confronted with famine, epidemics and
bands' attacks. The State lost control particularly in security
matters. In Anatolia, bands and gangs hit towns without discrimination
for ethnicity or religion. Furthermore ethnic distrust re-emerged and
damaged social harmony. In brief, when the Armenian radicals rioted in
the Eastern provinces of the State, the last thing the Ottomans wanted
was an ethnic uprising under these circumstances. However, the
catastrophe the Ottoman State confronted was perceived as a golden
opportunity by the Armenian separatist groups, and they used this for
propaganda so that the Armenians could be independent with Russian
assistance. It is a well-known fact, the Armenian attempt resulted in a
catastrophe and cost the lifes of thousands of innocent Armenians and
Muslims. It is unfortunate for both sides that, after this date the
nationalists built Armenian identity based on the 1915 events and
created a "1915 legacy" keeping the Armenians on alert regarding the
Turkish "threat". They first named the 1915 events a "massacre". As was
the Jewish case after World War I, the radical groups changed the name
to "genocide". Thus the so-called genocide became the axe of the
Turkish-Armenian relations and a formidable obstacle for
reconciliations. The "genocide" legacy particularly affected those in
the diaspora for decades and the new generations who shaped their
Armenian identity on the historical prejudices and hostility though
most of them neither saw Turkey nor met a Turk. Most of the Armenian
artists are no exception, but they have a fatal weapon: art.
Armenian Cinema and Politics
The Armenian cinema in particular has focused on the so-called genocide
and has helped to shape the national identity of the Armenian youth
with Anti-Turkish elements. Verneuil's "Mayrig", Dovlatyan's "The
Yearning" and Hrayr Toukhanian's "Assignment Berlin" are just some
examples. Most of these films failed in terms of art and financial
figures, yet their political influence made their directors famous (if
not heroes) in the eyes of the Armenian youth. The most recent example
is Atom Egoyan's film, "Ararat".
Atom Egoyan is an Egypt-born Canadian Armenian film director, who has
lived in Canada since childhood. In other words, he is a diaspora
Armenian and has deeply felt the assimilation threat during his early
age. He even refused to speak Armenian and made efforts to be a "pure
Canadian" until his college years when he realized that to be an
Armenian means to fight against the "Turkish deniers". In other words,
Egoyan is an "identity convert". Converts are generally more radical
and they tend to exaggerate the facts in order to legitimize the
revolutionary shift in their way of life. Egoyan is no exception and
after his college years, he fanatically advocated the historical
Armenian claims. Ararat is the latest example of his radicalism.
Egoyan argues that he questioned the hatred among the Armenians and its
reasons in his film. However, it was obvious in the Cannes premier that
Egoyan has succumb to communal pressure from the diaspora Armenians and
has chosen the simplest way to make a film by accusing "the others",
namely the Turks, as responsible for all the terrible things the
Armenians have confronted.
Egoyan claims that the scenario is based on historical facts and
archival documents, though he has never mentioned any document or
proof, just beliefs and prejudiced ideas. As a matter of fact, neither
he nor any member of the film crew is a historian and Atom Egoyan
refused to make a history film when asked to do so before Ararat.
Egoyan in his film accuses the Turks of massacring Armenian women,
children and men with no real reason. For Ararat, Turks committed
genocide against Armenians because they hated them, and Turkish hatred
created hatred among Armenians. Obviously Egoyan has no proof for his
accusations, if not insults to a whole nation, but he does not actually
need any proof (!) because he has a "poetic license", like the director
of the film within his film. The 1915 Van Uprising, as mentioned, is
well documented by the Ottoman and foreign observers and none of the
documents draw such a picture as Egoyan does in his history-film (!).
As a matter of fact, many scenes in Ararat contradict other parts of
the film. On the one hand, it is argued that the Armenians made a
peaceful defense; on the other hand the scenes show well-armed Armenian
military forces. In the film, the Van uprising is "the heroic defense
of Van" (Film's Script, 54. Ext. Van), yet the director does not
question why the Turks attempted to reoccupy their own territory with a
mainly Muslim population. The reality is that the armed Armenian
military forces backed by the Russian army had occupied the province of
Van and massacred thousands of Turks and Kurds while thousands more
civilians fled to other provinces to save their lives. The Armenian
forces were led by the revolutionary and nationalist Armenian bandits
and they dreamed of an independent Armenia under the Russian support.
They were waiting for the Russian troops to help them against the
Ottoman security forces and in a few weeks the Russian troops came to
the province. Before the Russians came, all of the Muslim quarter of
the city was set on fire by Armenian bandits.
Turkish-Armenian relations is one of the most problematic relations in
the world despite the fact that both nations need each other. The main
problem in the relations is not the facts but the perceptions. The
Armenians believe in a legacy which they created themselves and the
radicals nourish the hatred among the Armenians. On the other hand, the
Turks do not give enough attention to the Armenian issue by
underestimating its importance for Turkey and the region. Both sides
accuse each other and nobody listens to the other. Under these
circumstances the Armenian and Turkish artists have a great tool to
destroy the prejudices and illusions regarding the other side. Atom
Egoyan was one of these "lucky" men, yet he did not use the opportunity
and transferred the problem to future generations instead.
As a result, it can be argued that Ararat is a masterpiece propaganda
film directed by a talented and radical-nationalist Armenian director,
financed by Armenian lobby groups and supported by the Armenian Culture
Ministry. It is a film well-packed with cinematic tricks, but it is not
impossible to see the director's hatred behind the cinema curtain.
------------------
First published by Turkish Daily News, 5 September 2002.
Copyright © 2005 Journal of Turkish Weekly
http://www.turkishweekly.net/articles.php?id=25
Taki173st.
or you raped him.
Panta Rhei
Mark Rivers Saved by His Headboard!
A Turkish immigrant whose home was destroyed by a gas explosion was saved
by his headboard.
Mark Rivers, a notorious dumb spammer of Usenet, living in Shilbottle,
Northumberland, was asleep when the explosion happened.
The headboard took the full force of the blast and Rivers escaped with cuts
and bruises, reports The Sun.
He said: "It nearly took my head off. I don't know how I'm alive. But I'm
very thankful to my headboard that saved my dumb Turkish head." <BG>