Turkey bans Armenian Genocide commemoration ahead of May elections

Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the leading challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the May 14 elections, released a video last week in which he proclaimed his Alevi background.

Many had believed acknowledging his identity would discourage conservative Sunnis from voting for him or the CHP and could even be used against him by his opponents.

In Wednesday’s video, which has been viewed nearly 30 million times on Twitter, Kilicdaroglu called for an end to division and equal rights for the minority group. Responding to his comments on Sunday, Erdogan questioned why Kilicdaroglu had drawn attention to his roots.

“Nobody asked this person about his faith, sect or disposition. Nobody exposed this person to any accusation based on these identities,” he told a rally in Sakarya, northwest Turkey. “We do not have a Sunni, Alevi or Shiite religion. Our religion has only one name and that is Islam. Our religious identity has only one name and that is being a Muslim.”

But during a trip to Adiyaman, one of the southern provinces hit by the Feb. 6 earthquakes, Kilicdaroglu’s Alevi affiliation seemed to have sparked discriminatory outbursts.

While Kilicdaroglu recited a prayer for the disaster victims at a cemetery on Friday he was heckled by a man who shouted, “This person does not know how to read Fatiha. Why are you having him read Fatiha?”

Later that day his entourage was attacked by a group of men while visiting a Muslim tomb near the town of Samsat. “We are Muslims,” one yelled as the men tussled with Kilicdaroglu’s bodyguards. “We don’t want you. Don’t come here. You are not the man of this place,” another cried.

Turkey’s approach to the atrocities of 1915, which emptied Anatolia of its Armenian population through massacres and forced marches into the Syrian desert, has endured as a point of contention in international relations.

Joe Biden was the first US president to recognize the genocide in 2021, when he equated it to the Holocaust.

On Monday he made a statement of remembrance of the genocide, prompting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to tweet, “Yet another attempt by political charlatans to distort history! … No one shall dare to lecture us on our history.”

Program on Sunday

Perhaps to beat this ban, members of the Turkish Green Left Party (YSP) organized a commemorative event in Istanbul’s Kurtuluş neighborhood on April 23. Green Left Party (YSP) candidate for parliament Hasan Cemal delivered remarks at the event, Armenpress reported.

Hasan Cemal is the grandson of Cemal Pasha, the Ottoman military leader and one of the organizers of the Armenian Genocide.

“My dear Hrant Dink’s pain brought me here. My dear Hrant Dink’s pain made me aware of the dear Armenian people’s pain,” he said, referring to Agos Editor-In-Chief who was assassinated in Istanbul in front of his newspaper’s office on January 19, 2007.

“My 2017 book is titled the Armenian Genocide of 1915, and I carried Hrant Dink’s pain during the writing of the book as well. I am here today to share the pain of my Armenian brothers,” he added.

The Sisli office of the party then released a statement.

“Societies built on animosity, hate and massacre, running away from the truth and afraid to face their past, cannot walk towards a beautiful future. Is it possible to live together peacefully in a country where a part of the society is constantly concerned over its safety? This country must now face its history. There must be an end to the policy of animosity and hate, and racism must not be tolerated,” reads a part of the statement, according to sendika.org.