Politicizing historical facts benefits no sides: Minister

ISTANBUL

Turkey emphasizes a constructive approach to solving issues and would like to see its allies usher in a new era of understanding by refraining from politicizing historical controversies, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, as he referred to the U.S. General James Guthrie Harbord’s mission in 1919.

“Turkey would like to see third countries – including allies like the U.S. – either help with ushering in this new understanding or be wary of efforts to politicize a historical controversy,” Akar said in a piece penned for RealClearDefense.

Akar highlighted that the report prepared after Harbord’s fact-finding mission demonstrated an objective analysis of the incidents at the time.

“Throughout its 1,603 pages, the report managed to see through the propaganda and the smoke screen and demonstrated objectivity along with intellectual honesty in its approach to the wartime relationship between the Ottoman Empire and its Armenian subjects,” Akar said.

The general’s report noted that the Turks and Armenians had peacefully coexisted for centuries without official instigation.

“The official instigation referred to here is the meddling of the great powers of the time in affairs of the region,” Akar said, adding that the report also showed the atrocities committed by Armenians against other subjects in the Ottoman Empire.

Noting that he does not want to “fuel the fire of antagonism,” Akar said Harbord’s report envisioned a more peaceful future for all people living in the region.

The defense minister also noted that then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had sent a letter to the president of Armenia in 2005, proposing to establish a joint historical commission, but the latter had not responded to the request.
“As someone who has personally studied this issue academically, I am glad to say that this offer stands, but I am dismayed to note that Turkey is yet to receive a response to this proposal or see the opening of Armenia’s own archives,” Akar said.