Mitchell, R. (2015). 100 Years After the Genocide, Armenians and Turks Work to Heal. Solutions 6(2): 38-41. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/100-years-after-the-genocide-armenians-and-turks-work-to-heal/
Perspectives 100 Years After the Genocide, Armenians and Turks Work to Heal by Audrey Pence
Lars Kjølhede Christensen
A commemoration of the Armenian genocide at Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey in 2013.
H
abab’s fountains in eastern Turkey ran dry in 1915. That year, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians who lived in the region were driven from their homes by the Turkish forces of the Ottoman Empire. They were sent on forced marches into the Syrian Desert that killed over a million people. As the two countries that emerged out of the break-up of the Ottoman empire, Turkey and Armenia have been at loggerheads over the massacres ever since. Armenians, and much of the rest of the world, say it was genocide. Turkey refutes the label. The Turkish-Armenian border is currently closed and diplomatic relations are at a standstill. While
reconciliation at a national level seems far-off, there are hopes that in this centennial year of the killings, grass-roots organizations can lead the way to greater understanding. The restoration of Habab’s fountains in 2011 by the Hrant Dink Foundation, an Istanbulbased NGO, are a symbol of that hope. Over the past few years, young Turks, Kurds, and Armenians from the foundation are giving new life to the fountains while holding workshops for local residents. In turkey it’s still a crime to talk about the Armenian genocide, as it’s seen as an insult to “Turkishness’’ by casting the republic’s creation in a negative light. Such nationalistic sentiment can still be toxic—Hrant Dink was an Armenian
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reporter who pushed for reconciliation but was murdered in 2007 by a Turkish nationalist over the misguided perception that he was insulting the republic. The foundation was created to continue Dink’s work of promoting dialogue. Recently, there has been a general easing of restrictions, and a greater willingness to talk. In Habab, foundation members talked about the history of the fountains, why the water stopped running, and their restoration work. Villagers began to share their own stories. Some had Armenian ancestors. Others had ancestors that had evicted Armenians from their homes. The genocide is commonly referred to as beginning on April 24, 1915, when Ottoman soldiers arrested