VERLEUGNUNG OHNE ENDE? GRÜNDE DER NICHTANERKENNUNG UND CHANCEN EINER ANERKENNUNG DER VÖLKERMORDE IN DER TÜRKEI

Abstract

This article uses a historical-analytical approach to address the question of why there are no approaches to deal with the history of the genocides on both the state-political and societal levels in Turkey. For this purpose, the article sheds light on the genesis of the state and the state ideology of Turkey. The effort of the state ideology and the state is to exaggerate the national history on the one hand and to exclude the history of genocides on the other hand. Against this background, the author argues that there is an almost unbridgeable gap between the normativity of the demands for recognition and reappraisal of the genocides in Turkey and the actual political and social reality. A reappraisal and recognition of the genocides of 1915 would deeply shake the construction of the national ideology of the Republic of Turkey. Finally, the article addresses the question of the necessity of a recognition process and the chances of a recognition and reappraisal of the genocides for the society of Turkey.