Armenia-Turkey Protocols raised “the issue of identity and the means of identifying one s self in society as an individual and as a group”, reads the article by Jean Ipdjian published in Gibrahayer magazine. NEWS.am posts the passages from the article.

“It has always been hard for Armenians in the Diaspora to keep their national identity while at the same time being able to identify themselves as citizens and as part of the countries, they happen to live in.

It has always been the endeavour of Armenian individuals and Organizations to create such conditions that will help keep their Armenianism . The object of not being swept by the currents of assimilation which are so strong specially in friendlier societies, where the physical threats to their wellbeing is less and where there are no easily definable social and religious boundaries between them and the local population.

The Diaspora, which is mostly a direct result of the persecutions of Armenians in the late 19th century Ottoman Empire and more so of the Genocide of more than a million Armenians living in their homeland in Ancient Armenia, present day Eastern Turkey and also Istanbul and other cities, has used this fact as a means of identification. We are children of the Genocide and it is practically impossible to find a family or individual whose ancestors have not been victims of the Genocide in one way or the other.

Therefore, it is inconceivable for us, the children of the Genocide to accept any form of denial or questioning of the existence of the Genocide, because in that way we will be actually denying ourselves and robbing ourselves from our own identity. This mean of identification is so strong that it was only recently that compatriotic organizations were dissolved in our communities. And this fact is one of the core problems that the Protocols have created.

It is, to say the least, extreme naivety to believe that this wound in our history can heal with unilateral acts of forgiveness and forward looking on our part. The key, which will untangle this quagmire of existence, which is the Diaspora, is firmly in Turkey s hands. We can live with the consequences of the Genocide and the heirs of the organizers and executers of the Genocide, provided that they stop their denial, provided that they accept it. Only then can the real healing process start.

And if we look at the chain of events, we will see that unless our resolve in standing up for and defending our National issues is unwavering and steadfast, their will continuously be attempts at nibbling on our resolve and eventually defeating it. Because we are dealing with a nation which has had no qualms in the killing of its citizens in the past or present, we are dealing with a nation whose arrogance has allowed it to have laws which make it illegal to question the Turkishness of its history, and who has complete and utter disregard for public opinion, and for whom human rights is something alien.”