Taner Akçam > Quotes

“In general, those who resort to mass murder on a collective scale always put forward the justification that they acted on behalf of the nation.”
― Taner Akçam

“The attempt to justify and rationalize the death of a whole nation, including women, children, the old and infirm, must itself be considered a crime against humanity.”
― Taner Akçam, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility

“As a rule, if a crime is committed by one group against another ethnic or religious group, it is nearly impossible for the perpetrator to punish itself.”
― Taner Akçam, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility

“No actions by gangs or individuals can justify the deaths of eight hundred thousand people.”
― Taner Akçam, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility

“[In response to atrocities against Armenians] the British government issued a joint memo with France and Russia on 24 May 1915. The first draft, proposed by Russia, contained the phrase "crimes against Christianity and civilization," but France and Britain feared this would offend their own colonial Muslim populations and succeeded in changing the phrase to "crimes against humanity." This paved the way for the concept to assume its place after the war as one of the most important categories in international law.”
― Taner Akçam

“Before the First World War, in many places military officers who had not taken part directly in operations became liable one way or another under the jurisprudence and military law of their own countries. But the question of prosecuting the political authorities--the people who ran the country--had not yet been considered. Calls during the war to hold the Ottoman political elite and the German kaiser personally responsible for the Armenian massacres and to prosecute them on those grounds heralded a turning point. From that point on, personal responsibility and prosecution--even of those in the political sphere--became one of the most important principles of international law.”
― Taner Akçam, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility

“In a report dated 20 February 1894, French ambassador Paul Cambon describes a high-ranking Turkish official telling him that "the Armenian question does not exist, but we shall create it.”
― Taner Akçam

“Gökalp gave "the nation" an important mystical component. In his work, "he transferred to the nation the divine qualities he had found in society, replacing the belief in God with the belief in nation: and so nationalism became a religion." The national is deified, thus expanding Durkheim's idea that "society can do as it pleases." So, if a nation perceives itself in danger, it feels no moral responsibility in its response to that danger. The Unionist "scientific approach" gained a "sacred" character through Gökalp's theories.”
― Taner Akçam

“«Օրենքը պարզապես վերացնելով հարցը չի փակվի… Այդ օրենքը դանակ է, կացին, որը պատասխանատու է բազմաթիվ հանցագործությունների համար։ Եկեք չփորձենք շտկել այդ հանցագործությունները՝ սոսկ դանակը բթացնելով… Դրա պատճառով շատ անմեղների արյուն է թափվել… Անհնար է որոշել այրված կամ ոչնչացած տների թիվը։ Այդ երեքտողանոց օրենքը սարսափելի բան է։ Մենք պետք է վերափոխենք դրա ձևն ու բովանդակությունը… Սակայն այն վերացնելով՝ մենք պետք է նաև շարժվենք դեպի պատիժն առանց բացառության բոլոր նրանց համար, ովքեր, հիմնվելով այդ օրենքի վրա, կործանեցին երկիրը. նրանք, ովքեր սպանությունն գործելու համար օգտագործեցին ու չարաշահեցին այդ օրենքը, պետք է պատժվեն։ Հարցը զենքերը վայր դնելով չի փակվում»։

— Արթին Բոշգեզենյան, Օսմանյան կայսրության խորհրդարանի հայազգի պատգամավոր”
― Taner Akçam, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility