Commenting on the recent initiative to revive the Hagia Sophia mosque, we pointed out the circumstances that could lead to a solution of this issue (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=38725).
Well, let’s point out another one — besides the favorable foreign policy environment, this initiative seems to fit into a new phase of the struggle for history that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently begun.
Today, on the initiative of the ruling party alliance (Erdogan’s AKP and the nationalist MHP), the Turkish Parliament declared the grounds for the death sentence against the deposed and executed former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and his ministers Hakan Polatkan and Fatih Rustu Zorlu legally invalid. It is worth noting that Menderes is considered a cult figure in religious circles in Turkey because it was under his leadership that the authentic call to prayer in Arabic was reinstated, which had been banned and replaced by an ultra-secular call to prayer in Turkish.
Yesterday, however, the Turkish president took another step in the struggle for history by establishing a state commission to investigate the tragic events of 1915, often referred to as the Armenian Genocide. It should be noted that President Erdogan himself has recognized the tragic nature of these events on several occasions and expressed his condolences to the Armenian people and Church in connection with them.
It should also be remembered that just as the first half of Erdogan’s party’s rule was marked by attempts to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue, there was also a willingness from Ankara to normalize Turkish-Armenian relations. However, the aggressive campaign by Armenian nationalist circles to recognize the Armenian Genocide and place full responsibility for it on Turkey has forced Ankara to respond appropriately.
President Erdogan has previously stated that Turkish archives are open to Armenian and all other researchers, and Turkish historians are ready for open discussions about these events. It is important to note that these events include not only the massacre of Armenians, but also the mass terrorism provoked by Armenian nationalist terrorists against not only the authorities, but also the peaceful Muslim population of Eastern Anatolia.
Until now, all this has been discussed mainly in individual statements and in response to one-sided accusations against Turkey. However, if the new commission approves and publishes the results of its investigation, it could provide the basis for a more coherent position from Ankara on this issue in the international arena. Regardless, it appears that the Turkish president is taking the resolution of key issues from the past seriously, understanding that they are directly linked to the present and future.