Two weeks ago, after long debates, the French senate adopted a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide. The bill was a real bliss for us, the Armenians all over the globe. It needs to be stated that as a result of the same Genocide, there are
more Armenians in the Diaspora than in the Republic of Armenia itself. Thousands of Armenians, who managed to escape the well organized and
implemented
Massacres by the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the
20th century, spread in different parts of the world and started their
life once again from the scratch, thus forming the Armenian Diaspora. The total number of deaths resulting from the genocide is generally
held to have been between 1 million to 1.5 million. Turkey till date has
not accepted this well recorded fact.
After the news about the French senate adopting the bill spread, many
Armenians celebrated this prominent development in the history of the
genocide recognition and expressed their gratitude to France and the
French people. However, there are still others who ask
"What is the result of this
bill, what can it change? Will the century long pain of a whole nation
be healed if someday somewhere in France some Turk is arrested?"
Without
going deep into the history and especially into the world politics I
want to express my genuine and humble opinion regarding this.
Whatever course the world politics takes in shaping the contemporary
history is a matter about which I don't want to discuss. However, what I
am sure of is that not only the denial of a historical fact should be
criminalized, but also the Genocide of intellectual property has to be
stopped. Ask me why.
During my last visit in India, one nice evening I went to a cinema with
my fiancé. We bought the tickets, but as we were a bit early for the
show we decided to spend our time looking around. We entered a shop near the Cinema. It was a two-story garment shop. From
the very moment I stepped inside the shop my ears caught the familiar
sound of the music playing there. It
was
duduk
- traditional Armenian musical instrument, also known as Tsiranapogh
which means "
Apricot pipe". It was a pleasant surprise, but I was not amazed because Duduk has
become very popular in the last 10 years, especially after Maestro
Jivan Gasparyan played the famous soundtrack of the Hollywood movie
"Gladiator “on it . As we went downstairs I told my fiancé:
"This is duduk, I am sure".
Then I realized that not only duduk was played but also there were
Armenian motives in the melody. Ok, maybe
this is broadcasted by a radio channel and most probably it is played by
Pedro Eustache
", I thought. Otherwise how could an Armenian melody be sounding at an Indian's shop
in the center of Delhi.? I kept on wondering about the heart-warming
familiar tunes that made my heart melt...The sweet music went on.... Blouses, trousers, jeans, accessories, everything disappeared. I forgot
where I was, why I was there, what I was doing. I was lost in the tunes
that filled up my heart and my soul. I realized that it was not only
duduk that could be heard, nor mere Armenian touch that could be
detected in that music. Neither was in a modern interpretation of some
western-eastern mixes. No! It was absolutely like an Armenian soul
coming from the depths of centuries. I was getting impatient. I had to know what it was, I had to satisfy my
inner urge. I ran up to the shopkeeper and asked desperately:
"Sir,
which music is this?" What I heard next gave me the greatest shock of
my life.
"It is Turkish music", he said.
"What???? "
...I was stunned. For a moment I could not say anything.
"Yes, I have
bought this CD while traveling in Turkey.", he confirmed again.
"I
entered a restaurant where this nice music was sounding. I liked it so
much that asked the owner how I could get a record", he said, showing
me the CD which was covered with Turkey's flag with all Turkish names
mentioned as the duduk players. It made me enraged. I was not surprised
that he liked the music. I was just angry over the shameless deeds of
the Turks who not only took so many lives of a nation, left its
generations struggle in different corners of the world but also dared to
steal their cultural and artistic heritage.
"It's really great that
you like this music and play it for you and your customers Sir", I sad,
"But please, don't ever tell anyone that this is Turkish music because
it is Armenian."
Saying this I felt that I was unable to stand in that shop anymore and ran out of it, tears streaming down my face.
That
is not fair!!! It shouldn't be like that. That is the real genocide -
stealing our cultural and artistic heritage, ruining our architectural
treasures or presenting them to the world as Turkish. I wonder. Should
we fight to make Turkey recognize the genocide of the past, or must we
stop the ongoing ones first?
