TURKISH AND ISLAMIC ARTS MUSEUM

Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum as it is called today – or The İbrahim Pasha Palace – is located in the Sultanahmet neighbourhood within the district of Fatih in the area known today as Sultanahmet Square, formerly called the Hippodrome in the Byzantine era and Atmeydanı (“Horse Square”) in Ottoman times. Though its exact construction date remains unknown, it is believed to have been erected during the reign of Bayezid II (1418-1512). There is also nothing definitive on what purpose this palace, sitting at a slight elevation on the slopes of the Hippodrome, was originally built for. In a document from the Topkapı Palace archives dated 1520 it is stated to have been gifted with all expenses covered by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to the respectable İbrahim Agha, who was to serve as his grand vizier for 13 years, first ‘the favourite’ (makbul) then ‘the executed’ (maktul) as he was strangled to death after falling from grace. The İbrahim Pasha Palace was, contrary to other vizier’s palaces, built in ashlar masonry and for this reason considered to be in the Italian style. Evliya Çelebi calls this the grandest and largest of all viziers’ palaces in his Book of Travels.

The various chambers of the palace, which frequently changed hands between grooms and viziers of the Ottoman dynasty after İbrahim Pasha’s execution in 1536, were used for different purposes over time such as quarters for the Acemioğlanlar Ocağı (a rookie recruitment camp), an imperial lion house (Arslanhane), an asylum (Tımarhane), a sewing workshop (Karhane), a registry office (Defterhane), the Treasury Archives (Maliye Evrak Hazinesi), the National Defense Archives (Milli Müdafaa Evrak Hazinesi), an Army Corps Storehouse for Food Supplies (Kolordu Ambarı), a prison facility, courthouse archives, and a draft office. Though the Palace originally had four courtyards, later on the Registry Office (Defterhane) building was constructed in the first courtyard in the 19th century as well as an edifice for the Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre in 1908. A major portion of the palace was torn down during the construction of the Court House lasting from 1935 to 1947. The second courtyard and surrounding buildings were restored under the supervision of master architect Hüsrev Tayla between 1966 and 1983, and reopened as the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum in 1983. The museum later underwent another restoration starting in 2012 and lasting two years, opening its doors to visitors once more at the end of 2014. The remains of the hippodrome unearthed during this last restoration were also put on display as of 2014. These may be viewed both through the glass panel in the second courtyard and from the lower floor. The significance of this palace derives from its being the only one remaining from the 16th-century Ottoman Empire other than Topkapı Palace.

Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, Photofraph by Gençer Yurttaş.

IS THIS WHERE THE GENOCIDE BEGAN?

The Ibrahim Pasha Palace is of course significant in other ways and different contexts as well, just as would be the case in any other state with imperial history. In this instance, it is that this palace was where the prominent figures of Istanbul’s Armenian community were held in police custody after being arrested on the 24th of April 1915, which is accepted as the start date of the Armenian Genocide. These intellectuals, politicians, journalists and artists were later to be taken to the Haydarpaşa Train Station and boarded on trains to Ayaş and Çankırı where most of them would be massacred. Here is how Nesim Ovadya İzrail describes that night in his book 24 Nisan 1915 İstanbul, Çankırı, Ayaş, Ankara (24 April 1915 Istanbul, Çankırı, Ayaş, Ankara): “First of all the Central Prison (Hapishane-i Umumi), also known as the Mehterhane (i.e. the quarters of the Ottoman military band) and converted from a wing of the old İbrahim Pasha Palace in 1831, located across the Sultanahmet Mosque was prepared as the place where Armenians arrested in Istanbul were to be brought from neighbourhood police stations and gathered together. It was emptied out three days in advance, as detainees and convicts being held here were sent to other prisons. Aware that the Armenians to be brought here for political reasons and not petty crime constituted the most elite segment of society in the capital, the Ittihadist (Unionist – as in the Committee of Union and Progress) police administration made convicts clean the entire place up until it was spotless before sending them away. When the Armenian detainees arrived the floors were still wet. …Two areas had been chosen for arrested Armenian notables to be sent on exile and kept under close watch. Special care had been taken that both be in the middle of Anatolia, away from front lines, and in regions heavily populated by Turks. One was the township (kaza) of Ayaş within the Ankara Province and the other the Çankırı district (sanjak) of Kastamonu. Though the local administrators of these places had been informed in advance, they were given a last reminder upon the start of the operation.”

Ruined parts of the İbrahim Pasha Palace. November 17, 1939. SALT Research, Ülgen Family Archive.

From Prison to the Haydarpaşa Station

Armenian intellectuals arrested in an operation on the night of the 24th of April were gathered in the prison courtyard in the evening of the very next day, and were taken to the Haydarpaşa Railway Station on military vehicles according to lists read out. Though numbers on this matter differ, various sources agree that 250 Armenian intellectuals and dignitaries were sent to Çankırı and Ayaş. Of these 250, 174 were executed without any kind of trial. 75 of the 92 Armenian intellectuals taken to the Ayaş prison were killed, while only 17 remained alive. In Çankırı, on the other hand, 99 of the 158 Istanbulite Armenians kept here were decimated, and only 59 survived this massacre.

NO LONGER A CRIME TO SAY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The hundred years of denial of the Armenian Genocide, a century-old taboo in Turkey, is sustained as a policy complementing the genocide itself. It must, however, be recognized that this was chipped away at to some degree in recent years with the efforts of both Turkey’s Turkish and Kurdish intellectuals and politicians and Armenian opinion leaders such as Hrant Dink. Though these confrontations have not brought about any radical transformation in Turkey’s official texts and approach, they have contributed to starting a discussion on the 1915 Armenian Genocide among different factions of society.

Using the term “Armenian Genocide” was until recently a crime subject to investigation and prosecution under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code on “insulting Turkishness”. In 2014, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became the very first Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey to issue a message extending condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians killed in 1915. Much as this message made no mention of what had happened or who was responsible, it still went on record as the first official condolences of the Republic’s history.

A statement issued on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2010 declared that using the qualification ‘Armenian Genocide’ did not constitute a criminal offense. The statement went as follows: “Just as Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code involves no clause stipulating the denial of the ‘Armenian Genocide’, it is also not possible to speak of anyone who has faced criminal proceedings for alleging that the events of 1915 were a ‘genocide’. Contrary to many countries that indeed have ‘Genocide denial laws’, in Turkey books, articles, and other publications referring to the events of 1915 as a ‘genocide’ are on sale in their originals as well as in Turkish translations. Among these books, there are more that may be deemed incendiary propaganda material than true scientific research.”

Another decision further consolidating this approach came with a dictum given by the Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office on the matter in 2018. The Istanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association (İnsan Hakları Derneği) wished to hold an event commemorating the genocide in Sultanahmet on the 24th of April 2018. The police, however, denied them permission citing the presence of a banner and placards containing the word “genocide”. Activists Leman Yurtsever, Jiyan Tosun and Gamze Özdemir of the Human Rights Association who had brought the banner and placards in question were first arrested and then released. The banner claimed to have warranted this arrest read, “Recognize, apologize and give reparations for the Armenian Genocide”. An investigation was carried out on the arrested activists. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office Bureau of Press Offences decided that there were no grounds for prosecution.

In the justification for its decision the Prosecutor’s Office referenced European Court of Human Rights rulings saying that “the ECtHR recognizes that the freedom of expression applies not only to information and opinions considered favourable or appearing harmless or insignificant, but also to those that are offensive, shocking or disconcerting to the state or a portion of society”.

Up to here you may have thought that use of the term “Armenian Genocide” is no longer subject to prosecution or considered a crime, but rather treated within the framework of freedom of expression as should be. However, the Mehter (Ottoman janissary band) rhythm that goes two steps forward and one step back at a time is deeply and definitively ingrained in these lands. Therefore despite all of these progressive developments, manoeuvres by the nationalist and conservative block in power in Turkey today have led to the imposition of a monetary penalty as of 2017 on members of parliament who utter the words “Armenian genocide”, “Kurdistan” or “Kurdish provinces” in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. According to the amendment to the internal regulations of the parliament submitted in collaboration by the AKP and MHP, this is not all that shall befall MPs using such terms, but they are also to be temporarily barred from attending parliamentary sessions.

COMMEMORATIONS IN THE 2000'S

The upsurge in debates on the Armenian Genocide in the 2000s and the successive recognitions of 1915 as a genocide against Armenians by various parliaments across the world had repercussions in Turkey as well. Intellectuals from Turkey launched a campaign titled, “I Apologize” (“Özür Diliyorum”). Though this text signed by 2453 individuals did not contain the word “genocide”, it offered an apology to victims and their relatives for the calamity and slaughter that had come to pass. A short while after this initiative the Istanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD) began holding commemorative ceremonies in the Haydarpaşa Station where Armenian intellectuals – most of whom were later massacred – arrested on the 24th of April 1915 were brought to be sent to Çankırı and Ayaş. On the 24th of April 2010, marking the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, a statement to the press was read out loud at Haydarpaşa. Since 2012, the İHD Istanbul Branch has continued to hold memorial events at the Haydarpaşa Train Station following a press statement in front of the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum.

The ‘Say No to Racism and Nationalism’ (Irkçılığa ve Milliyetçiliğe Dur De) initiative started in 2007 also held its first April 24 commemoration in 2010 in Taksim square. The call for this event made mention of the “great calamity” and of “feeling the pain in your heart”, and did not involve a demand for official recognition. After Taksim Square was closed off to all non-state and non-municipality events and activities in the wake of the Gezi protests, April 24 commemorations began being held at the point where İstiklal Avenue meets Taksim, and were gradually pushed back towards Tünel square. Police forces pressured those organizing the commemorations in order to prevent the word “genocide” from entering statements being read out here.

The first commemorative events

Huşartsan Abril Dasnımegi (“Monument to April 11”), an Armenian source dated 1919, is a work in memory of Armenian intellectuals rounded up in Istanbul on the 24th of April and in Anatolia on later dates, and sent on exile often never to return, listing their names and providing an ample amount of photographs. Prepared by the April 11 Day of Mourning Organizational Committee (11 Nisan Yasdönümü Tertip Heyeti) and compiled by Armenian researcher Teotig, the book states that the committee organized various religious and civil mourning ceremonies on the 12th of April 1919. Though their details have not been provided, this at least tells us that ceremonies commemorating the hundreds of thousands of Armenians who lost their lives in the Genocide of 1915 were held as early as 1919. The Turkish media reported that a group of Armenians placed a wrath at the Taksim Monument in 1965. The Turkish press widely referred to the Armenian rallies organised in different parts of the world. On that occasion, Prime Minister Ali Suat Hayri Ürgüplü gave a speech in parliament declaring that, in several countries, extremist Armenian groups had organised demonstrations and rallies, but the organisers failed to ensure the desired number of participants. The prime minister condemned the Greeks, claiming they were behind those protests. “The aim of the provocateurs is to falsify historical facts fifty years on and to conduct propaganda against Turkey. We have explained to interested states that the Armenian issue has nothing to do with Turkey and it is not right to falsify history. Our reasonable Armenian compatriots did not participate in those events. They even condemned the rallies abroad by placing a wreath on Atatürk’s monument on April 24, the day of the rally.”