The Armenian Genocide: Can Conciliation Replace Denial?

Review of Pamela Steiner’s Collective Trauma and the Armenian Genocide: Armenian, Turkish, and Azerbaijani Relations Since 1839 (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2021, Human Rights Law in Perspective series), ISBN 978-1-50993-483-6, pages 334, hardcover, £81.00

Even within the long and tortuous literature on the genocide of Armenians in 1915, this is a timely new volume that stands out in at least three important ways. First, it is decidedly even-handed, aiming to understand and reconcile the differing views of Turks, Azeris, and Armenians. Second, it is strikingly multidisciplinary, drawing on concepts from many fields. Third, author Pamela
Steiner has a long and distinguished track record in past mediations since the 1980s, including German-Jewish and Israeli-Palestinian mediations before her “Armenian-Turkish relationship work” (xxi).

Steiner is a Harvard-based mediator, clinical psychologist, psychohistorian, and (not least) the great-granddaughter of esteemed U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Henry Morgenthau (who did so much to try to reconcile Armenians with the Turkish government in 1915). An expert on trauma, Steiner “decided to write this book when I believed I had a fresh and useful perspective to share” (xvi). She starts with this question posed by noted Turkish historian Halil Berktay in 2005: “How can we liberate the present from being captive, in bondage, to the ghosts of 1915?” She adds: “My book as a whole seeks to address this problem” (xv).

Summary

The 18 chapters appear in four parts. First, after a lengthy introduction detailing the long gestation of this volume, chapters one through three take the reader on a deep dive into the psychiatric nature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), its causes, and the consequences. Steiner depicts the many psychiatric aftereffects of both individual and collective trauma, including despair, withdrawal, denial, guilt, anger, helplessness, as well as desires for revenge, justice, or scapegoating. Steiner offers four very similar examples of collective trauma in four diverse regions: Africa (Rwanda), Europe (Hungary), the Middle East (Israel/Palestine), and East Asia (Indonesia).

It should be noted here that once the Ottoman Turks toppled Constantinople in 1453, the Turkish “millet” system was “Jim Crow on steroids” for five centuries. Non-Muslim minorities became “dhimmis” (“protected peoples”) with limited rights who

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owed special taxes to the Sultan. On YouTube today, one can easily find five-minute clips of Elia Kazan’s powerful 1963 film America! America! with stark images of this millet system in which non-Muslim minorities carefully heeded their Turkish overlords.

Two, chapters four through nine explore 200 years of Ottoman history, mentioning the tangled roots of Turkish society and the changing role of non-Muslims. Though Armenians had occupied Anatolia for thousands of years, they were now subject to the Ottoman Turks who saw Anatolia as their own homeland. Steiner masterfully recounts the decline of the Sultan, the rising clash of Turkish and Armenian nationalists, and the “emotional roller coaster” with dramatic stories across these 200 years. One chapter focuses on a psychobiography on the five “Young Turk” leaders who (around 1912) secretly concocted a murderous solution to their growing “Armenian Question.” Despite the noble efforts of Turkey’s heroic U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, the genocide swiftly and savagely unfolded, starting on April 24, 1915.

Three, chapters ten through 15 shift from Turkey to the Transcaucasus after 1900 and the more local relations between Azeris and Armenians after the sudden fall of Tsar Nicholas in 1917. Under a faltering Russian hegemony, the three fledgling Transcaucasian republics—Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan—endured further trauma as they barely survived the onslaught of the Ottoman armies.

Finally, chapters 16 through 18 focus on the psychological importance of meaning-making, and how this is impaired by collective trauma among both Armenians and Turks. Steiner describes her experiences with ill-fated efforts like the U.S. State Department’s Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission in 2001. Her concluding chapter suggests a way forward for Azeris and Armenians in the current struggle over the disputed border region of Artsakh. She writes: “Together we can find the strength to grieve, and the awareness and will to change course” (309).

Critique

Would Ambassador Morgenthau be proud to see this book by his great-granddaughter? No doubt. Like him, Steiner combines great abilities with a determination to replace conflict with peace. Also, like he did in 1915, she is eager to do the impossible by brokering peace between Turks and Armenians in 2020. For over a decade, Steiner personally worked with key Turkish and Armenian

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leaders in this effort, who encouraged Steiner’s volume. Its bibliography of over 300 sources is impressively diverse in several ways: It includes historical archives; primary and secondary sources in at least three languages; and draws from many distinct specialties—psychohistorians like Vamık Volkan, psychiatrists like Bessel van der Kolk, historians like Richard Hovhannisian, mediators like Herbert Kelman, and psychologists like Ani Kalayjian. Not least of all, it fully blends three perspectives: Turkish, Azeri, and Armenian.

Steiner’s psychohistorical approach is especially valuable in explaining why genocide occurred in 1915, why hatred still festers, and what needs to be done now to end it. To achieve harmony among Armenians, Turks, and Azeris, four related issues should be confronted.

The first issue is ghosts. When Berktay refers to the “ghosts” of 1915, how disrespectful is this? All of us, Turk and Armenian, naturally cherish the memory of our dear ancestors, including those children and families who suffered violence and death. In my own family, we all loved our dear Uncle Vahram Sofian (1899-1969) who, “on the road” at age 15, had to bury his own mother Berjuhi as he marched on. Is dear Berjuhi one of 1.5 million unwanted ghosts who we must now exorcise to achieve harmony?

The second issue is “good Turks.” More than most nations, there has always been a huge rift between the Turkish people and their government, which Steiner’s book confirms. Detailed accounts of the genocide are replete with “good Turks” who did not support their government’s murderous policies and were largely responsible for those Armenians who survived. In my own family, my displaced grandmother Surpuhi and her two daughters were personally protected from harm for three years by a poor but godly village Imam, who bewailed his government’s misbehavior. Later, when my mother Dorothy left Istanbul in 1934, she deeply missed her warm and caring Muslim neighbors. Today, while Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government remains steadfast in its denial, we see many if not most Turks increasingly and openly sympathetic to accept the genocide for what it was—an acceptance that bodes well for future conciliation.

The third issue is DNA. During the chaos of 1915-1923, countless Armenian children were abducted and raised by Turkish families, some unaware of their Armenian ancestry—much like the

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 Hamshin (Islamicized Armenians). As new DNA testing becomes popular, thousands of Turks are now discovering their Armenian ancestry. Can this trend have any other impact, except to narrow the gap between Armenians and Turks?

The fourth issue is forgiveness. Armenians are surely proud to be part of the world’s first Christian nation, and forgiveness is certainly a foundational tenet of Christianity. But how can one forgive someone who denies any wrongdoing? Clearly, the current waning of denial makes forgiveness possible.

Today

Since Steiner’s volume appeared in the past year, two momentous events give it great new importance. First, on the downside, Recep Erdoğanzealously supported “Operation Iron Fist,” the massive Azeri invasion into Nagorno-Karabagh on September 27, 2020. Many fear that Erdoğan hopes to finish the job the Young Turks began in 1915 and finally unite these two Turkic nations by eliminating that small land area of Armenia that currently divides them. Second, on the upside, many applauded Joseph R. Biden for finally, on April 24, 2021, uttering the “G” word, making history as the first U.S. President since 1915 to use the forbidden word “genocide,” despite immense pressure from Ankara.

The stakes are suddenly higher than ever. Just as denial is visibly declining among the Turkish citizenry, the government of Armenia is now reeling at the prospect of annihilation, as leaders in Ankara and Baku revive their pan-Turan ambitions. What can be done to replace conflict with peace in this turbulent region? There is no better guide than Steiner’s powerful new book, which is now a must-read for those involved in this centuries-old drama.

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