A bold message, lost on Turkey - Vartan Oskanian (International Herald Tribune)

"The message from France is clear: So long as Turkey refuses to confront its own history, others will feel impelled to do so. If, on the other hand, Turkey embarks on the difficult road of acknowledgement and reconciliation, then others will have reason to step aside and let the process take its course. Instead, we note with dismay that this very strong message is being lost on Turkey. It continues to surround itself with myths, evade the past, and thus elude the future. As we observe the reactions in Turkey, we find it disingenuous for a country that itself doesn't allow free speech and criminalizes even the exploration of certain areas of its own (and therefore our) history to be so indignant over a law that criminalizes the rejection and denial of that same history. After all, the actual, difficult discourse must evolve in Turkey, and not in France, or Switzerland. It is in Turkey that a free and open dialogue is deeply needed, and sorely absent. Those who cry "leave history to the historians" have gagged the historians."