As long as Turkey denies the Armenian genocide, it does not belong in "Europe"!

It is incredible how selective our notion of history is. While the persecution of the Jews has a prominent place in Western history books, the other massacres are entirely forgotten. And the older and further down in history the genocide was perpetrated, the weaker the emotional echo becomes. This also applies to the Turkish genocide of 1915 on the Armenian population that cost the lives of more than one million citizens and which will be commemorated worldwide next week.

Consecutive Turkish governments have refused to recognize this dark chapter in their history. However, now that Turkey will most likely begin with negotiations to access the European Union, it is high time Ankara recognized the malicious and systematic eradication of the Armenian population by the Turkish army. Whoever wants to become a member of the EU, must - analogous to the German mea maxima culpa after World War II - be honest about its history. After all, the EU is also a value community and countries that deny a genocide do not belong in it.

During the period between 1915-1918, the Turkish army evacuated almost all the Armenian villages in the Ottoman Empire and killed hundreds of thousands of citizens or deported them from Western Turkey to Syria through barbaric hunger marches. These events are very well documented and though there is a slight disagreement over the exact number of victims, one thing is certain: this was the first genocide of the 20th century that moreover served as a model for Hitler's holocaust. After all, the Nazis could conclude from the lukewarm reactions in the West that they too could get away with the destruction of the Jews as long as it was carefully kept out of the attention of the international media.

This is not about not letting bygones be bygones. But when Turkey becomes a full member of the EU in a few years, Armenia will be our direct neighbor. However, the Armenian-Turkish relations are still very bad, particularly because this historical angle was never taken out. The government in Yerevan demands of Turkey to recognize the genocide as a historical fact. Armenia is supported in this by various European parliaments.

As such, among others, the French, Belgian, Greek and Swiss parliaments have urged Ankara to admit the genocide; the European Parliament already declared in 1987 that Ankara's refusal to recognize the historical events forms an obstacle for Turkey's EU-membership. Pope John Paul II has also called on Turkey to take this step. The American Congress finally decided in 2000, after much debate, that the Armenian genocide should not be considered important for discussion, especially after Turkey threatened to close the American military bases in her country.

The Netherlands has a very small Armenian community, therefore the question has not yet been placed on the political agenda. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Bot refused to recognize the Armenian genocide as a relevant fact in a parliamentary debate last December. This is not only surprising, but moreover unwise. How would we react if comtemporary Germany would label the holocaust as historically incorrect and irrelevant?

There are examples which confirm that the mere recognition of a historical truth can lead to political approachment and even renewed trust between countries. One can think of the conflict over the massacres in Katyn for instance. Only in 1990 the Russian government recognized that the Soviet army killed 4400 Polish soldiers, and not - as was claimed for so long - by the Nazi's. Last month the Croatian government also made a start to judge its history in all honesty. The initiative of prime minister Ivo Sanader to investigate and recognize the crimes of the Croatian Ustase during World War II, fit in her aim to access the EU in the near future. This example should be followed by Turkey.

After all, the precarious point is that the process of the European unification is in its mutual political trust and solidarity. The EU is not a temporary cooperative union, but a design for a new political entity. Without solidarity and honesty the EU has no future. This is a great difference between Europe and other continents. Considering that Japan has never recognized that during World War II the greatest crimes were committed in Korea and China, every form of cooperation remains superficial. If Turkey wants to be a part of Europe it will have to learn a lesson from the examples of Germany and Japan. We can only speak of true "Europeanization" when Ankara recognizes the historical facts unambiguously. This means that the Armenian genocide must be included in Turkish history books, with which an end will finally come to the Ottoman view that Turkey is one way or the other superior to its neighboring countries.

*Dr. P. van Ham is a chief investigator of the Institute Clingendael.