Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Yunus Tuncel

By Hambersom Aghbashian

Yunus Tuncel Raised in Turkey and was back in the US since 1981. He has a M.A. (Master of Arts) degree from The City University of New York (CUNY), Graduate School and University Center (thesis on Michel Foucault), and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy at the New School University, Graduate Faculty in May 2000, with a dissertation on the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. He has been teaching at The New School* since 1999. Along with foundational classes in philosophy, he teaches interdisciplinary classes on power, spectacle, crime and punishment. In addition to these topics, his research interests include agonism (the culture of competition), eroticism, the culture of the troubadours, and other areas of culture where art, literature, and philosophy intersect.(1)(2)

Yunus Tuncel, the author of “Agon in Nietzsche”, teaches philosophy at the New School University. Tuncel co-founded the Nietzsche Circle and serves on the Editorial Board of its electronic journal, The Agonist. He has published essays and books on various topics, including Towards a Genealogy of Spectacle (2011, Eye Corner Press). He lives in Jersey City with his wife and daughter.(3)
According to “aghet1915.wordpress.com”, Yunus Tuncel is one of the Turkish historians who have recognized the Armenian Genocide. (4)

An Anti- Armenian Genocide recognition website criticized Yunus Tuncel as one of the most prominent turncoats who ”have one thing in common among themselves. They are all traitors, and betrayers of anything and everything sacred for Turkey and Turks. Unfortunately, they were all born in the bosom of the Turkish Republic. Supposedly, they went to the same type of Turkish schools, and studied under the same system of education which always tried to make its young citizens learn to love their country.” (5).

Yunus Tuncel was criticized because of his recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Talia Jebejian wrote on April 25, 2001, “Approximately 140 people, primarily of Armenian and Turkish descent, gathered to participate in A Psycho-spiritual and Educational Dialogue Between People of Armenian and Turkish Descent, sponsored by the Armenian American Society for Studies on Stress and Genocide (AASSSG) and co-sponsored by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) NY Chapter, The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) and Fordham University. This open dialogue was held in commemoration of the 86th Anniversary of the Ottoman Turkish Genocide of the Armenians and was met with overwhelming success. Rational and intellectual dialogue was presented and exchanged between the panelists and audience members, resulting in a positive step toward reconciliation between Turkish citizens and Armenians.” She added a list of The facilitators of the program and The panelists participating in it. Yunus Tuncel, Ph.D. in Philosophy, New York City was mentioned as one of the participants.(6)

According to “www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/annualconfs/…/workshops.pd.”, during the same Dialogue sessions, and a workshop titled “Transforming Terror into Healing: The Role of Psycho-spiritual and Educational Dialogue“, researcher Anie Kalayjian and Yunus Tuncel related their experience in organizing a similar group of descendents of the Ottoman Turkish Genocide in Armenia. Their group brought together professionals from both sides in order to start a dialogue and foster understanding in an open community meeting. Dr. Tuncel examined the role of Turkish nationalism as a means of creating and sustaining differences among peoples. Dr. Kalayjian described her own process of forgiveness and transcendence after receiving a death threat by Turkish authorities. The presenters concluded that it was very challenging to pursue reconciliation while Turkish authorities still negated the genocide of the Armenians after 87 years.(7)

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* The New School is a university in New York City, United States. From its founding in 1919 by progressive NY educators, and for most of its history, the university was known as the The New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University. The university and each of its colleges were renamed in 2005. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_School)

1- www.fiaf.org/events/…/bioyunus.pdf
2- http://www.newschool.edu/public-engagement/faculty-list/?id=87764
3-http://www.marquette.edu/mupress/Tuncel_Agon.shtml
4- http://aghet1915.wordpress.com/recognition/
5-http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/TURKISH-SCHOLARS.htm
6- www.atour.com/~aahgn/news/20010425aa.html
7- www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/annualconfs/…/workshops.pd.