经济学人：德国给百年前屠杀定性激怒土耳其 [英国媒体]

Germany and the Armenian genocide

德国与亚美尼亚种族灭绝

Name and shame

关系荣辱的名称

Deciding what to call a century-old Turkish atrocity

给一个世纪之前的土耳其暴行定性



The past is present

过去还没有过去

TURKEY considers the Ottoman Empire’s mass murder of well over a million Armenians and other Christians in 1915-17 a tragedy. But“genocide”? Armenia and many historians say it was. Turkey insists it was not—and berates any country, from France to the Vatican, that uses the word.Nonetheless, more than 20 countries have officially recognised the killings as genocide. On June 2nd it was Germany’s turn, when its Bundestag passed are solution calling the killings “genocide” no fewer than four times.

土耳其认为奥斯曼帝国在1915-1917年针对超过百万亚美尼亚人和基督徒的大屠杀是一场悲剧。但是称之为“种族灭绝”？亚美尼亚以及许多历史学家认为是这样。土耳其则坚称不是种族灭绝，并痛斥使用这个词汇的所有国家，从法国到梵蒂冈。尽管如此，已有20多个国家正式确认这场杀戮为种族灭绝。6月2日轮到了德国，当其联邦议院通过一项决议，将这场杀戮作为“种族灭绝”提到不少于四次后。

That vote could not have come at a worse time forAngela Merkel, the German chancellor. She is the main architect of a dealreached in March between Turkey and the European Union, under which Turkeypromised to take back refugees who cross to the Greek islands; in return, theEU will pay Turkey 6 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in aid, allow Turks to enterwithout visas and revive talks to accept Turkey as a member state one day. MrsMerkel, more than any other EU leader, needed this deal: she wants an orderlyand “European” solution to the refugee crisis, rather than brute borderclosings by individual member states.

对德国总理默克尔来说，这个投票来得太不是时候了。她是三月达成的土耳其-欧盟双边协议的主导者，土耳其承诺接回那些穿越希腊岛屿的难民；作为回报，欧盟将援助土耳其60亿欧元（约合67亿美元），允许土耳其人免签入境，并且重启土耳其加入欧盟的谈判。默克尔比其他欧盟领导人更需要这笔交易：她希望用一个有秩序的“欧洲人”的方式来解决难民危机，而不是靠各成员国残忍的关闭边境。

But Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, clearlyinterpreted Mrs Merkel’s efforts as weakness. Since the deal he has pressedahead in his quest to become an autocrat, rejecting European criticisms withthreats to scupper the refugee deal and let hundreds of thousands of refugeesmake their way to Greece again. This has exposed Mrs Merkel to criticism inGermany that she has sold out to a dictator. Even members of her own coalitionaccuse her of kow-towing. Voters share the misgivings. In a poll in April, 68%opposed Turkish membership of the EU, and 79% said that Turkey “cannot betrusted”.

但土耳其总统埃尔多安显然把默克尔的努力视为软弱。从这笔交易开始，他就在追求成为独裁者的道路上加紧前行，用威胁撕毁难民协议让数十万难民回到希腊来抗拒欧洲的批评。这让默克尔遭到了德国国内的批判，称她把灵魂卖给了独裁者。即便是她自己执政联盟的成员也指责她是在向埃尔多安叩头（注：原文就是kowtow）。选民们也显露了他们的疑虑。在四月的一项民意调查显示，68%的人反对土耳其加入欧盟，79%称“不能信任”土耳其。

Some see the souring of the relationship asretribution for Mrs Merkel’s past diplomatic mistakes. She “showed zero pointzero interest in Turkey until she rediscovered it in the refugee crisis”, saysCem Özdemir, a son of Turkish immigrants and co-leader of the Green Party whois also the driving force behind the genocide resolution. In 2007 Mrs Merkel,along with other European leaders, in effect slammed the door shut for Turkey’sambitions to join the EU. At that time Mr Erdogan, then prime minister, wasstill claiming to modernise Turkey and bring it into line with EU norms oncivil liberties. Stung by Mrs Merkel’s rejection, Mr Erdogan turned against theWest and decided to become a neo-Ottoman sultan instead, thinks JoschkaFischer, a former foreign minister.

有观点认为德土关系的恶化是默克尔外交失误导致的恶果。她“没有对土耳其表现出丝毫兴趣，直到发生难民危机的时候才匆忙示好”，说这话的厄兹德米尔是土耳其移民后裔，德国绿党主席，也是这项提案的积极推动者。在2007年，默克尔和欧洲其他领导人一道，实际上重重的关上了土耳其加入欧盟的大门。当时还是总理的埃尔多安仍然宣称要使土耳其现代化，并在公民自由方面使土耳其达到欧盟的标准。前德国外交部长约施卡·菲舍尔认为，被默克尔的拒绝刺痛的埃尔多安转而对抗西方，并决定成为一位新奥斯曼帝国的苏丹。

That psychology explains much of the recentGerman-Turkish antics. Mr Erdogan went ballistic in May after a German comedianridiculed him (see article). An orchestra in Dresden has been performing aseries of concerts called “Aghet”, Armenian for “catastrophe” (referring to thegenocide). The European Commission gave the project 200,000 euros; afterTurkish protests, the commission removed advertisements for “Aghet” from itswebsite. Many Germans are enraged that Turkey tries to muzzle free speechabroad.

心理学很大程度上解释了最近德国人和土耳其人之间的闹剧。今年五月，埃尔多安在被一个德国喜剧演员嘲弄后勃然大怒（见文章）。德累斯顿的一个交响乐团已经进行了一系列名为“Aghet”，亚美尼亚语意为“灾难”（涉及到种族灭绝）的演出。欧盟委员会给了这个项目20万欧元的经费；在土耳其人抗议后，委员会撤掉了网站上关于“Aghet”的广告。很多德国人都被土耳其试图压制国外的言论自由所激怒。

Turkey will respond to the Bundestag’s resolutionwith its usual sound and fury. In late May, three groups in parliament,including Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, condemned thedraft as a “distortion of historical facts”. Turkey withdrew its ambassadors toAustria, Luxembourg, and the Vatican last year after similar pronouncementsabout the 1915 killings. Mr Erdogan has warned of a deterioration in ties withBerlin, albeit without mentioning the refugee deal.

土耳其将会用其一贯的言论和愤怒来回应德国联邦议院的决议。在五月下旬，土耳其议会中的三个团体，包括埃尔多安领导的正义与发展党（AK），谴责该草案是“歪曲历史事实”。去年，土耳其也在奥地利、卢森堡和梵蒂冈对这场杀戮做类似决议时撤回了土耳其的大使。埃尔多安警告会恶化与德国关系，虽然他并没有提及难民交易。

Mr Özdemir originally meant to put the genocideresolution to a vote on April 24, 2015, the centenary of its start. Anxious toavoid provoking Turkey, Mrs Merkel kept delaying, he says, even though the newtiming looks even worse. This spring Mr Özdemir pushed ahead again. Theresolution is necessary to acknowledge Germany’s complicity in the genocide asthe Ottoman Empire’s main ally at the time, he says. As for Turkey, he thinks,if it had dealt honestly with its past and its minorities, it might already bean EU member.

厄兹德米尔原本想把对这场种族灭绝定性的决议时间定在2015年4月24日，也就是一百周年纪念日的时候。他说，默克尔非常希望避免刺激土耳其，一直在拖延，尽管这个新的时间点看起来更糟。今年春天，厄兹德米尔又开始推进提案。他说，这项决议对于承认德国作为奥斯曼帝国的主要盟友，在种族灭绝中的同谋身份很有必要。至于土耳其，他认为，如果土耳其能坦诚地面对历史和它的少数民族，它现在可能已经是欧盟成员国了。