Memory and Identity Building: A Comparative Study of Post-WWI Turkey and Post-WWII Germany

2015 marks the centennial of a “historical” issue which is perhaps equally topical in the political arena as it was hundred years ago. The current article is an excerpt from the first chapter of an ongoing Ph.D. thesis which explores the reasons why the Armenian genocide, a century later, not only is a highly sensitive issue for both perpetrator as well as the victim, but also an matter of heated debates in the political arena and cause for diplomatic discord. Apart from the judicial matter and the consequences of the committed internationally wrongful acts, memory and identity play an important part in cementing the denialist rhetoric of official Turkey. A comparison with post WWII Germany illuminates the divergence of the two post World War states and societies, one including the war atrocities into its identity and memory while the other has implemented amnesia and denial