3796) Free E-Book: “Patriotism Perverted” by K.S. Papazian Reprinted

The Book Titled “Patriotism Perverted” Reprinted

20.03.2023

The book titled "Patriotism Perverted” by K.S. Papazian has been reprinted by the Center for Eurasian Studies (AVIM).

One of the main issues in Turkish-Armenian controversy regarding historical events is the focus on the 1915 Events. Under the guidance of the geopolitical interests of the Soviet Union that sought retaliation against Türkiye that positioned itself in the Western camp, a genocide discourse began to be constructed in an organized way and was used intensively after 1965, which was the 50th anniversary of the 1915 Events. Meanwhile, many books that could challenge the genocide narrative started to disappear under mysterious circumstances from the shelves of bookstores and libraries.

One of these books, Patriotism Perverted, which was published in Boston in 1934 and authored by an Armenian American historian named K.S. Papazian, criticizes the Dashnaktsutyun/Dashnak Party (Armenian Revolutionary Federation/ARF) and its methods. Papazian criticizes the fact that the actions of the ARF, which initially espoused a form of nationalism diluted with socialism, quickly adopted terrorism and fascism in the actions it carried out in Anatolia and the Caucasus. Papazian refers to this situation as "perverted patriotism" and, by building a narrative on the ARF’s program and citing key figures, he gives important information regarding the heights of ARF’s levels of radicalization. He mentions that for the sake of this cause, the ARF administrators even resorted to murdering Armenians from their own community by accusing them of treason.

Papazian thus argues that the ARF needs to come to terms with its history that is full of murders, insurrections, and massacres. We hope to draw attention to the contradictions of the unilaterally constructed victimhood perception concerning the Turkish-Armenian controversy by re-introducing this book by Papazian to the readers.

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