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Oakland Tribune
Saturday, April 24, 2004
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413, 82~1761~2105471,00.html
Mark MARKARIAN
RECALLING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
EVERY year on April 24, the Armenian-American community of the Bay Area,
along with Armenian communities the world over, commemorates the
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
This year, the 89th anniversary will be no exception. April 24, 1915,
was the day that the Ottoman Turkish government rounded up hundreds of
Armenian leaders and put them to death -- beginning a process during
which 1.5 million Armenians, half of the Armenians living in their
ancient homeland of 3,000 years, were wiped out through forced death
marches, mass burning, starvation, rape and mutilation.
It was indeed the first genocide of the 20th century, though tragically
not the last, as we have just commemorated the 10th anniversary of the
genocide in Rwanda.
Why do we bother to remember events that took place so long ago in a
land so far away?
We remember so that we may honor the memory of the fallen and the
courage of the survivors, of which only a handful remain. Perhaps more
importantly, remembering and educating about these events strengthens
humanity's ability to prevent new crimes of this magnitude from happening.
We unfortunately face an uphill battle. The Turkish government continues
to deny the history of the Armenian Genocide, expending millions of
dollars annually to reject mention of it publicly -- in classrooms, in
government or in the halls of justice.
Turkey's staunchest ally, the United States, has been complicit in this
denial by refusing to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, even
though the U.S. archives are full of documentation, including the
memoirs of the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau,
who concluded in 1918, "I am confident that the whole history of the
human race contains no such horrible episode as this."
Many scholars have described the Armenian Genocide as the prototype for
the genocides of the 20th century that followed. Indeed, Adolf Hitler,
in a 1939 speech urging his generals to move forward into Poland without
worrying about the consequences, said, "After all, who today remembers
the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Hitler's own words provided good reason for the admonition "Never Again."
But as Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. wrote
recently in the Washington Post, Never Again has unfortunately become
Just Words.
Events like the Armenian Genocide have been repeated with depressing
regularity throughout the 20th century: Stalin's deliberate mass
starvation in the Ukraine in the late '30s; the Holocaust during World
War II; the genocide by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in 1975; the
wholesale slaughter of Rwandans in 1994; mass internment and death of
Kosovars in 1995. Each time, the world failing to act unless it was too
little, too late.
Every year, the Armenian-American community tries to accomplish locally
what Washington continues to block nationally and internationally. We
support resolutions marking April 24th as a day of commemoration of the
Armenian Genocide.
In cities like San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Clara and, for the first
time, Oakland, we urge local governments to remember the past so that we
may improve the future.
Maybe, just maybe, with more public awareness, politicians could be
urged to put human rights over political inertia and expediency. Maybe
the next human tragedy can be averted.
This is why Armenians bother to remember. This is why we should all
bother to remember.
Mark Markarian is a member of the Bay Area Armenian National Committee.
He lives in Oakland.
Saturday, April 24, 2004
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413, 82~1761~2105471,00.html
Mark MARKARIAN
RECALLING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
EVERY year on April 24, the Armenian-American community of the Bay Area,
along with Armenian communities the world over, commemorates the
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
This year, the 89th anniversary will be no exception. April 24, 1915,
was the day that the Ottoman Turkish government rounded up hundreds of
Armenian leaders and put them to death -- beginning a process during
which 1.5 million Armenians, half of the Armenians living in their
ancient homeland of 3,000 years, were wiped out through forced death
marches, mass burning, starvation, rape and mutilation.
It was indeed the first genocide of the 20th century, though tragically
not the last, as we have just commemorated the 10th anniversary of the
genocide in Rwanda.
Why do we bother to remember events that took place so long ago in a
land so far away?
We remember so that we may honor the memory of the fallen and the
courage of the survivors, of which only a handful remain. Perhaps more
importantly, remembering and educating about these events strengthens
humanity's ability to prevent new crimes of this magnitude from happening.
We unfortunately face an uphill battle. The Turkish government continues
to deny the history of the Armenian Genocide, expending millions of
dollars annually to reject mention of it publicly -- in classrooms, in
government or in the halls of justice.
Turkey's staunchest ally, the United States, has been complicit in this
denial by refusing to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, even
though the U.S. archives are full of documentation, including the
memoirs of the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau,
who concluded in 1918, "I am confident that the whole history of the
human race contains no such horrible episode as this."
Many scholars have described the Armenian Genocide as the prototype for
the genocides of the 20th century that followed. Indeed, Adolf Hitler,
in a 1939 speech urging his generals to move forward into Poland without
worrying about the consequences, said, "After all, who today remembers
the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Hitler's own words provided good reason for the admonition "Never Again."
But as Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. wrote
recently in the Washington Post, Never Again has unfortunately become
Just Words.
Events like the Armenian Genocide have been repeated with depressing
regularity throughout the 20th century: Stalin's deliberate mass
starvation in the Ukraine in the late '30s; the Holocaust during World
War II; the genocide by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in 1975; the
wholesale slaughter of Rwandans in 1994; mass internment and death of
Kosovars in 1995. Each time, the world failing to act unless it was too
little, too late.
Every year, the Armenian-American community tries to accomplish locally
what Washington continues to block nationally and internationally. We
support resolutions marking April 24th as a day of commemoration of the
Armenian Genocide.
In cities like San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Clara and, for the first
time, Oakland, we urge local governments to remember the past so that we
may improve the future.
Maybe, just maybe, with more public awareness, politicians could be
urged to put human rights over political inertia and expediency. Maybe
the next human tragedy can be averted.
This is why Armenians bother to remember. This is why we should all
bother to remember.
Mark Markarian is a member of the Bay Area Armenian National Committee.
He lives in Oakland.