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The Guardian London - Forgotten Holocaust

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  • The Guardian London - Forgotten Holocaust

    Leader
    Forgotten Holocaust
    Saturday April 23, 2005
    The Guardian

    It is not every day that there is a chance to ponder the significance
    of events that happened in the distant past, so tomorrow's 90th
    anniversary of the start of what Armenians call their genocide at the
    hands of the Turks should not pass unnoticed. This subject cannot be
    tackled without negotiating a minefield of claim, counter-claim and
    fury. Many historians believe that between 1915 and 1923 the Ottoman
    Turkish authorities orchestrated the killing of 1.5 million Armenian
    Christians. Turkish governments have always insisted that a few
    hundred thousand died in "spontaneous" violence that constituted
    neither extermination nor genocide, and that in any case began in
    wartime, when the Armenians, seen as a fifth column, were fighting
    alongside Russian forces.

    Ohan Pamuk, Turkey's most famous writer, was vilified recently for
    referring to a million deaths, many of starvation on a long march into
    exile in the Syrian desert. When France, home to the largest Armenian
    diaspora community, planned to commemorate the killings, it received
    threats from Turkey. Henry Morgenthau, then US ambassador to Istanbul,
    reported "cold-blooded, calculating" slaughter. But American
    governments speak only of "tragedy" to avoid offending their
    ally. Armenians, marking the catastrophe in Yerevan and beyond, call
    it the forgotten holocaust and say Turks should no more be allowed to
    deny their responsibility than Germans for exterminating Europe's
    Jews. (Hitler, whose crimes areremembered, once scornfully asked who
    remembered the Armenians).

    With emotions still running so high, it is encouraging that Turkey has
    asked Armenia to join a commission with unfettered access to the
    records of both countries, including Turkey's first world war military
    archives. Armenia rejects this, saying the historical facts are
    clear. Ankara fears the issue is being exploited by those, especially
    in France, who oppose Turkish membership of the EU. To some extent,
    the response is defensive. But whatever their motives, it will be
    welcome if Turks are now ready to look at their past with a more open
    mind.
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