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AZG Armenian Daily #075, 27/04/2005
World press
FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST
The Guardian, Saturday April 23, 2005
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.
Orhan 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 are remembered, 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.
World press
FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST
The Guardian, Saturday April 23, 2005
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.
Orhan 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 are remembered, 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.