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SONENTZ: A ROADMAP TO A NEW 'FINAL SOLUTION'
By Tatul Sonentz-Papazian
http://www.hairenik.com/weekly/2 009/10/11/sonentz-a-road-map-to-a-new-final-soluti on/
October 11, 2009
Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians...?
-Adolf Hitler
As the whole world knows, on April 24,1915, the murderous process of
Armenocide that had started almost 50 years earlier culminated into the
horrendous bloodletting of the very first genocide of the 20th century.
Cloaked behind the dust and smoke of the Great War, after the Ottoman
Turks completed the slaughter of one and a half million Armenians,
Kemalist Turks, side-stepping the 1918 Armistice, defying and ignoring
international peace treaties and protocols, with the assistance of
several great powers devised and followed their own murderous roadmap.
Over the following three chaotic years, they succeeded to decimate
surviving Armenian communities from Smyrna to Adana, from Shushi to
Baku, and to reduce a fairly large, fledgling Armenian independent
state into a diminutive province of the Soviet Empire.
To this very day, succeeding governments of the Turkish Republic-true
heirs of that now defunct "Sick Man of Europe," the Ottoman
Empire-continue, unabated, the same policies of persecution against
Armenians, bordering on the genocidal within their own ill-gained
boundaries through institutionalized harassment and forced
assimilation.
Thus, along with a cynical denial of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey,
has chosen to perpetuate that same genocidal process which, come next
April, will complete its 95th year.
With these undeniable facts as a backdrop, the Turkish-Armenian
negotiations for the "normalization" of relations between the two
countries and the opening of borders were carried on behind a thick
veil of secrecy and misrepresentation.
Orchestrated by Switzerland-with the active participation and enormous
pressure exerted by Turkish oriented special interests in the United
States and the European Union-the Armenian side was sure to end up with
the short end of the stick. And sure enough, the resulting protocols,
drafted without the representational participation of the Armenian
people, paved the way for a "roadmap" that can lead only to the demise
of the Armenian Cause in its major aspects-namely, the recognition
of the Armenian Medz Yeghern as genocide with proper restitution,
and the rejection of the shameful and untenable terms of the Kars
Treaty, which imposes on Armenia her present boundaries with Turkey.
The political aims of the opponents of our nationhood and sovereignty
are clear and relentless. They are articulated with an ambitious
slogan: "The 21st century will be known as the Turkish Century!" This
may sound like wishful thinking, but no one can accuse it of lacking
in vision, direction, and national purpose.
Against this gauntlet, hurled at the face of our national existence,
at this critical juncture of our history, both homeland and
diaspora-lacking in unity and common purpose-are being offered,
by our own government, a policy that suggests nothing more than
"survival at whatever cost"-a call to mere existence.
The truth is that our nation, engaged in a life and death struggle
against powerful opponents needs, above all, the unity of homeland
and diaspora, gathered around a common national struggle based on
immutable historical rights. The present stance of the government in
Yerevan, alienated from its own people, now following foreign-conceived
roadmaps, has simply nowhere to go-for a call to mere existence based
on denial of history offers no direction, and no vision of any kind;
it merely perpetuates a status quo that threatens our very existence
as a viable nation.
At this juncture, now that we stand on the crossroads of history
once more, being led to the slippery road of accommodating our avowed
enemy who is knocking on the doors of Europe, begging to be admitted
in the European Union, in need of our cooperation to succeed, we must
not lay down our weapons in abject defeat. On the contrary, we must
reassess our own stance, and the true intentions of our opponents. We
must objectively evaluate the methods of reactivation of our national
cause pursued relentlessly over the last 34 eventful years, starting
with the global commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the genocide,
whose veracity is now being put to the test by protocols signed by
a misguided government of oligarchs who have, in truth, ceased to
represent the Armenian people.
Let this be a wakeup call to all Armenians around the world, to step
back from the precipice and rally around the banner of our national
struggle for justice too long denied, for a future with honor that
befits a nation that has crossed the millennia with its unique culture
and civilization.
By Tatul Sonentz-Papazian
http://www.hairenik.com/weekly/2 009/10/11/sonentz-a-road-map-to-a-new-final-soluti on/
October 11, 2009
Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians...?
-Adolf Hitler
As the whole world knows, on April 24,1915, the murderous process of
Armenocide that had started almost 50 years earlier culminated into the
horrendous bloodletting of the very first genocide of the 20th century.
Cloaked behind the dust and smoke of the Great War, after the Ottoman
Turks completed the slaughter of one and a half million Armenians,
Kemalist Turks, side-stepping the 1918 Armistice, defying and ignoring
international peace treaties and protocols, with the assistance of
several great powers devised and followed their own murderous roadmap.
Over the following three chaotic years, they succeeded to decimate
surviving Armenian communities from Smyrna to Adana, from Shushi to
Baku, and to reduce a fairly large, fledgling Armenian independent
state into a diminutive province of the Soviet Empire.
To this very day, succeeding governments of the Turkish Republic-true
heirs of that now defunct "Sick Man of Europe," the Ottoman
Empire-continue, unabated, the same policies of persecution against
Armenians, bordering on the genocidal within their own ill-gained
boundaries through institutionalized harassment and forced
assimilation.
Thus, along with a cynical denial of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey,
has chosen to perpetuate that same genocidal process which, come next
April, will complete its 95th year.
With these undeniable facts as a backdrop, the Turkish-Armenian
negotiations for the "normalization" of relations between the two
countries and the opening of borders were carried on behind a thick
veil of secrecy and misrepresentation.
Orchestrated by Switzerland-with the active participation and enormous
pressure exerted by Turkish oriented special interests in the United
States and the European Union-the Armenian side was sure to end up with
the short end of the stick. And sure enough, the resulting protocols,
drafted without the representational participation of the Armenian
people, paved the way for a "roadmap" that can lead only to the demise
of the Armenian Cause in its major aspects-namely, the recognition
of the Armenian Medz Yeghern as genocide with proper restitution,
and the rejection of the shameful and untenable terms of the Kars
Treaty, which imposes on Armenia her present boundaries with Turkey.
The political aims of the opponents of our nationhood and sovereignty
are clear and relentless. They are articulated with an ambitious
slogan: "The 21st century will be known as the Turkish Century!" This
may sound like wishful thinking, but no one can accuse it of lacking
in vision, direction, and national purpose.
Against this gauntlet, hurled at the face of our national existence,
at this critical juncture of our history, both homeland and
diaspora-lacking in unity and common purpose-are being offered,
by our own government, a policy that suggests nothing more than
"survival at whatever cost"-a call to mere existence.
The truth is that our nation, engaged in a life and death struggle
against powerful opponents needs, above all, the unity of homeland
and diaspora, gathered around a common national struggle based on
immutable historical rights. The present stance of the government in
Yerevan, alienated from its own people, now following foreign-conceived
roadmaps, has simply nowhere to go-for a call to mere existence based
on denial of history offers no direction, and no vision of any kind;
it merely perpetuates a status quo that threatens our very existence
as a viable nation.
At this juncture, now that we stand on the crossroads of history
once more, being led to the slippery road of accommodating our avowed
enemy who is knocking on the doors of Europe, begging to be admitted
in the European Union, in need of our cooperation to succeed, we must
not lay down our weapons in abject defeat. On the contrary, we must
reassess our own stance, and the true intentions of our opponents. We
must objectively evaluate the methods of reactivation of our national
cause pursued relentlessly over the last 34 eventful years, starting
with the global commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the genocide,
whose veracity is now being put to the test by protocols signed by
a misguided government of oligarchs who have, in truth, ceased to
represent the Armenian people.
Let this be a wakeup call to all Armenians around the world, to step
back from the precipice and rally around the banner of our national
struggle for justice too long denied, for a future with honor that
befits a nation that has crossed the millennia with its unique culture
and civilization.