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Turkey Should Finally Acknowledge The Armenian, Assyrian Genocide Of

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  • Turkey Should Finally Acknowledge The Armenian, Assyrian Genocide Of

    TURKEY SHOULD FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE ARMENIAN, ASSYRIAN GENOCIDE OF 1915
    Lillie Merigian

    Assyrian International News Agency AINA
    April 21 2010

    International politics certainly have strange bedfellows. Some are
    fickle, some devious, some expectant and some demanding. Which U.S.
    "bedfellow" is all of above? Let's talk Turkey! Oh, yes, that country.

    Turkey, the country that is a longstanding NATO ally of the U.S.,
    a Muslim nation that claims to be a "modern, democratic, secular"
    republic and a friend of the United States -- a friend? A friend
    indeed or a friend in need?

    For the past 95 years Turkey has refused to acknowledge the horrific
    acts of its Ottoman government during 1915-23 genocide when the Young
    Turk movement organized the large-scale massacre and deportations of
    1.5 million Armenians from their historic homeland resulting in the
    annihilation of more than half of the 2 million population.

    Turkey's present prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is in the
    forefront denying such a thing ever happened. In fact, there is a
    law in Turkey against saying or writing anything that is an insult to
    "Turkishness." Modern, democratic?

    Turkey receives $500 million in U.S. foreign aid, military and
    economic, but spends megamillion bucks for powerful public relations
    firms to improve its "modern, democratic, secular" image. And yet,
    it dares intimidate our elected representatives with retaliatory
    measures if passage of resolutions of the Armenian Genocide succeed in
    Congress. It has gone so far as to threaten closure of the U.S. air
    base in northern Turkey, deny access for the U.S. troops to pull
    out of Iraq, and to break off relations with the U.S. and possibly
    "get in bed" with Iran, its Muslim brother.

    Congressional resolutions are passed every day. Recognition is given
    to Be Kind to Animals Day, Pancake Week, Plant a Tree Month, and so
    on. But remember the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century?

    What did the Turkish government do when the House Foreign Affairs
    Committee passed House Resolution 252, the Armenian Genocide
    Resolution, by a narrow 23-22 margin? It immediately recalled its
    ambassador from Washington for "consultations."

    And what did our U.S. democratic, fighter for human rights, government
    do? It immediately launched a campaign to undermine the adoption of
    the resolution and began using the full force of the administration
    to attempt to block members of Congress from doing exactly that which
    President Obama promised during his campaign -- namely, "properly
    commemorating this crime against humanity." The United States of
    America is allowing a foreign country to blackmail its "bedfellow"
    into denying its horrific past.

    Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin coined the word genocide in 1944 when
    he cited the 1915-1923 annihilation of the Armenians and the Jewish
    Holocaust as seminal examples of genocide. Our country needs to stand
    tall and reaffirm its dedication to human rights and denounce the
    Turkish government's denial of the abundantly documented murder of
    its Armenian Christian minority by its Ottoman predecessors.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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