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AN UNACKNOWLEDGED GENOCIDE
By Harry Hagopian
Ekklesia
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/ 11122
27 Jan 2010
Today marks the observance of the International Day of Commemoration
in memory of the victims of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and other
mass atrocities around the world. The sadness and horror evoked by
this occasion is felt particularly strongly by the descendants of
the victims of unrecognised genocides.
As historians have asserted on the basis of ample archival evidence
(http://www.armenian-genocide.org/), this first genocide of the last
century was in fact perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish government
between 1915 and 1923 when it systematically and relentlessly targeted
and killed Armenians within its Empire.
Ultimately, well over one million ethnic Armenians, who incidentally
were Ottoman and later Turkish citizens, lost their lives.
As an Armenian born after this grisly period of our history,
I often wonder how our forbears managed to persevere in the face
of such immense suffering and adversity. Not only did they, their
families and friends, undergo the most harrowing experiences, they
also managed to pick themselves up and rebound from the devastation
of their orphaned situations.
It is due to their intrepid steadfastness and belief in their
collective identity as Armenians, that we - the younger generations -
can now lead our lives more freely and with more confidence.
But what does this say about modern-day Turkey? Equally importantly,
what does it say of those across the world who still resist tooth
and nail the idea of genocide - any acts of genocide, that of the
Armenians or subsequent ones - with denial and who debase human life
and dignity for spurious political and economic considerations?
How can we possibly claim to defend a political order based on human
rights and common decency on the one hand only to stifle it on the
other? Do deniers not recall George Santayana, a principal figure
in classical American philosophy, asserting that "those who do not
remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (in The Life of Reason,
Volume 1, 1905).
As the American NPR broadcaster, Scott Simon, wrote in 'Genocide'
is a Matter of Opinion, there are times when one has to utter the
word 'genocide' in order to be accurate about mass murder that tries
to extinguish a whole ethnic group. That is why the slaughter of
a million Tutsis in Rwanda is not called merely mass murder. This
is also why any politician who goes to Germany, for instance, and
describes the Holocaust of European Jews merely as 'terrible killings'
would be reviled without mercy and even prosecuted without appeal.
President Obama assumed the high moral ground during the US
presidential primaries by stating clearly that the Armenian people
deserved "a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide
and responds forcefully to all genocides".
But on Armenian Remembrance Day on 24 April 2009, his written statement
from the White House referred twice to the Armenian genocide as medz
yeghern - translated literally as "great catastrophe" rather than
"genocide". Many American politicians still refrain from using the
'g-word'.
However, debates are intensifying along with speculation on the
possibility that the US Congress in April may finally recognise the
Armenian genocide. The Turkish government, which still talks about the
"confusion" of 1915-23, is lobbying hard against this.
Once again we will witness a showdown between realpolitik and the
truth: in other words, between contemporary political expediency and
the burden of past atrocities. All too often the former seems to win.
Does this not sadly alert us - believers and humanists alike - how
the values of our global world today often avoid words such as truth,
conscience and honour?
On 24 April 2010 we will be six years shy of a century of denial
that - no matter whether individual, collective or institutional -
still contaminates the truth. Is it therefore not high time to put the
record straight? Is it not time for Turkish officials to put jingoism,
let alone misplaced pride or fear aside by recognising this unfortunate
chapter of their Ottoman history during World War One? Is it not time
for the Turkish judicial system today to stop invoking Article 301
of the Turkish Penal Code and charging reporters or writers simply
because they refer to the massacres of Armenians as genocide? Is it
not time also for the Turkish President and Prime Minister to prove
their EU-friendly credentials by mustering the political fortitude
-let alone the moral rectitude - to acknowledge past aberrations?
Moreover, is it not time for the world community to embark upon
a veritable phase of genocide education by underlining the eight
stages of genocide which culminate in denial - as elaborated by Dr
Gregory H Stanton in his Eight Stages of Genocide in 1998 when he was
president of Genocide Watch? Or as the chartered clinical psychologist
Aida Alayarian elucidated in her book Consequences of Denial, does
the denial of the Armenian genocide not deprive its victims of the
opportunity to make sense of their experience, as well as rendering
Turkish society unable to come to terms with its past, and therefore
with itself?
Such recognition is not solely for the sake of Armenians. After all,
I consider this genocide a historically-recognised reality, even if
some governments dither, equivocate and refuse to admit to it for
reasons that have more to do with political weakness than historical
truthfulness.
No, it is also for the memory of all those righteous Turks who
assisted, harboured and supported Armenians during this wounded chapter
of history. But as a firm believer in forgiveness and reconciliation,
I hold that it is ultimately for the sake of both Armenians and Turks
alike so they can begin the painful but ineluctable journey toward
a just closure of this open sore.
------------
(c) Harry Hagopian is a former executive secretary for the
Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). He is now an ecumenical,
legal and political consultant for the Armenian Church. As well
as advising the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and
Wales on Middle East and inter-faith questions, Dr Hagopian is
involved with ACEP, the Paris-based Christians in Political Action
(http://www.chretiensenpolitique.eu/). His own website is Epektasis
(http://www.epektasis.net/)
By Harry Hagopian
Ekklesia
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/ 11122
27 Jan 2010
Today marks the observance of the International Day of Commemoration
in memory of the victims of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and other
mass atrocities around the world. The sadness and horror evoked by
this occasion is felt particularly strongly by the descendants of
the victims of unrecognised genocides.
As historians have asserted on the basis of ample archival evidence
(http://www.armenian-genocide.org/), this first genocide of the last
century was in fact perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish government
between 1915 and 1923 when it systematically and relentlessly targeted
and killed Armenians within its Empire.
Ultimately, well over one million ethnic Armenians, who incidentally
were Ottoman and later Turkish citizens, lost their lives.
As an Armenian born after this grisly period of our history,
I often wonder how our forbears managed to persevere in the face
of such immense suffering and adversity. Not only did they, their
families and friends, undergo the most harrowing experiences, they
also managed to pick themselves up and rebound from the devastation
of their orphaned situations.
It is due to their intrepid steadfastness and belief in their
collective identity as Armenians, that we - the younger generations -
can now lead our lives more freely and with more confidence.
But what does this say about modern-day Turkey? Equally importantly,
what does it say of those across the world who still resist tooth
and nail the idea of genocide - any acts of genocide, that of the
Armenians or subsequent ones - with denial and who debase human life
and dignity for spurious political and economic considerations?
How can we possibly claim to defend a political order based on human
rights and common decency on the one hand only to stifle it on the
other? Do deniers not recall George Santayana, a principal figure
in classical American philosophy, asserting that "those who do not
remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (in The Life of Reason,
Volume 1, 1905).
As the American NPR broadcaster, Scott Simon, wrote in 'Genocide'
is a Matter of Opinion, there are times when one has to utter the
word 'genocide' in order to be accurate about mass murder that tries
to extinguish a whole ethnic group. That is why the slaughter of
a million Tutsis in Rwanda is not called merely mass murder. This
is also why any politician who goes to Germany, for instance, and
describes the Holocaust of European Jews merely as 'terrible killings'
would be reviled without mercy and even prosecuted without appeal.
President Obama assumed the high moral ground during the US
presidential primaries by stating clearly that the Armenian people
deserved "a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide
and responds forcefully to all genocides".
But on Armenian Remembrance Day on 24 April 2009, his written statement
from the White House referred twice to the Armenian genocide as medz
yeghern - translated literally as "great catastrophe" rather than
"genocide". Many American politicians still refrain from using the
'g-word'.
However, debates are intensifying along with speculation on the
possibility that the US Congress in April may finally recognise the
Armenian genocide. The Turkish government, which still talks about the
"confusion" of 1915-23, is lobbying hard against this.
Once again we will witness a showdown between realpolitik and the
truth: in other words, between contemporary political expediency and
the burden of past atrocities. All too often the former seems to win.
Does this not sadly alert us - believers and humanists alike - how
the values of our global world today often avoid words such as truth,
conscience and honour?
On 24 April 2010 we will be six years shy of a century of denial
that - no matter whether individual, collective or institutional -
still contaminates the truth. Is it therefore not high time to put the
record straight? Is it not time for Turkish officials to put jingoism,
let alone misplaced pride or fear aside by recognising this unfortunate
chapter of their Ottoman history during World War One? Is it not time
for the Turkish judicial system today to stop invoking Article 301
of the Turkish Penal Code and charging reporters or writers simply
because they refer to the massacres of Armenians as genocide? Is it
not time also for the Turkish President and Prime Minister to prove
their EU-friendly credentials by mustering the political fortitude
-let alone the moral rectitude - to acknowledge past aberrations?
Moreover, is it not time for the world community to embark upon
a veritable phase of genocide education by underlining the eight
stages of genocide which culminate in denial - as elaborated by Dr
Gregory H Stanton in his Eight Stages of Genocide in 1998 when he was
president of Genocide Watch? Or as the chartered clinical psychologist
Aida Alayarian elucidated in her book Consequences of Denial, does
the denial of the Armenian genocide not deprive its victims of the
opportunity to make sense of their experience, as well as rendering
Turkish society unable to come to terms with its past, and therefore
with itself?
Such recognition is not solely for the sake of Armenians. After all,
I consider this genocide a historically-recognised reality, even if
some governments dither, equivocate and refuse to admit to it for
reasons that have more to do with political weakness than historical
truthfulness.
No, it is also for the memory of all those righteous Turks who
assisted, harboured and supported Armenians during this wounded chapter
of history. But as a firm believer in forgiveness and reconciliation,
I hold that it is ultimately for the sake of both Armenians and Turks
alike so they can begin the painful but ineluctable journey toward
a just closure of this open sore.
------------
(c) Harry Hagopian is a former executive secretary for the
Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). He is now an ecumenical,
legal and political consultant for the Armenian Church. As well
as advising the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and
Wales on Middle East and inter-faith questions, Dr Hagopian is
involved with ACEP, the Paris-based Christians in Political Action
(http://www.chretiensenpolitique.eu/). His own website is Epektasis
(http://www.epektasis.net/)