Tweet
CBS 60-MINUTES REPORT ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Examiner.com
http://www.examiner.com/x-3 8202-San-Jose-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m3d1-CB S-60Minutes-report-on-the-Armenian-Genocide
March 2 2010
On the evening of Sunday, February 28th, Bob Simon presented a program
on the Armenian Genocide on the CBS program 60-Minutes. As the news
about this program leaked out earlier in the week, local Armenians
were setting up plans to join friends and relatives to watch it
together. The program was one of three stories aired that night and
was relatively short.
The story began as Simon visited the hills of a desolate-looking
area in Syria called Deir Zor (there are different spellings) on the
banks of the Euphrates River before it flows to Iraq. There, by just
scratching the surface of the ground with one's hands one could find
fragments of human bones. In fact, local children were easily finding
various small bones. It turns out that this site is the graveyard of
about 400,000 Armenians who were massacred starting in 1915 by the
Ottoman Empire. They reached this spot as they were forcibly deported
from their towns and villages in the eastern part of current Turkey on
horrendous marches through the deserts of Syria. Historical accounts
state that close to 1.5 million Armenians perished, although Simon
put the figure as 'more than one million.'
The massacre of the Armenians has been recognized as the first
genocide of the 20th Century, one that Hitler used as a model for
the extermination of the Jews. In a speech in 1939, it was reported
that he remarked, 'Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation
of the Armenians?' While there were many contemporaneous accounts of
the massacres of Armenians such as reports by Henry Morgenthau, Sr.,
American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, to this day, the Turkish
Government and most Turks deny that it occurred at all. They claim that
the Armenian simply died during the battles of World War I. Thus, while
the denial of the Holocaust is punishable by a fine and imprisonment
in Germany and France, the denial of the Armenian Genocide is required
by law in Turkey. In an interview with Simon, the Turkish Ambassador to
the US characteristically denied all responsibility for the massacres,
even though he admitted that there were forced deportations.
To date, 21 countries have officially recognized the Armenian
Genocide. Periodically, this question is raised in the US Congress.
However, every Congress and President up to now has succumbed to the
Turkish lobby and has refused to recognize this historical fact.
Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, announced last month that it is his intention to mark up
the Armenian Genocide resolution (H. Res. 252) on March 4th, 2010.
While President Obama expressed support for such a resolution during
the 2008 campaign, in a recent Congressional hearing, Hillary Clinton
merely stated Obama administration's interest in 'a full, frank and
just acknowledgements of the facts.' This statement is a diplomatic way
of saying that the resolution should be delayed again. Also, 'Turkey
[has warned the] U.S. against the "genocide" bill in Congress.'. Thus,
it is not clear if it will indeed be enacted this year either and
this exercise in futility will surely be continued for another year.
Examiner.com
http://www.examiner.com/x-3 8202-San-Jose-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m3d1-CB S-60Minutes-report-on-the-Armenian-Genocide
March 2 2010
On the evening of Sunday, February 28th, Bob Simon presented a program
on the Armenian Genocide on the CBS program 60-Minutes. As the news
about this program leaked out earlier in the week, local Armenians
were setting up plans to join friends and relatives to watch it
together. The program was one of three stories aired that night and
was relatively short.
The story began as Simon visited the hills of a desolate-looking
area in Syria called Deir Zor (there are different spellings) on the
banks of the Euphrates River before it flows to Iraq. There, by just
scratching the surface of the ground with one's hands one could find
fragments of human bones. In fact, local children were easily finding
various small bones. It turns out that this site is the graveyard of
about 400,000 Armenians who were massacred starting in 1915 by the
Ottoman Empire. They reached this spot as they were forcibly deported
from their towns and villages in the eastern part of current Turkey on
horrendous marches through the deserts of Syria. Historical accounts
state that close to 1.5 million Armenians perished, although Simon
put the figure as 'more than one million.'
The massacre of the Armenians has been recognized as the first
genocide of the 20th Century, one that Hitler used as a model for
the extermination of the Jews. In a speech in 1939, it was reported
that he remarked, 'Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation
of the Armenians?' While there were many contemporaneous accounts of
the massacres of Armenians such as reports by Henry Morgenthau, Sr.,
American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, to this day, the Turkish
Government and most Turks deny that it occurred at all. They claim that
the Armenian simply died during the battles of World War I. Thus, while
the denial of the Holocaust is punishable by a fine and imprisonment
in Germany and France, the denial of the Armenian Genocide is required
by law in Turkey. In an interview with Simon, the Turkish Ambassador to
the US characteristically denied all responsibility for the massacres,
even though he admitted that there were forced deportations.
To date, 21 countries have officially recognized the Armenian
Genocide. Periodically, this question is raised in the US Congress.
However, every Congress and President up to now has succumbed to the
Turkish lobby and has refused to recognize this historical fact.
Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, announced last month that it is his intention to mark up
the Armenian Genocide resolution (H. Res. 252) on March 4th, 2010.
While President Obama expressed support for such a resolution during
the 2008 campaign, in a recent Congressional hearing, Hillary Clinton
merely stated Obama administration's interest in 'a full, frank and
just acknowledgements of the facts.' This statement is a diplomatic way
of saying that the resolution should be delayed again. Also, 'Turkey
[has warned the] U.S. against the "genocide" bill in Congress.'. Thus,
it is not clear if it will indeed be enacted this year either and
this exercise in futility will surely be continued for another year.