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What Is The Armenian Genocide?

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  • What Is The Armenian Genocide?

    WHAT IS THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE?

    Creative Loafing Atlanta
    March 8 2010

    Like many victims of long-ago crimes, if the Armenians can't have
    justice, they at least want recognition

    On March 4, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed the following
    nonbinding resolution:

    "Calling upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the
    United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity
    concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and
    genocide documented in the United States record relating to the
    Armenian Genocide, and for other purposes."

    You read that and probably wonder what the big deal is. Appropriate
    understanding is great. Sensitivity is swell. Besides, Congress is
    constantly honoring, commemorating, remembering and noting events
    and people of the distant past. Congress loves it some symbolic
    declarations.

    Sometimes they're innocuous. For example, last November, the House
    voted to name a post office for W. Hazen Hillyard, a deceased former
    Utah postmaster. Did you know Hillyard won the Boy Scouts of America's
    Silver Beaver Award in 1961? What exactly is a silver beaver, anyway?

    Is it anything like a GILF?

    Often the resolutions deal with more serious issues. Last June, the
    Senate voted to acknowledge the 70th anniversary of a disgraceful
    event: a ship with Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany was turned away
    from U.S. ports.

    With no place safe to land, the ship returned to Europe. Of the 937
    passengers onboard, 254 subsequently died in the Holocaust. The Senate
    described the anniversary "as an opportunity for public officials
    and educators to raise awareness about an important historical event,
    the lessons of which are relevant to current and future generations."

    Translation: Acknowledging a giant screw-up now might help us avoid
    the same screw-up later.

    Armenian-Americans have long been pushing to have the U.S. join the
    20-plus other nations that have already officially recognized the
    Armenian Genocide. Like many victims of long-ago crimes, if they
    can't have justice, they at least want recognition.

    Here's the quick version of the broad historical consensus:
    Armenians have lived in the Caucasus Mountains and Eastern Anatolia
    (aka modern-day Turkey) area for 4,000 years. They have their own
    language and, for more than 16 centuries, have been followers of an
    obscure religion called Christianity.

    Surrounded by ethnic and religious rivals in a corner of the world
    where ethnicity and religion are kind of a big deal, the Armenians
    haven't always had an easy time. During the 16th century, Armenians
    fell under the control of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Though
    multi-ethnic and multi-religious, the empire itself was run by
    Turkish Muslims.

    With the empire near its death during World War I, the ruling Turks
    launched an ethnic cleansing campaign against Armenians in Anatolia.

    Because some Armenians sided with Russia against the Turks during the
    war, the entire community was labeled disloyal. Armenians say they
    lost 1.5 million of their own. The Turkish government disagrees. They
    say 300,000 died and dispute that it was genocide. They say it was
    war, that bad things happen during war, and that anyone who calls it
    genocide is a liar. Seriously, Turkey prosecuted Nobel Prize-winning
    novelist Orhan Pamuk for calling the killings genocide. Turkey also
    threatens retaliation against nations that dare utter the dirty G-word.

    The Turkish view, though firmly held, simply doesn't square with
    reality. Witnesses and historians have published ample evidence
    that the genocide took place. The most damning evidence of late
    was an Ottoman Empire Interior Ministry memo published last year
    noting the disappearance between 1915 and 1916 of 972,000 Armenians
    from Ottoman population rolls. They didn't go on around-the-world
    cruises. They died.

    This month marks the second time in two years that the House Committee
    on Foreign Affairs has passed an Armenian Genocide resolution. Just
    like the last one, expect this one to disappear before going to the
    full House of Representatives for a vote.

    Though there's no real dispute about whether the event took place,
    Turkey is simply too vital an ally for U.S. politicians to risk
    irritating the country over a nonbinding resolution condemning a
    100-year-old mass murder. As a candidate, Obama promised to be the
    first president to label the killing a genocide. But now that he's
    president, he has to choose between historical truth and present
    reality. To make sure Turkey joins U.S. efforts to place tighter
    sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, the White House urged
    Congress not to pass the resolution. Don't expect the full House to
    vote on it.
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