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THOUSANDS MARK GENOCIDE DAY IN ARMENIA AND WORLDWIDE
Lilit Gevorgyan
Global Insight
April 25, 2012
Millions of Armenians in Armenia and across worldwide Diaspora have
been holding a week of rallies and vigils culminating in marking
the Genocide Day on 24 April in memory of killings of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks during the First World War. The Armenian government
and diplomatic dignitaries were among thousands who attended the
Genocide Monument in the Armenian capital yesterday (24 April). The
mass killings and deportations took place between 1915 and 1923,
and resulted in one of the first genocides in the 20th century as
claimed by Armenia. 24 April is when 300 Armenian intellectuals along
with 5,000 members of Istanbul's Armenian community were rounded up
and killed as the wider-ranging persecutions started.
The killings were recognised as crimes against humanity by a court
martial set up by Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in early
1923, who personally accused the Ottoman government of carrying out
the atrocities. However, Turkey has increasingly grown determined to
shake off any accusations of crimes against humanity which in 1948
were described as genocide by the UN Convention on Prevention of
Genocide following killings of European Jews during the Second World
War. Turkey argues that the number of killed were not over 1.5 million
as Armenia maintains but 800,000 and they were result of a civil war.
The UN, European Parliament and over 20 countries have recognised the
killings as genocide but one key opponent of the recognition is the
US. The US Congress regularly tables motion on the issue, and this
year is no exception, but these do not normally receive backing from
the majority as such endorsement could affect relations with Turkey.
In recent years Turkish intellectuals and human rights activists have
also been staging protests in Turkey demanding freedom of speech and
more openness on this issue. This is despite the risk of prosecution
as in a number of cases Turkish intellectuals have been charged with
"insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the Criminal Code for
using the term crimes against humanity regarding the Armenian killings.
Significance:Genocide Day is a uniquely unifying event for Armenians in
Armenia and abroad. The issue is highly sensitive and emotive not least
because Armenia and Turkey are very far from the healing process. The
arguments that this is a matter of history are clearly irrelevant until
truth and reconciliation takes place. Furthermore, the fact that simply
talking about this historic event can be prosecuted and even results in
death (as seen in the case of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
shot dead in 2007 by a Turkish nationalist) highlights once again that
the issue of the killings is nothing but historic. It is an issue that
breeds mistrust between Armenian and Turkish communities. Any efforts
to bypass it have proven ineffective as failed 2010 Armenian-Turkish
protocols on normalisation of relations showed.
From: Baghdasarian
Lilit Gevorgyan
Global Insight
April 25, 2012
Millions of Armenians in Armenia and across worldwide Diaspora have
been holding a week of rallies and vigils culminating in marking
the Genocide Day on 24 April in memory of killings of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks during the First World War. The Armenian government
and diplomatic dignitaries were among thousands who attended the
Genocide Monument in the Armenian capital yesterday (24 April). The
mass killings and deportations took place between 1915 and 1923,
and resulted in one of the first genocides in the 20th century as
claimed by Armenia. 24 April is when 300 Armenian intellectuals along
with 5,000 members of Istanbul's Armenian community were rounded up
and killed as the wider-ranging persecutions started.
The killings were recognised as crimes against humanity by a court
martial set up by Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in early
1923, who personally accused the Ottoman government of carrying out
the atrocities. However, Turkey has increasingly grown determined to
shake off any accusations of crimes against humanity which in 1948
were described as genocide by the UN Convention on Prevention of
Genocide following killings of European Jews during the Second World
War. Turkey argues that the number of killed were not over 1.5 million
as Armenia maintains but 800,000 and they were result of a civil war.
The UN, European Parliament and over 20 countries have recognised the
killings as genocide but one key opponent of the recognition is the
US. The US Congress regularly tables motion on the issue, and this
year is no exception, but these do not normally receive backing from
the majority as such endorsement could affect relations with Turkey.
In recent years Turkish intellectuals and human rights activists have
also been staging protests in Turkey demanding freedom of speech and
more openness on this issue. This is despite the risk of prosecution
as in a number of cases Turkish intellectuals have been charged with
"insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the Criminal Code for
using the term crimes against humanity regarding the Armenian killings.
Significance:Genocide Day is a uniquely unifying event for Armenians in
Armenia and abroad. The issue is highly sensitive and emotive not least
because Armenia and Turkey are very far from the healing process. The
arguments that this is a matter of history are clearly irrelevant until
truth and reconciliation takes place. Furthermore, the fact that simply
talking about this historic event can be prosecuted and even results in
death (as seen in the case of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
shot dead in 2007 by a Turkish nationalist) highlights once again that
the issue of the killings is nothing but historic. It is an issue that
breeds mistrust between Armenian and Turkish communities. Any efforts
to bypass it have proven ineffective as failed 2010 Armenian-Turkish
protocols on normalisation of relations showed.
From: Baghdasarian