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CHUCK HAGEL HAS AN ARMENIAN PROBLEM
BY: Adam Kredo
http://freebeacon.com/chuck-hagel-has-an-armenian-problem/
January 11, 2013 12:59 pm
Nominee for Defense Secretary criticized for sweeping Armenian genocide
under the rug
Hagel meets with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in 2008 / AP
Armenian-American leaders and human rights advocates have expressed
deep reservations about the nomination of Chuck Hagel to lead the
defense department.
Hagel, a two-term Republican senator from Nebraska, was nominated
Monday as President Barack Obama's pick to head the Pentagon. He faces
criticism for opposing a 2005 congressional resolution recognizing
Turkey's genocide of more than one million Armenians.
"What happened in 1915 happened in 1915," Hagel said during a 2005
trip to Armenia when he was serving in the Senate. "As one United
States senator, I think the better way to deal with this is to leave
it open to historians and others to decide what happened and why."
"The fact is that this region needs to move forward," Hagel continued.
"We need to find a lasting, just peace between Turkey and Armenia and
the other nations of this region. I am not sure that by going back
and dealing with that in some way that causes one side or the other
to be put in difficult spot, helps move the peace process forward."
Armenian-American leaders and genocide experts decried these comments
as insensitive and dangerous. They maintain that Hagel's willingness
to overlook the systematic genocide of more than one million people
raises concerns about his possible tenure as the nation's top defense
official.
"Senator Hagel's remarks from 2005 ignore a proud chapter in U.S.
history during which America's diplomatic community played an
important role denouncing human rights violations and setting an
example of humanitarian assistance on behalf of a people at risk,"
said Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the nonpartisan Armenian
Assembly of America.
"The fact of the Armenian Genocide is incontestable, and not only
recognized by Nebraska's Governor in 2004, but also has been repeatedly
confirmed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, a
preeminent body dedicated to the study of genocide, its consequences,
and its prevention," Ardouny said. "We expect a rigorous confirmation
process which will also serve as an opportunity for Senator Hagel to
forthrightly acknowledge the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide."
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) also stated that
it is "troubled" by Hagel's comments, which it claims displays a
willingness to adopt Turkish propaganda aimed at whitewashing the
genocide.
"We remain troubled by former Senator Hagel's acceptance of Ankara's
gag-rule on American honesty about the Armenian Genocide-the still
unpunished crime against a Christian nation that continues to define
Turkey's present-day policies toward Armenia and much of the region,"
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian said in a December statement
released prior to Hagel's nomination.
"As much as [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and
his allies might like, the 'lasting, just peace between Turkey and
Armenia' that Chuck Hagel seeks cannot be built on Genocide denial,"
Hamparian said. "The U.S. and the international community must set an
example by condemning the Armenian Genocide-and speaking out against
all genocides, wherever and whenever they occur."
Prominent genocide experts and human rights groups also regard Hagel's
comments as a disturbing misunderstanding of history.
"On the eve of the Holocaust, Hitler mockingly asked, 'Who, after all,
speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?' Not Chuck Hagel,
apparently," Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute
for Holocaust Studies, told the Washington Free Beacon.
"Sweeping genocide under the rug in the name of political expediency,
as Senator Hagel recommended with regard to Turkey and the Armenians,
is not only wrong but dangerous, because the failure to acknowledge
past genocides paves the way for future genocides," Medoff said.
Other prominent human rights leaders dubbed Hagel's remarks as
"shameful."
"What Chuck Hagel said in his press conference in Armenia in 2005
regarding the genocide of Armenians by Turks is shameful," said Walter
Reich, a former director of the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum. "In his forthcoming confirmation hearings, senators should
confront him with what he said and should expect him to address it."
"I believe he should apologize for it not with the kind of perfunctory
apology that's routine and therefore meaningless in Washington's public
life but with a response that makes clear that he understands why
he was wrong," said Reich, who serves as the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial
Professor of International Affairs, Ethics, and Human Behavior at
George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Hagel disgraced the memory of those murdered by stating that Armenians
should move past the genocide, Reich added.
"It's a disgrace-and a disservice to the memory of the victims-to
say that their murder should be forgotten in the service of 'the
peace process,' as if a real peace process is possible if one hides
or ignores or mischaracterizes what actually happened," Reich said.
"The victims deserve better. History deserves better. Memory
deserves better," Reich said. "And, in its Secretary of Defense-whose
actions and opinions, if Hagel is confirmed, will be central to the
formulation and execution of American policies that will affect the
world, especially parts of the world in which history and memory are
very sensitive matters-America deserves better."
Human rights scholar Thane Rosenbaum said Hagel's opposition to U.S.
recognition of the Armenian genocide "betrays a shocking lack of
moral leadership."
The issue of the Armenian genocide remains a political third rail
in Turkey, which refuses to acknowledge its role in the systematic
slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenians in the early 1900s.
Turkish lobbying groups in the U.S. have long pressured U.S. lawmakers
to avoid acknowledging to the genocide.
Many U.S. leaders, including Obama and Hagel, have acquiesced to this
demand in order to maintain good relations with the Turkish government,
a critical Middle East ally.
Human rights leaders and others maintain that the Pentagon deserves
a principled leader who will uphold the moral high ground.
Hagel's position on the Armenian genocide, they say, suggests that he
is willing to forsake morality when it becomes politically convenient.
"These are not principled positions because they're filled with
hypocrisy," said Rosenbaum, a law professor at Fordham University
in New York. Hagel has displayed "a fundamental misunderstanding of
humanity," Rosenbaum said.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center also expressed "deep reservations" about
Hagel for this and other reasons.
The Turkish press, however, has praised Obama's selection of Hagel.
Various Turkish news reports hailed Hagel for his pro-Turkey and
anti-Israel views. He also has received support among Turkish
columnists for his past efforts to weaken economic sanctions on Iran.
Hagel has faced fierce opposition from lawmakers and Jewish leaders
for his comments that they say are anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. He
has also been criticized for anti-gay comments and for taking a soft
stance on Syria.
BY: Adam Kredo
http://freebeacon.com/chuck-hagel-has-an-armenian-problem/
January 11, 2013 12:59 pm
Nominee for Defense Secretary criticized for sweeping Armenian genocide
under the rug
Hagel meets with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in 2008 / AP
Armenian-American leaders and human rights advocates have expressed
deep reservations about the nomination of Chuck Hagel to lead the
defense department.
Hagel, a two-term Republican senator from Nebraska, was nominated
Monday as President Barack Obama's pick to head the Pentagon. He faces
criticism for opposing a 2005 congressional resolution recognizing
Turkey's genocide of more than one million Armenians.
"What happened in 1915 happened in 1915," Hagel said during a 2005
trip to Armenia when he was serving in the Senate. "As one United
States senator, I think the better way to deal with this is to leave
it open to historians and others to decide what happened and why."
"The fact is that this region needs to move forward," Hagel continued.
"We need to find a lasting, just peace between Turkey and Armenia and
the other nations of this region. I am not sure that by going back
and dealing with that in some way that causes one side or the other
to be put in difficult spot, helps move the peace process forward."
Armenian-American leaders and genocide experts decried these comments
as insensitive and dangerous. They maintain that Hagel's willingness
to overlook the systematic genocide of more than one million people
raises concerns about his possible tenure as the nation's top defense
official.
"Senator Hagel's remarks from 2005 ignore a proud chapter in U.S.
history during which America's diplomatic community played an
important role denouncing human rights violations and setting an
example of humanitarian assistance on behalf of a people at risk,"
said Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the nonpartisan Armenian
Assembly of America.
"The fact of the Armenian Genocide is incontestable, and not only
recognized by Nebraska's Governor in 2004, but also has been repeatedly
confirmed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, a
preeminent body dedicated to the study of genocide, its consequences,
and its prevention," Ardouny said. "We expect a rigorous confirmation
process which will also serve as an opportunity for Senator Hagel to
forthrightly acknowledge the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide."
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) also stated that
it is "troubled" by Hagel's comments, which it claims displays a
willingness to adopt Turkish propaganda aimed at whitewashing the
genocide.
"We remain troubled by former Senator Hagel's acceptance of Ankara's
gag-rule on American honesty about the Armenian Genocide-the still
unpunished crime against a Christian nation that continues to define
Turkey's present-day policies toward Armenia and much of the region,"
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian said in a December statement
released prior to Hagel's nomination.
"As much as [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and
his allies might like, the 'lasting, just peace between Turkey and
Armenia' that Chuck Hagel seeks cannot be built on Genocide denial,"
Hamparian said. "The U.S. and the international community must set an
example by condemning the Armenian Genocide-and speaking out against
all genocides, wherever and whenever they occur."
Prominent genocide experts and human rights groups also regard Hagel's
comments as a disturbing misunderstanding of history.
"On the eve of the Holocaust, Hitler mockingly asked, 'Who, after all,
speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?' Not Chuck Hagel,
apparently," Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute
for Holocaust Studies, told the Washington Free Beacon.
"Sweeping genocide under the rug in the name of political expediency,
as Senator Hagel recommended with regard to Turkey and the Armenians,
is not only wrong but dangerous, because the failure to acknowledge
past genocides paves the way for future genocides," Medoff said.
Other prominent human rights leaders dubbed Hagel's remarks as
"shameful."
"What Chuck Hagel said in his press conference in Armenia in 2005
regarding the genocide of Armenians by Turks is shameful," said Walter
Reich, a former director of the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum. "In his forthcoming confirmation hearings, senators should
confront him with what he said and should expect him to address it."
"I believe he should apologize for it not with the kind of perfunctory
apology that's routine and therefore meaningless in Washington's public
life but with a response that makes clear that he understands why
he was wrong," said Reich, who serves as the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial
Professor of International Affairs, Ethics, and Human Behavior at
George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Hagel disgraced the memory of those murdered by stating that Armenians
should move past the genocide, Reich added.
"It's a disgrace-and a disservice to the memory of the victims-to
say that their murder should be forgotten in the service of 'the
peace process,' as if a real peace process is possible if one hides
or ignores or mischaracterizes what actually happened," Reich said.
"The victims deserve better. History deserves better. Memory
deserves better," Reich said. "And, in its Secretary of Defense-whose
actions and opinions, if Hagel is confirmed, will be central to the
formulation and execution of American policies that will affect the
world, especially parts of the world in which history and memory are
very sensitive matters-America deserves better."
Human rights scholar Thane Rosenbaum said Hagel's opposition to U.S.
recognition of the Armenian genocide "betrays a shocking lack of
moral leadership."
The issue of the Armenian genocide remains a political third rail
in Turkey, which refuses to acknowledge its role in the systematic
slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenians in the early 1900s.
Turkish lobbying groups in the U.S. have long pressured U.S. lawmakers
to avoid acknowledging to the genocide.
Many U.S. leaders, including Obama and Hagel, have acquiesced to this
demand in order to maintain good relations with the Turkish government,
a critical Middle East ally.
Human rights leaders and others maintain that the Pentagon deserves
a principled leader who will uphold the moral high ground.
Hagel's position on the Armenian genocide, they say, suggests that he
is willing to forsake morality when it becomes politically convenient.
"These are not principled positions because they're filled with
hypocrisy," said Rosenbaum, a law professor at Fordham University
in New York. Hagel has displayed "a fundamental misunderstanding of
humanity," Rosenbaum said.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center also expressed "deep reservations" about
Hagel for this and other reasons.
The Turkish press, however, has praised Obama's selection of Hagel.
Various Turkish news reports hailed Hagel for his pro-Turkey and
anti-Israel views. He also has received support among Turkish
columnists for his past efforts to weaken economic sanctions on Iran.
Hagel has faced fierce opposition from lawmakers and Jewish leaders
for his comments that they say are anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. He
has also been criticized for anti-gay comments and for taking a soft
stance on Syria.