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RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
The Riverdale Press, NY
April 23 2014
Editorial
Posted 4/24/14
A wall at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington,
D.C. quotes an infamous statement from Adolf Hitler to his commanders
as the dictator readied to kill men, women and children in Poland.
"I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by
firing squad," Hitler said in 1939. "Who, after all, speaks today of
the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Hitler no doubt would have gone on to pursue his acts of evil
irrespective of Ottoman Turkey's slaughter of Armenians 24 years
earlier. But advocates for U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide
have long cited the quote as one of the most haunting and succinct
examples of the consequences of covering up the past. It emboldens
villains both great and small to perpetrate their crimes.
Nearly 100 years after the start of the Armenian Genocide --
customarily remembered around the world today -- Congress should end
its shameful legacy of vacillating and pass legislation recognizing
the genocide as such. Americans, Armenians and even descendants of
the genocide's perpetrators deserve no less.
Along with simply pretending the events in question never happened --
a slap in the face of Genocide survivors, their descendents and anyone
who cares about the truth -- Genocide deniers are wont to insinuate
that the events in question occurred so long ago, it does not matter
whether they really happened or not.
Turkish scholar Taner Akcam's 2006 A Shameful Act, which
authoritatively demonstrates the background, systematic planning and
failed legal repercussions of the genocide, shatters the first part
of that stance.
Further, the massacres are a living issue for all parties that stand
to be touched by the genocide resolution, which is currently stalling
in the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
The resolution would help free U.S. academia from the well-funded
pressure of genocide-denying groups and might even be a first step
toward a more responsible foreign policy.
http://riverdalepress.com/stories/Recognize-the-Armenian-Genocide,54162
The Riverdale Press, NY
April 23 2014
Editorial
Posted 4/24/14
A wall at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington,
D.C. quotes an infamous statement from Adolf Hitler to his commanders
as the dictator readied to kill men, women and children in Poland.
"I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by
firing squad," Hitler said in 1939. "Who, after all, speaks today of
the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Hitler no doubt would have gone on to pursue his acts of evil
irrespective of Ottoman Turkey's slaughter of Armenians 24 years
earlier. But advocates for U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide
have long cited the quote as one of the most haunting and succinct
examples of the consequences of covering up the past. It emboldens
villains both great and small to perpetrate their crimes.
Nearly 100 years after the start of the Armenian Genocide --
customarily remembered around the world today -- Congress should end
its shameful legacy of vacillating and pass legislation recognizing
the genocide as such. Americans, Armenians and even descendants of
the genocide's perpetrators deserve no less.
Along with simply pretending the events in question never happened --
a slap in the face of Genocide survivors, their descendents and anyone
who cares about the truth -- Genocide deniers are wont to insinuate
that the events in question occurred so long ago, it does not matter
whether they really happened or not.
Turkish scholar Taner Akcam's 2006 A Shameful Act, which
authoritatively demonstrates the background, systematic planning and
failed legal repercussions of the genocide, shatters the first part
of that stance.
Further, the massacres are a living issue for all parties that stand
to be touched by the genocide resolution, which is currently stalling
in the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
The resolution would help free U.S. academia from the well-funded
pressure of genocide-denying groups and might even be a first step
toward a more responsible foreign policy.
http://riverdalepress.com/stories/Recognize-the-Armenian-Genocide,54162