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LESSONS NOT LEARNED: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
13:20, 08 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
The Jerusalem Post has published an article by Emily Schrader titled
"Lessons not learned: The Armenian Genocide.
Adolph Hitler is believed to have said in 1939, "Who, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Likely unknowingly,
Hitler demonstrated an important lesson that remains as relevant
today as it was at the time: a failure to confront evil, enables evil.
Understandably, we don't like to recognize evil, and never have. It is
an uncomfortable, almost "religious" concept that cannot be explained
by the rational.
As human beings, we want to believe that we've evolved beyond it,
that "evil" is simply a cultural misunderstanding, or a concept which
exclusively belongs to a distant past. Yet evil is a part of reality -
and a part of human nature that we have seen so clearly time and time
again. By not recognizing it, and not standing against it, we allow
it to flourish.
This month marks 100 years since the official commencement of the
Armenian Genocide - a dark chapter of human history which sadly we
have yet to come to grips with. Despite overwhelming evidence, there
are still those who deny that the Armenian Genocide occurred at all.
100 years later, no one has held the Ottomans - and their direct
successor, Turkey - accountable for the unconscionable barbaric acts
they committed. Shockingly, even countries such as Israel and the
United States have yet to recognize this horrific event in human
history that nearly eliminated the entire Armenian population.
Where is the "Never Again" for the Armenian people? We cry out against
the horrors of the Holocaust - and we rightly demand reparations. We
demand justice for the genocide in Rwanda. We still take steps to
repair the appalling treatment of blacks in the United States until
far too recently. We protest the mass murders in Darfur - and we
prosecute those responsible. We do our best to expose and to stop
the sickening acts of Islamic terror committed by Islamic State and
similar groups against Muslims, Christians, Jews and other minorities.
We've established international institutions like the United Nations
(partially for the precise purpose of preventing acts genocide from
ever occurring again).
We look back in history and say, "how could we not have known?" And
yet, atrocities continue to occur all over the world, and these
international bodies remain silent before the tyranny and human
oppression in places like North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, or Iran.
Why? Because we do not want to accept that evil exists - and even
more so, that many human beings have an affinity for it. Evil is an
unpleasant problem to address, as evidenced by the failure, for one
hundred years, to recognize the evil of the Armenian Genocide.
April 24, 1915 is known as the beginning of the Armenian Genocide
- yet just as in the case of the Holocaust, the persecution began
before that. No one paid attention when the systematic persecution of
Armenians began decades before. Nobody cared about the land seizures,
the forced conversions, and the general abuse which was rampant in
the Ottoman Empire in the mid 1800s.
In the 1890s there were brutal pogroms against Armenians. It is
estimated that under Sultan Abdul Hamid, 100,000- 300,000 Armenians
were murdered.
Still the world was silent. When 250 Armenian intellectuals were
rounded up and killed on April 24, it was the beginning of one of
the most horrific atrocities the world had ever seen.
Following the implementation of Tehcir Law, Armenians were deported
en masse - sent on death marches into the Syrian desert, and denied
food and water. Their land and all belongings were confiscated, and if
they survived the death march they were sent to concentration camps,
or otherwise "disposed of." Witnesses recorded that nearly 50,000 men,
women and children were tossed into the Black Sea and left to drown.
An estimated 1-1.5 million Armenians were brutally robbed, raped,
starved and murdered by the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1918 for
no other reason other than that they were Armenian.
Is it too much to ask, 100 years later, for recognition from the
world's major powers? Is it too much to demand that Turkey, which
actually outlaws referring to the Armenian Genocide as a genocide,
be held accountable for these unconscionable crimes against humanity?
This refusal to own up to our mistakes only enables evil to flourish.
It enabled it in Kristallnacht, and it enables evil to thrive today.
One cannot help but wonder: if we had recognized evil when the
persecution of Armenians began in the 1800s, would things have
been different in 1914 for the Armenians? Would things have been
different when we witnessed Kristallnacht? Would things have been
different when American Jews were screaming at the top of their lungs
at the mass-murder of Europe's Jewry in the 1940s? Would things have
been different when more than 20 million were killed under Stalin,
or when an estimated 45 million were killed by Mao Zedong's "great
leap forward" in China? When 800,000 were murdered in Rwanda, or when
tens of thousands were killed in Darfur? When millions are still being
murdered and tortured and starved to death in North Korea? We cannot
stamp out evil for good.
But we can stand up for what is morally right; whether it concern the
past or the future. Though we may not want to believe in this day
and age that any person or government is capable of such egregious
crimes, we must always remember that evil is a very real threat -
more than we can imagine.
After all, who would have thought that enlightened German society, and
pinnacle of liberal European culture, would end up murdering nearly
11 million people? As Judea Pearl - the UCLA Professor and father of
the late Daniel Pearl - has emphatically stated, "We Westerners fail
to understand that half of mankind today is aroused by cruelty."
In order to stop this cruelty, in order to make it right, we must
first recognize it for what it is: evil. We must recognize the
Armenian Genocide and hold the perpetrators accountable for their
crimes against humanity.
Never Again, for Armenians too.
The author is a freelance writer and the social media director for
an Israeli non-profit organization.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/04/08/lessons-not-learned-the-armenian-genocide/
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Lessons-not-learned-The-Armenian-genocide-396478
13:20, 08 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
The Jerusalem Post has published an article by Emily Schrader titled
"Lessons not learned: The Armenian Genocide.
Adolph Hitler is believed to have said in 1939, "Who, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Likely unknowingly,
Hitler demonstrated an important lesson that remains as relevant
today as it was at the time: a failure to confront evil, enables evil.
Understandably, we don't like to recognize evil, and never have. It is
an uncomfortable, almost "religious" concept that cannot be explained
by the rational.
As human beings, we want to believe that we've evolved beyond it,
that "evil" is simply a cultural misunderstanding, or a concept which
exclusively belongs to a distant past. Yet evil is a part of reality -
and a part of human nature that we have seen so clearly time and time
again. By not recognizing it, and not standing against it, we allow
it to flourish.
This month marks 100 years since the official commencement of the
Armenian Genocide - a dark chapter of human history which sadly we
have yet to come to grips with. Despite overwhelming evidence, there
are still those who deny that the Armenian Genocide occurred at all.
100 years later, no one has held the Ottomans - and their direct
successor, Turkey - accountable for the unconscionable barbaric acts
they committed. Shockingly, even countries such as Israel and the
United States have yet to recognize this horrific event in human
history that nearly eliminated the entire Armenian population.
Where is the "Never Again" for the Armenian people? We cry out against
the horrors of the Holocaust - and we rightly demand reparations. We
demand justice for the genocide in Rwanda. We still take steps to
repair the appalling treatment of blacks in the United States until
far too recently. We protest the mass murders in Darfur - and we
prosecute those responsible. We do our best to expose and to stop
the sickening acts of Islamic terror committed by Islamic State and
similar groups against Muslims, Christians, Jews and other minorities.
We've established international institutions like the United Nations
(partially for the precise purpose of preventing acts genocide from
ever occurring again).
We look back in history and say, "how could we not have known?" And
yet, atrocities continue to occur all over the world, and these
international bodies remain silent before the tyranny and human
oppression in places like North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, or Iran.
Why? Because we do not want to accept that evil exists - and even
more so, that many human beings have an affinity for it. Evil is an
unpleasant problem to address, as evidenced by the failure, for one
hundred years, to recognize the evil of the Armenian Genocide.
April 24, 1915 is known as the beginning of the Armenian Genocide
- yet just as in the case of the Holocaust, the persecution began
before that. No one paid attention when the systematic persecution of
Armenians began decades before. Nobody cared about the land seizures,
the forced conversions, and the general abuse which was rampant in
the Ottoman Empire in the mid 1800s.
In the 1890s there were brutal pogroms against Armenians. It is
estimated that under Sultan Abdul Hamid, 100,000- 300,000 Armenians
were murdered.
Still the world was silent. When 250 Armenian intellectuals were
rounded up and killed on April 24, it was the beginning of one of
the most horrific atrocities the world had ever seen.
Following the implementation of Tehcir Law, Armenians were deported
en masse - sent on death marches into the Syrian desert, and denied
food and water. Their land and all belongings were confiscated, and if
they survived the death march they were sent to concentration camps,
or otherwise "disposed of." Witnesses recorded that nearly 50,000 men,
women and children were tossed into the Black Sea and left to drown.
An estimated 1-1.5 million Armenians were brutally robbed, raped,
starved and murdered by the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1918 for
no other reason other than that they were Armenian.
Is it too much to ask, 100 years later, for recognition from the
world's major powers? Is it too much to demand that Turkey, which
actually outlaws referring to the Armenian Genocide as a genocide,
be held accountable for these unconscionable crimes against humanity?
This refusal to own up to our mistakes only enables evil to flourish.
It enabled it in Kristallnacht, and it enables evil to thrive today.
One cannot help but wonder: if we had recognized evil when the
persecution of Armenians began in the 1800s, would things have
been different in 1914 for the Armenians? Would things have been
different when we witnessed Kristallnacht? Would things have been
different when American Jews were screaming at the top of their lungs
at the mass-murder of Europe's Jewry in the 1940s? Would things have
been different when more than 20 million were killed under Stalin,
or when an estimated 45 million were killed by Mao Zedong's "great
leap forward" in China? When 800,000 were murdered in Rwanda, or when
tens of thousands were killed in Darfur? When millions are still being
murdered and tortured and starved to death in North Korea? We cannot
stamp out evil for good.
But we can stand up for what is morally right; whether it concern the
past or the future. Though we may not want to believe in this day
and age that any person or government is capable of such egregious
crimes, we must always remember that evil is a very real threat -
more than we can imagine.
After all, who would have thought that enlightened German society, and
pinnacle of liberal European culture, would end up murdering nearly
11 million people? As Judea Pearl - the UCLA Professor and father of
the late Daniel Pearl - has emphatically stated, "We Westerners fail
to understand that half of mankind today is aroused by cruelty."
In order to stop this cruelty, in order to make it right, we must
first recognize it for what it is: evil. We must recognize the
Armenian Genocide and hold the perpetrators accountable for their
crimes against humanity.
Never Again, for Armenians too.
The author is a freelance writer and the social media director for
an Israeli non-profit organization.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/04/08/lessons-not-learned-the-armenian-genocide/
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Lessons-not-learned-The-Armenian-genocide-396478