Tweet
WILL THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ENTICE OBAMA TO FINALLY CALL IT GENOCIDE?
Center for Research on Globalization, Canada
April 17 2015
By Joachim Hagopian
As America's foremost ally on the geopolitics chessboard bridging
Europe, the Middle East and Asia, both Turkey and President Obama are
coming under increasing pressure as the 24th of April, 2015 approaches
marking the official 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
Twenty-two nations that include most all of South America, much
of Europe, Russia, Canada and all but six US states have already
officially recognized the Armenian genocide. Greece, Cyprus and
Switzerland have even made it a crime in their countries to deny the
Armenian genocide.
Last Sunday Pope Francis called the slaughter of Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire "the first genocide of the 20th century," urging the
entire international community of nations to follow suit in officially
recognizing it as such. Possessing a sense of admiration toward the
Armenian people, the pope acknowledged Armenia as the very first
nation state to declare Christianity as its state religion way back
in 301 AD. The Armenians trace their roots back to Noah's great great
grandson Haik, declaring him their ancient Armenian patriarch.
Legendary stories abound even to this day of Noah's ark still lodged
amidst the icy slopes of Mount Ararat located just inside the Turkish
border with Armenia. Archeological expeditions have been outlawed in
recent decades by Islamic Turkey, unwilling to risk enabling Armenians'
to reclaim their ancient Christian past with any substantial scientific
verification.
Italian journalist and author Franca Giansoldati was recently
interviewed about her new book entitled The March without Return:
The Armenian Genocide. Stressing why it's so overdue and important
to recognize the last century's first genocide, she states:
... Those million and a half persons did not die of cold. Sometimes
the statistics become cold, but let's try to put before our eyes
a million and a half faces of children, of raped women, of mothers
who overwhelmed threw their children into the rivers because they
couldn't see them die of hunger anymore. Let's try to imagine this
infinite cruelty... perhaps a trembling comes to one's conscience.
In spite of the recent trend of more nations recognizing the Armenian
genocide, still holding out in official denial remain just two Muslim
nations, the guilty genocidal perpetrator Turkey that borders Armenia
to the west and its cohort Armenian hater Azerbaijan that borders to
the east. As the nation that last fought and lost a costly war against
Armenia just over two decades ago, to this day Azerbaijan engages
in near daily violent skirmishes with the Armenian military over the
disputed lost territory Nagorno-Karabakh. After the 1994 ceasefire,
hundreds have been killed on both sides in raids and shootouts,
which have substantially increased since last summer.
In the West's constant war drumming rush towards World War III
against nations of the East Russia and China, having aligned with
its powerful regional neighbor Russia, Armenia lies squarely in the
US Empire's crosshairs. The Empire's longtime imperialistic agenda
has been to weaken Russia's regional prowess and influence over its
bordering neighbors Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and eroding their
Eurasian Economic Union. A recent visit to Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia in February by neocon regime changer herself Victoria Nuland
(instrumental in 2014's Ukraine coup) drew speculation she was merely
marking off territory as her next victim(s).
Pope Francis is not the first Vatican leader to speak out as back in
2000 the then popular Pope John Paul II co-wrote with the Armenian
Church patriarch that "the Armenian genocide, which began the
century, was a prologue to horrors that would follow." Even back
when it began in 1915, then Pope Benedict XV wrote two letters to
the Turkish figurehead of the Ottoman throne Sultan Mohammed V to
stop the violence but to no avail. But the genocidal-minded Young
Turks party had gained control over the Ottoman Empire government,
bent on executing their ambitious plan to exterminate all Armenians.
After the current pope's condemnation of Turkey for its continued
denial last Sunday, the Turkish government retaliated immediately by
recalling its ambassador to the Vatican and issuing a stern statement
calling the pope's claims inflammatory, unfounded and spreading
hatred. In response to the pope's allegations, Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted, "The pope's statement, which is far from
historic and legal truths, is unacceptable. Religious positions are
not places where unfounded claims are made and hatred is stirred."
Despite virtually a unanimous worldwide consensus of historians
in agreement that during the First World War and beyond the Turks
massacred up to a million and a half Armenians in the century's
first genocide, the Turkish government still insists that no genocide
occurred, maintaining that the death toll is an inflated false count
and that not just Armenians suffered and perished but also Turks,
Assyrians and Greeks lost their lives during what Turkey refers
to as mere civil war unrest within the larger world war. The Turks
maintain that up to half million Turks also died, equaling the number
of admitted Armenian casualties during the "civil strife" that brought
the Ottoman Empire to its bloody end.
With the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and prominent Armenian
church leaders attending the St. Peter's Basilica Mass on the first
Sunday after Easter, Pope Francis chose the occasion to honor the
innocent men, women and children who were "senselessly" murdered by
the Ottoman Turks, believing it was his moral duty to call out Turkey
for its continual denial. Francis asserted, "Concealing or denying
evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it."
The pope cited similar massacres still ongoing today with the
beheadings of Christians in Iraq and Syria (including Armenians living
in and near Aleppo, Syria) by the US-Israel-Turkey's secret ally and
fake enemy the Islamic State. In the strongest words yet by a pope,
the leader of one billion Catholics around the world is urging the
entire international community to openly accept the killing of up to
75% of all Armenians at the time as a genocide.
Hearing Pope Francis' heartfelt convictions on their behalf last
Sunday, many Armenians attending the mass were moved to tears. The
head of the Armenian Apostolic Church Aram I who was present at
basilica expressed gratitude for Francis' clear condemnation and
called the Armenian genocide a crime against humanity that warrants
reparation. Though Armenian President Sargsyan acknowledged the
reparation issue, he said "for our people, the primary issue
is universal recognition of the Armenian genocide, including
recognition by Turkey." Sargsyan rejected past feeble offers from
Ankara calling for joint research looking into the historic matter,
stating emphatically that scholars and commissions alike have collected
overwhelming, irrefutable proof that the Turks committed genocide
against Armenians.
Defined by the United Nations Convention in 1948 as "deliberate
killing and other acts intended to destroy a national, ethnic,
racial or religious group," aside from Turkey there are still other
nations that have balked at actually classifying the Armenian deaths
a genocide. For instance, to this day the United States nor Obama
have called the spade a spade, dancing around the issue by placing
geopolitics of Turkey's significant global location more important
than honesty and moral principle. Obama's succumbed to Turkey's
relentless pressure lobbying other nations with millions in bribes
to prevent official recognition of the Armenian deaths as genocide.
Every April in years past Armenian Americans have advocated for
Obama to step up to the plate and finally do what's right. Among
the mounting pile of broken promises Obama has never kept while he
campaigned for president was his vow to use the word "genocide" to
acknowledge the annual April day of recognition. But with two key US
military bases located inside strategic NATO member Turkey's borders,
global Empire dominance necessitates that virtually every US president
submit to Turkish pressures to remain silent.
As a senator and presidential candidate back in 2008, Obama righteously
admonished then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for recalling US
Ambassador to Armenia for daring to use the g-word:
The Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or
a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an
overwhelming body of historical evidence. The facts are undeniable. An
official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical
facts is an untenable policy.
Yet since becoming president every year geopolitics and Empire
hegemony win out over personal honor and integrity that conveniently
never fail to take a shameful backseat. But this year the president's
under the most heat ever with the genocidal centenary next week. Even
the Los Angeles Times is optimistic, "It is also a period of the
Obama presidency, its twilight, in which the president has shown a
greater boldness on core issues of principle as he begins to consider
his legacy."
Don't hold your breath waiting for the same president who once also
promised that he would be the most open and transparent president in
US history to ever embrace and uphold ethics over politics. Funny how
both the current Secretary of State and Vice President when they were
senators likewise were all boldly principled in calling it Armenian
genocide. But like their spineless boss, every April 24th, they
too lost their previously held "strong moral compass." As they say,
power has a way of corrupting a once moral compass from all sense of
righteous direction.
Meanwhile, a fellow Democrat in DC representing Glendale, California -
the one US city with the highest concentration of Armenians at near
half the population of 200,000 - Congressman Adam Schiff is sponsoring
a US congressional resolution finally recognizing last century's mass
killings officially a genocide. He stated that he hopes the pope's
strong sentiments "inspire our president and Congress to demonstrate
a like commitment to speaking the truth about the Armenian genocide
and to renounce Turkey's campaign of concealment and denial."
On Wednesday the European Union parliament weighed in on the issue,
releasing a proclamation also pushing for Turkey to recognize the
Armenian genocide for what it really is as a giant redemptive step
toward "a genuine reconciliation" between Turkey and Armenia. But
holdouts to the end, even prior to the EU's vote on the resolution,
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the EU's decision in
Brussels would not change his country's official position of denial.
The EU resolution calls for both nations to ratify:
The protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations, opening the
border as well as improve their relations, with particular reference
to cross-border cooperation and economic integration.
Sounds like more wishful thinking for Turkey and Obama to actually do
the right thing. As further encouragement, the EU acknowledged last
year's April 23rd offer of condolences and recognition of atrocities by
Turkish President as a much needed initial step in the right direction.
A couple months ago a Turkish member of parliament, Kurdish politician
Ahmet Turk publicly apologized to Armenians, admitting that "our
grandfathers have blood on their hands," and calling for his government
to do the same.
Two famous half Armenian American women from the entertainment industry
have publicly supported the Armenian cause. Thirteen months ago Cher
joined the Save Kessab campaign to generate international support
for the northern Syrian town populated by Armenian Christians.
Both Cher and Kim Kardashian have sought to bring awareness to the
plight of Christians in war torn Iraq and Syria who have become
victims persecuted and murdered by US backed brutal Islamic
State extremists. Cher also assisted Armenians after the 1988
earthquake that ravaged the Soviet outer state just prior to its
1991 independence. After attending the Armenian Genocide Memorial
in Yerevan, as an activist last Sunday Kim met with Armenia's Prime
Minister Hovik Abrahamyan to discuss this year's 100th Remembrance Day.
One may naively wonder what the big deal is about, attaching such
significance to tragic events that happened a whole century ago and
the importance of Turkey and world leaders today acknowledging the
atrocities with the word "genocide" to describe them. The answer lies
in the world apparently already forgetting the Armenian genocide barely
a decade and a half after it ended when Adolf Hitler uttered to Reich
Marshall Hermann Goering on the eve of the Polish invasion and start
of World War II, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation
of the Armenians?"
Three out of four of all Armenians were wiped off the face of the
earth in a matter of a few years, starting on April 24th, 1915 with
the roundup in Constantinople of all the Armenian intellectuals,
professionals, editors and religious leaders who were summarily
executed. Many Armenian victims were savagely slaughtered by Ottoman
Turks or died of starvation during their forced deportation en
route to the Syrian desert. Only a half million Armenians survived,
forced to flee into Russia, the United States, other Middle Eastern
countries and every continent in a vast Armenian diaspora estimated
currently to be a little more than 10 million, 7 million more than
live in Armenia itself.
Some 60,000 Armenians remain in Turkey today, mostly in the Istanbul
metropolis. However, during the genocide thousands of mostly Armenian
children were assimilated and Islamized into the Kurdish culture within
southeastern Turkey. As Moslems they interbred with Kurds and fearing
further persecution, the tens of thousands still living in Kurdish
Turkey today have been unable to openly embrace their Armenian roots.
Every Armenian on the planet regardless of location has family lineage
linked to the Armenian genocide. The emotional significance attached
to formally recognizing the genocide a century ago has everything to
do with honoring our parents, grandparents and great grandparents
who were directly impacted and suffered lifelong trauma from the
egregious atrocities. There is especially a sense of urgency on this
100th anniversary to acknowledge as a genocide those long ago sad
events before the very last of the genocide survivors die off. Very
few are still alive today.
My father died a year and a half ago as a centenarian who lived on this
earth for one century, one month, one week and one day as an Armenian
genocide survivor. As the youngest member of his family, he was the
only American born Hagopian living in Springfield, Massachusetts in
1913. His parents and four older brothers and sisters all arrived from
eastern Armenia just four years prior to the genocide back in their
homeland. My father's earliest recollections were hearing about the
horrible fate befalling his family relatives back in the old country.
The importance of honestly calling the genocide what it is and was
pays tribute to our ancestors, and remembering that their lives still
matter to us keeps alive our scared bond and connection to them as
our Armenian descendants. This is what it means to be Armenian in 2015.
Let us never forget. But most of all, let us eradicate the scourge
of genocide that unfortunately still grips the planet even today
in places like eastern Ukraine, Gaza, Iraq, Somalia, the Central
African Republic, Nigeria and Myanmar. And as long as we're at it,
true evolutionary progress of the human species can come only after
all wars are abolished and both humans and nations have finally
learned to resolve conflict through peaceful means.
Joachim Hagopian is a West Point graduate and former US Army officer.
He has written a manuscript based on his unique military experience
entitled "Don't Let The Bastards Getcha Down." It examines and focuses
on US international relations, leadership and national security
issues. After the military, Joachim earned a master's degree in
Clinical Psychology and worked as a licensed therapist in the mental
health field for more than a quarter century. He now concentrates on
his writing and has a blog site at http://empireexposed. blogspot.
com/. He is also a regular contributor to Global Research and a
syndicated columnist at Veterans Today.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/will-the-100th-anniversary-of-the-armenian-genocide-entice-obama-to-finally-call-it-genocide/5443200
Center for Research on Globalization, Canada
April 17 2015
By Joachim Hagopian
As America's foremost ally on the geopolitics chessboard bridging
Europe, the Middle East and Asia, both Turkey and President Obama are
coming under increasing pressure as the 24th of April, 2015 approaches
marking the official 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
Twenty-two nations that include most all of South America, much
of Europe, Russia, Canada and all but six US states have already
officially recognized the Armenian genocide. Greece, Cyprus and
Switzerland have even made it a crime in their countries to deny the
Armenian genocide.
Last Sunday Pope Francis called the slaughter of Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire "the first genocide of the 20th century," urging the
entire international community of nations to follow suit in officially
recognizing it as such. Possessing a sense of admiration toward the
Armenian people, the pope acknowledged Armenia as the very first
nation state to declare Christianity as its state religion way back
in 301 AD. The Armenians trace their roots back to Noah's great great
grandson Haik, declaring him their ancient Armenian patriarch.
Legendary stories abound even to this day of Noah's ark still lodged
amidst the icy slopes of Mount Ararat located just inside the Turkish
border with Armenia. Archeological expeditions have been outlawed in
recent decades by Islamic Turkey, unwilling to risk enabling Armenians'
to reclaim their ancient Christian past with any substantial scientific
verification.
Italian journalist and author Franca Giansoldati was recently
interviewed about her new book entitled The March without Return:
The Armenian Genocide. Stressing why it's so overdue and important
to recognize the last century's first genocide, she states:
... Those million and a half persons did not die of cold. Sometimes
the statistics become cold, but let's try to put before our eyes
a million and a half faces of children, of raped women, of mothers
who overwhelmed threw their children into the rivers because they
couldn't see them die of hunger anymore. Let's try to imagine this
infinite cruelty... perhaps a trembling comes to one's conscience.
In spite of the recent trend of more nations recognizing the Armenian
genocide, still holding out in official denial remain just two Muslim
nations, the guilty genocidal perpetrator Turkey that borders Armenia
to the west and its cohort Armenian hater Azerbaijan that borders to
the east. As the nation that last fought and lost a costly war against
Armenia just over two decades ago, to this day Azerbaijan engages
in near daily violent skirmishes with the Armenian military over the
disputed lost territory Nagorno-Karabakh. After the 1994 ceasefire,
hundreds have been killed on both sides in raids and shootouts,
which have substantially increased since last summer.
In the West's constant war drumming rush towards World War III
against nations of the East Russia and China, having aligned with
its powerful regional neighbor Russia, Armenia lies squarely in the
US Empire's crosshairs. The Empire's longtime imperialistic agenda
has been to weaken Russia's regional prowess and influence over its
bordering neighbors Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and eroding their
Eurasian Economic Union. A recent visit to Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia in February by neocon regime changer herself Victoria Nuland
(instrumental in 2014's Ukraine coup) drew speculation she was merely
marking off territory as her next victim(s).
Pope Francis is not the first Vatican leader to speak out as back in
2000 the then popular Pope John Paul II co-wrote with the Armenian
Church patriarch that "the Armenian genocide, which began the
century, was a prologue to horrors that would follow." Even back
when it began in 1915, then Pope Benedict XV wrote two letters to
the Turkish figurehead of the Ottoman throne Sultan Mohammed V to
stop the violence but to no avail. But the genocidal-minded Young
Turks party had gained control over the Ottoman Empire government,
bent on executing their ambitious plan to exterminate all Armenians.
After the current pope's condemnation of Turkey for its continued
denial last Sunday, the Turkish government retaliated immediately by
recalling its ambassador to the Vatican and issuing a stern statement
calling the pope's claims inflammatory, unfounded and spreading
hatred. In response to the pope's allegations, Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted, "The pope's statement, which is far from
historic and legal truths, is unacceptable. Religious positions are
not places where unfounded claims are made and hatred is stirred."
Despite virtually a unanimous worldwide consensus of historians
in agreement that during the First World War and beyond the Turks
massacred up to a million and a half Armenians in the century's
first genocide, the Turkish government still insists that no genocide
occurred, maintaining that the death toll is an inflated false count
and that not just Armenians suffered and perished but also Turks,
Assyrians and Greeks lost their lives during what Turkey refers
to as mere civil war unrest within the larger world war. The Turks
maintain that up to half million Turks also died, equaling the number
of admitted Armenian casualties during the "civil strife" that brought
the Ottoman Empire to its bloody end.
With the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and prominent Armenian
church leaders attending the St. Peter's Basilica Mass on the first
Sunday after Easter, Pope Francis chose the occasion to honor the
innocent men, women and children who were "senselessly" murdered by
the Ottoman Turks, believing it was his moral duty to call out Turkey
for its continual denial. Francis asserted, "Concealing or denying
evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it."
The pope cited similar massacres still ongoing today with the
beheadings of Christians in Iraq and Syria (including Armenians living
in and near Aleppo, Syria) by the US-Israel-Turkey's secret ally and
fake enemy the Islamic State. In the strongest words yet by a pope,
the leader of one billion Catholics around the world is urging the
entire international community to openly accept the killing of up to
75% of all Armenians at the time as a genocide.
Hearing Pope Francis' heartfelt convictions on their behalf last
Sunday, many Armenians attending the mass were moved to tears. The
head of the Armenian Apostolic Church Aram I who was present at
basilica expressed gratitude for Francis' clear condemnation and
called the Armenian genocide a crime against humanity that warrants
reparation. Though Armenian President Sargsyan acknowledged the
reparation issue, he said "for our people, the primary issue
is universal recognition of the Armenian genocide, including
recognition by Turkey." Sargsyan rejected past feeble offers from
Ankara calling for joint research looking into the historic matter,
stating emphatically that scholars and commissions alike have collected
overwhelming, irrefutable proof that the Turks committed genocide
against Armenians.
Defined by the United Nations Convention in 1948 as "deliberate
killing and other acts intended to destroy a national, ethnic,
racial or religious group," aside from Turkey there are still other
nations that have balked at actually classifying the Armenian deaths
a genocide. For instance, to this day the United States nor Obama
have called the spade a spade, dancing around the issue by placing
geopolitics of Turkey's significant global location more important
than honesty and moral principle. Obama's succumbed to Turkey's
relentless pressure lobbying other nations with millions in bribes
to prevent official recognition of the Armenian deaths as genocide.
Every April in years past Armenian Americans have advocated for
Obama to step up to the plate and finally do what's right. Among
the mounting pile of broken promises Obama has never kept while he
campaigned for president was his vow to use the word "genocide" to
acknowledge the annual April day of recognition. But with two key US
military bases located inside strategic NATO member Turkey's borders,
global Empire dominance necessitates that virtually every US president
submit to Turkish pressures to remain silent.
As a senator and presidential candidate back in 2008, Obama righteously
admonished then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for recalling US
Ambassador to Armenia for daring to use the g-word:
The Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or
a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an
overwhelming body of historical evidence. The facts are undeniable. An
official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical
facts is an untenable policy.
Yet since becoming president every year geopolitics and Empire
hegemony win out over personal honor and integrity that conveniently
never fail to take a shameful backseat. But this year the president's
under the most heat ever with the genocidal centenary next week. Even
the Los Angeles Times is optimistic, "It is also a period of the
Obama presidency, its twilight, in which the president has shown a
greater boldness on core issues of principle as he begins to consider
his legacy."
Don't hold your breath waiting for the same president who once also
promised that he would be the most open and transparent president in
US history to ever embrace and uphold ethics over politics. Funny how
both the current Secretary of State and Vice President when they were
senators likewise were all boldly principled in calling it Armenian
genocide. But like their spineless boss, every April 24th, they
too lost their previously held "strong moral compass." As they say,
power has a way of corrupting a once moral compass from all sense of
righteous direction.
Meanwhile, a fellow Democrat in DC representing Glendale, California -
the one US city with the highest concentration of Armenians at near
half the population of 200,000 - Congressman Adam Schiff is sponsoring
a US congressional resolution finally recognizing last century's mass
killings officially a genocide. He stated that he hopes the pope's
strong sentiments "inspire our president and Congress to demonstrate
a like commitment to speaking the truth about the Armenian genocide
and to renounce Turkey's campaign of concealment and denial."
On Wednesday the European Union parliament weighed in on the issue,
releasing a proclamation also pushing for Turkey to recognize the
Armenian genocide for what it really is as a giant redemptive step
toward "a genuine reconciliation" between Turkey and Armenia. But
holdouts to the end, even prior to the EU's vote on the resolution,
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the EU's decision in
Brussels would not change his country's official position of denial.
The EU resolution calls for both nations to ratify:
The protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations, opening the
border as well as improve their relations, with particular reference
to cross-border cooperation and economic integration.
Sounds like more wishful thinking for Turkey and Obama to actually do
the right thing. As further encouragement, the EU acknowledged last
year's April 23rd offer of condolences and recognition of atrocities by
Turkish President as a much needed initial step in the right direction.
A couple months ago a Turkish member of parliament, Kurdish politician
Ahmet Turk publicly apologized to Armenians, admitting that "our
grandfathers have blood on their hands," and calling for his government
to do the same.
Two famous half Armenian American women from the entertainment industry
have publicly supported the Armenian cause. Thirteen months ago Cher
joined the Save Kessab campaign to generate international support
for the northern Syrian town populated by Armenian Christians.
Both Cher and Kim Kardashian have sought to bring awareness to the
plight of Christians in war torn Iraq and Syria who have become
victims persecuted and murdered by US backed brutal Islamic
State extremists. Cher also assisted Armenians after the 1988
earthquake that ravaged the Soviet outer state just prior to its
1991 independence. After attending the Armenian Genocide Memorial
in Yerevan, as an activist last Sunday Kim met with Armenia's Prime
Minister Hovik Abrahamyan to discuss this year's 100th Remembrance Day.
One may naively wonder what the big deal is about, attaching such
significance to tragic events that happened a whole century ago and
the importance of Turkey and world leaders today acknowledging the
atrocities with the word "genocide" to describe them. The answer lies
in the world apparently already forgetting the Armenian genocide barely
a decade and a half after it ended when Adolf Hitler uttered to Reich
Marshall Hermann Goering on the eve of the Polish invasion and start
of World War II, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation
of the Armenians?"
Three out of four of all Armenians were wiped off the face of the
earth in a matter of a few years, starting on April 24th, 1915 with
the roundup in Constantinople of all the Armenian intellectuals,
professionals, editors and religious leaders who were summarily
executed. Many Armenian victims were savagely slaughtered by Ottoman
Turks or died of starvation during their forced deportation en
route to the Syrian desert. Only a half million Armenians survived,
forced to flee into Russia, the United States, other Middle Eastern
countries and every continent in a vast Armenian diaspora estimated
currently to be a little more than 10 million, 7 million more than
live in Armenia itself.
Some 60,000 Armenians remain in Turkey today, mostly in the Istanbul
metropolis. However, during the genocide thousands of mostly Armenian
children were assimilated and Islamized into the Kurdish culture within
southeastern Turkey. As Moslems they interbred with Kurds and fearing
further persecution, the tens of thousands still living in Kurdish
Turkey today have been unable to openly embrace their Armenian roots.
Every Armenian on the planet regardless of location has family lineage
linked to the Armenian genocide. The emotional significance attached
to formally recognizing the genocide a century ago has everything to
do with honoring our parents, grandparents and great grandparents
who were directly impacted and suffered lifelong trauma from the
egregious atrocities. There is especially a sense of urgency on this
100th anniversary to acknowledge as a genocide those long ago sad
events before the very last of the genocide survivors die off. Very
few are still alive today.
My father died a year and a half ago as a centenarian who lived on this
earth for one century, one month, one week and one day as an Armenian
genocide survivor. As the youngest member of his family, he was the
only American born Hagopian living in Springfield, Massachusetts in
1913. His parents and four older brothers and sisters all arrived from
eastern Armenia just four years prior to the genocide back in their
homeland. My father's earliest recollections were hearing about the
horrible fate befalling his family relatives back in the old country.
The importance of honestly calling the genocide what it is and was
pays tribute to our ancestors, and remembering that their lives still
matter to us keeps alive our scared bond and connection to them as
our Armenian descendants. This is what it means to be Armenian in 2015.
Let us never forget. But most of all, let us eradicate the scourge
of genocide that unfortunately still grips the planet even today
in places like eastern Ukraine, Gaza, Iraq, Somalia, the Central
African Republic, Nigeria and Myanmar. And as long as we're at it,
true evolutionary progress of the human species can come only after
all wars are abolished and both humans and nations have finally
learned to resolve conflict through peaceful means.
Joachim Hagopian is a West Point graduate and former US Army officer.
He has written a manuscript based on his unique military experience
entitled "Don't Let The Bastards Getcha Down." It examines and focuses
on US international relations, leadership and national security
issues. After the military, Joachim earned a master's degree in
Clinical Psychology and worked as a licensed therapist in the mental
health field for more than a quarter century. He now concentrates on
his writing and has a blog site at http://empireexposed. blogspot.
com/. He is also a regular contributor to Global Research and a
syndicated columnist at Veterans Today.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/will-the-100th-anniversary-of-the-armenian-genocide-entice-obama-to-finally-call-it-genocide/5443200