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THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: 100 YEARS OF DENIAL
17:45, 19 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
"Is an Armenian life no more valuable than a Jewish or Rwandan or
Cambodian? As we approach the 100th anniversary this April, the
United States still has time to set the record straight," Stephan
Pechdimaldji, a grandson to survivors of the Armenian Genocide and
first generation Armenian-American, writes in an article published
by the Huffington Post.
Just one week before he prepared to attack Poland in the summer of
1939 and embark on his quixotic campaign to take over the world, Adolf
Hitler addressed his military commanders in Obersalzberg and referred
to the Armenian Genocide by concluding his speech by saying, "Who,
after all, speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Hitler saw
what happened nearly twenty-five years earlier and thought he could
emulate what the Ottoman Turks did to ethnic Armenians living in
Asia Minor and use it as a blueprint for his own sadistic ambitions
without anyone noticing. Today we remember this dark period with
somber and reverence, and honor those who suffered during the Nazi's
reign of terror. Since then the world has tried to bleach out this
stain in history by learning from the past and vowing that this type
of crime must never happen again. The healing process began with
Germany taking responsibility for the actions of their predecessors
and trying to make amends with the victims of the Holocaust and their
families. Laws have even been codified that make it illegal to deny
that the Holocaust ever happened. Watchdog organizations like the
Anti-Defamation League were created to monitor anti-Semitism. But what
if none of this happened? Imagine a world where governments didn't
recognize the Holocaust and called for an historical commission to
study the facts surrounding the event to determine whether or not
a crime had been committed? This type of world does in fact exist
today for Armenian-Americans who continue to grapple with the United
State's refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide and side with
Turkey's ongoing contention that genocide never took place.
The Armenian Genocide is an historical fact. To say otherwise is a
lie. As the first genocide of the 20th century, more than 1.5 million
Armenians were systematically killed through wholesale massacres and
deportations carried out by the Turks during World War I and the last
days of the Ottoman Empire. Eye-witness accounts including dispatches
from Henry Morgenthau, American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire,
photographs taken from German military media Armin T. Wegner and
articles from the New York Times all chronicle the mass slaughter
of Armenians during this period. Eerily similar to the Holocaust,
Armenians were uprooted from their homes as part of a "relocation"
effort to control the minority population. Instead, thousands were
sent to their deaths by mass burnings, death marches in the Syrian
Desert and primitive gas chambers where victims were forced into
caves and asphyxiated in one fell swoop by the toxic airs lit from
fires in front of the passage ways. Years later, Raphael Lemkin,
a law professor responsible for coining the word genocide in 1943
did so with the fate of the Armenians in mind. Given this body of
historical evidence, Turkey continues to deny any responsibility
in orchestrating genocide. Turkey claims that the killings were
not calculated and were an unfortunate result of war and that the
deportations were justified because Armenians posed a threat due to
their sympathetic feelings towards the Russians.
This issue is further complicated by Turkey's ongoing campaign to
pressure and influence U.S. foreign policy. Sensitive to not offend
Turkey for geopolitical purposes, the U.S. has yet to hold Turkey
responsible for these atrocities. For years, the U.S. claimed that
it was not in our foreign interests to do so because Turkey was a
NATO ally and strategically valuable due to its close proximity to
the Soviet Union. When the Cold War ended, the argument turned to
Turkey's importance as a free and democratic society in a sea of
Islamic fundamentalists. Countries like Yemen, Iraq and Iran could
learn from Turkey's example, the line of reasoning would go. This flies
in the face of our core values. How can the leader of the free world,
a champion of equality and universal civil liberties be complicit in
such an egregious violation of basic human rights?
Sadly, this issue has become a political football in our country where
politicians like President George W. Bush and Barack Obama looking for
votes and money promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide and then bow
to pressure once in office. Political expediency should play no role
in this debate when the facts overwhelmingly support what many scholars
and students of history recognize as the 20th century's first genocide.
I grew up hearing stories of how my grandparents survived the Armenian
Genocide. Of how my grandfather hid in a haystack for more than forty
days while his father and brother were taken away, never to be seen
or heard from again. Of his harrowing escape from the tiny village of
Yozgat to Aleppo, Syria, where many survivors gathered and of how he
worked as a welder to make enough money to eventually settle in Egypt.
These stories had a profound impact on me and I could never fully
comprehend what it must have been like to go through such a tumultuous
ordeal. And as a child I remember going to Times Square every April
24th -- the official day of remembrance -- to commemorate the Armenian
Genocide and listen to civic leaders and politicians excoriate Turkey
and pledge recognition.
Since then, I've written countless letters to news publications on
this topic and have urged friends, colleagues and even strangers
to take up this cause. Some say why does this matter? How is the
relevant to their daily lives or something that the government should
get involved with? This is significant because denial is often the
last phase of genocide. What's more, the U.S. can send a message
to despotic states like The Sudan that genocide on any grounds is
unacceptable and any attempt to obfuscate responsibility will be met
with staunch opposition. Much like the Holocaust, we owe recognition
of the Armenian Genocide to the victims and their families as well
as to the intrepid guardians of human rights both here and abroad.
While Turkey continues to uphold this policy of denial, there have
been folks like Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist and Nobel-prize
winning author, who made statements regarding the Armenian Genocide
who subsequently was charged with violating Article 301 of the Turkish
penal code that prohibits and bans insulting Turkey. And then there's
Hrant Dink, an editor of a Turkish-Armenian newspaper whose life
was cut short by an assassin's bullet for his views on Turkey's
denial of the Armenian Genocide. These actions do not reflect a
government that supports free speech and divergent points of view --
all vital components of a democratic society. Distorting historical
facts surrounding the Armenian Genocide is just another example of
Turkish subterfuge in trying to burnish its image with the West.
Admitting past mistakes is not uncommon for the United States. In
fact it's in our blood. Apologizing for the mistreatment of African
Americans for slavery and the internment of Japanese Americans into
camps during World War II are just some examples. President Clinton
even went so far to make amends for not doing enough to stop genocide
in Rwanda in the mid 1990s. And time and again we see the U.S. condemn
countries like Iran for denying the Holocaust, yet continue to turn
a blind eye to the Armenian Genocide. Why are Armenians any different?
Is an Armenian life no more valuable than a Jewish or Rwandan or
Cambodian? As we approach the 100th anniversary this April, the United
States still has time to set the record straight. Time will tell if
they decide to be on the right or wrong side of history.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/19/the-armenian-genocide-100-years-of-denial/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephan-pechdimaldji/100-years-of-denial_b_6897562.html
17:45, 19 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
"Is an Armenian life no more valuable than a Jewish or Rwandan or
Cambodian? As we approach the 100th anniversary this April, the
United States still has time to set the record straight," Stephan
Pechdimaldji, a grandson to survivors of the Armenian Genocide and
first generation Armenian-American, writes in an article published
by the Huffington Post.
Just one week before he prepared to attack Poland in the summer of
1939 and embark on his quixotic campaign to take over the world, Adolf
Hitler addressed his military commanders in Obersalzberg and referred
to the Armenian Genocide by concluding his speech by saying, "Who,
after all, speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Hitler saw
what happened nearly twenty-five years earlier and thought he could
emulate what the Ottoman Turks did to ethnic Armenians living in
Asia Minor and use it as a blueprint for his own sadistic ambitions
without anyone noticing. Today we remember this dark period with
somber and reverence, and honor those who suffered during the Nazi's
reign of terror. Since then the world has tried to bleach out this
stain in history by learning from the past and vowing that this type
of crime must never happen again. The healing process began with
Germany taking responsibility for the actions of their predecessors
and trying to make amends with the victims of the Holocaust and their
families. Laws have even been codified that make it illegal to deny
that the Holocaust ever happened. Watchdog organizations like the
Anti-Defamation League were created to monitor anti-Semitism. But what
if none of this happened? Imagine a world where governments didn't
recognize the Holocaust and called for an historical commission to
study the facts surrounding the event to determine whether or not
a crime had been committed? This type of world does in fact exist
today for Armenian-Americans who continue to grapple with the United
State's refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide and side with
Turkey's ongoing contention that genocide never took place.
The Armenian Genocide is an historical fact. To say otherwise is a
lie. As the first genocide of the 20th century, more than 1.5 million
Armenians were systematically killed through wholesale massacres and
deportations carried out by the Turks during World War I and the last
days of the Ottoman Empire. Eye-witness accounts including dispatches
from Henry Morgenthau, American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire,
photographs taken from German military media Armin T. Wegner and
articles from the New York Times all chronicle the mass slaughter
of Armenians during this period. Eerily similar to the Holocaust,
Armenians were uprooted from their homes as part of a "relocation"
effort to control the minority population. Instead, thousands were
sent to their deaths by mass burnings, death marches in the Syrian
Desert and primitive gas chambers where victims were forced into
caves and asphyxiated in one fell swoop by the toxic airs lit from
fires in front of the passage ways. Years later, Raphael Lemkin,
a law professor responsible for coining the word genocide in 1943
did so with the fate of the Armenians in mind. Given this body of
historical evidence, Turkey continues to deny any responsibility
in orchestrating genocide. Turkey claims that the killings were
not calculated and were an unfortunate result of war and that the
deportations were justified because Armenians posed a threat due to
their sympathetic feelings towards the Russians.
This issue is further complicated by Turkey's ongoing campaign to
pressure and influence U.S. foreign policy. Sensitive to not offend
Turkey for geopolitical purposes, the U.S. has yet to hold Turkey
responsible for these atrocities. For years, the U.S. claimed that
it was not in our foreign interests to do so because Turkey was a
NATO ally and strategically valuable due to its close proximity to
the Soviet Union. When the Cold War ended, the argument turned to
Turkey's importance as a free and democratic society in a sea of
Islamic fundamentalists. Countries like Yemen, Iraq and Iran could
learn from Turkey's example, the line of reasoning would go. This flies
in the face of our core values. How can the leader of the free world,
a champion of equality and universal civil liberties be complicit in
such an egregious violation of basic human rights?
Sadly, this issue has become a political football in our country where
politicians like President George W. Bush and Barack Obama looking for
votes and money promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide and then bow
to pressure once in office. Political expediency should play no role
in this debate when the facts overwhelmingly support what many scholars
and students of history recognize as the 20th century's first genocide.
I grew up hearing stories of how my grandparents survived the Armenian
Genocide. Of how my grandfather hid in a haystack for more than forty
days while his father and brother were taken away, never to be seen
or heard from again. Of his harrowing escape from the tiny village of
Yozgat to Aleppo, Syria, where many survivors gathered and of how he
worked as a welder to make enough money to eventually settle in Egypt.
These stories had a profound impact on me and I could never fully
comprehend what it must have been like to go through such a tumultuous
ordeal. And as a child I remember going to Times Square every April
24th -- the official day of remembrance -- to commemorate the Armenian
Genocide and listen to civic leaders and politicians excoriate Turkey
and pledge recognition.
Since then, I've written countless letters to news publications on
this topic and have urged friends, colleagues and even strangers
to take up this cause. Some say why does this matter? How is the
relevant to their daily lives or something that the government should
get involved with? This is significant because denial is often the
last phase of genocide. What's more, the U.S. can send a message
to despotic states like The Sudan that genocide on any grounds is
unacceptable and any attempt to obfuscate responsibility will be met
with staunch opposition. Much like the Holocaust, we owe recognition
of the Armenian Genocide to the victims and their families as well
as to the intrepid guardians of human rights both here and abroad.
While Turkey continues to uphold this policy of denial, there have
been folks like Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist and Nobel-prize
winning author, who made statements regarding the Armenian Genocide
who subsequently was charged with violating Article 301 of the Turkish
penal code that prohibits and bans insulting Turkey. And then there's
Hrant Dink, an editor of a Turkish-Armenian newspaper whose life
was cut short by an assassin's bullet for his views on Turkey's
denial of the Armenian Genocide. These actions do not reflect a
government that supports free speech and divergent points of view --
all vital components of a democratic society. Distorting historical
facts surrounding the Armenian Genocide is just another example of
Turkish subterfuge in trying to burnish its image with the West.
Admitting past mistakes is not uncommon for the United States. In
fact it's in our blood. Apologizing for the mistreatment of African
Americans for slavery and the internment of Japanese Americans into
camps during World War II are just some examples. President Clinton
even went so far to make amends for not doing enough to stop genocide
in Rwanda in the mid 1990s. And time and again we see the U.S. condemn
countries like Iran for denying the Holocaust, yet continue to turn
a blind eye to the Armenian Genocide. Why are Armenians any different?
Is an Armenian life no more valuable than a Jewish or Rwandan or
Cambodian? As we approach the 100th anniversary this April, the United
States still has time to set the record straight. Time will tell if
they decide to be on the right or wrong side of history.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/19/the-armenian-genocide-100-years-of-denial/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephan-pechdimaldji/100-years-of-denial_b_6897562.html