Princeton: Ninety years later, a debate stirred

Ninety years later, a debate stirred

The Daily Princetonian (Princeton University)
Tuesday, April 26, 2005

By Jocelyn Hanamirian, Princetonian Staff Writer

Ninety years after the killings and deportations of hundreds of
thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, Peter Balakian is trying
to make sure people don’t forget.

“Memory is a moral act. It always involves a moral dimension,”
award-winning author and Colgate University professor of English Peter
Balakian told a packed Frist 302 on Monday.

He was referring to the Turkish government’s denial that the mass
killing constituted genocide. That controversy touched Princeton eight
years ago during the contested appointment of Near Eastern Studies
professor Heath Lowry.

Monday’s event was organized to commemorate the 90th anniversary of
the tragedy, which began on April 24, 1915 and lasted until 1916. The
Turkish government says that the number of deaths cited – as high as
1.5 million – is inflated and occurred as a result of World War I.

Monday’s event was planned to raise awareness of the massacre among
students at a time when genocide is occurring in Darfur.

Balakian contextualized the killings in 20th century history,
stressing their relevance to understanding and preventing genocides
everywhere. Responding to his address were Gary Bass, assistant
professor of politics and international affairs, and Kwame Anthony
Appiah, Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and
the University Center for Human Values.

About 200 people attended the event, which was organized by Darren
Geist ’05 of the Humanity Project and sponsored by Brother’s Keeper,
Princeton Darfur Action Committee and Whig-Clio.

“I think it is very telling what Adolph Hitler said,” said Geist,
referring to Hitler’s pre-Holocaust question: “Who now remembers the
Armenians?”

“If we do forget, if we don’t respect this memory, it is going to
happen again,” Geist said.

He noted that few students are aware of the event. “Even if people
did not attend the lecture, just seeing the posters, just looking at
the website, that really was a big part of the campaign,” Geist said.

Princeton’s history

Geist, president and founder of the Humanity Project, was inspired to
organize the event when he heard Bass speak in class about
“Princeton’s position as a center for Armenian Genocide denial.”

In 1996, controversy surrounded the appointment of Near Eastern
Studies professor Heath Lowry to a new chair in the NES department
funded by the Turkish government. Lowry has refused to call the
suffering of the Armenians a genocide, referring to the event as “the
so-called Armenian genocide” in a 1995 letter to the Turkish
ambassador.

Critics also discounted Lowry as a scholar for having never held a
full-time teaching position at an American university prior to his
appointment at Princeton, as well as never having published any
scholarly work through a major printer.

Princeton Alumni for Credibility, founded by Greg Arzoomanian ’79,
circulated a petition signed by more than 80 scholars and writers
opposing Lowry’s appointment. Signers included Balakian, author Kurt
Vonnegut, playwright Arthur Miller and Princeton professors Cornel
West GS ’80 and Joyce Carol Oates.

“I think this is an unfortunate ethical situation for a University to
have,” Balakian said in an interview Monday. “Would a university want
someone who worked with a neo-Nazi group to cover up the Holocaust on
their faculty? I’ll leave it there.”

Balakian noted that Princetonians have been active in speaking out
against the killings.

“In the time period of the 1890s and the Armenian genocide, there were
a lot of Princetonians, such as Woodrow Wilson and Henry Cleveland
Dodge who were involved in [opposing] this event,” Balakian said.
“Then, after WWII there were people here who have been arch deniers of
the genocide. It has meaning, unique meaning [to speak here].”

Disputed past

Balakian, the author of “The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and
America’s Response” (2003), directs Colgate’s new Center for the Study
of Ethics and World Societies.

In addition to asserting that “No history of World War I can be told
without the Armenian story,” Balakian cited the Armenian killings as
the first occasion the phrase “crimes against humanity and
civilization” was used.

He refuted claims made by Lowry and other scholars that the event was
not genocide, but rather a culmination of violence and disease in the
region. “It is important to understand that the extermination of the
Armenians was a meticulously planned and organized event,” he said.

Balakian distributed a packet that referenced literature denying the
legitimacy of the tem “genocide” in the Armenian case. He did not,
however, make direct reference to Lowry in his speech, nor did any
member of the panel.

Appiah cited the Turkish desire for linguistic and cultural
homogeneity as an impetus for the killings, describing it as an
outgrowth of European nationalism, “Almost all modern states have
something at the beginning that they want to forget,” Appiah said.

The question-and-answer session following the talk illustrated the
contentiousness of the topic. One Turkish man, citing the rape of his
grandfather’s family by Armenians, refuted Balakian’s claim that the
Armenians were an unarmed people when the killings occurred and asked
why Armenians have not yet gone to the United Nations about
recognizing the killings as a genocide.

Strong applause followed as Balakian substantiated his use of the term
“genocide” and said that Armenians have, in fact, taken the issue up
with the United Nations.

Arzoomanian asked the panelists whether they believed Princeton was
doing a good job of promoting human rights.

“The job of Princeton is not to promote human rights,” Bass
responded. “The job of Princeton is to promote scholarship.”

Photo by Logan West (Expand Photo) CAPTION: “Ninety years later, a
debate stirred: Author Peter Balakian addresses an audience of
students, faculty and community members Monday evening to commemorate
the 90th anniversary of the killing of Armenians in Turkey.”