PRESS RELEASE
Armenian National Committee
Eastern United States
P.O. Box 1066
New York, NY 10040
Contact: Doug Geogerian
Tel: 917 428 1918
Fax: 718 651 3637
E-mail: ancaer@anca.org
Web:
New York Times Rebukes Turkey over Armenian Genocide Issue
The Armenian National Committee (ANC) of the Eastern United States commends
The New York Times for pointing out Turkey’s “self-destructive obsession
with denying the Armenian Genocide” in its editorial section today. Noting
Turkey’s inflammatory and intimidating response to governments and
individuals, who speak truthfully about the first genocide of the 20th
century, The Times pointed out three of many deepl troubling examples.
“The Turks pulled out of a NATO exercise this week because the Canadian
prime minister used the term ‘genocide’ in reference to the mass killings of
Armenians in Turkey during and after World War I. Before that, the Turkish
ambassador to France was temporarily recalled to protest a French bill that
would make it illegal to deny that the
Armenian genocide occurred. And before that, a leading Turkish novelist,
Orhan Pamuk, was charged with ‘insulting Turkish identity’ for referring to
the genocide,” stated The Times.
As Turkey attempts to join the European Union, it is coming under increasing
pressure to recognize the genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were
systematically exterminated. Turkey faces growing difficulty, and now
editorial reproach from the paper of record, for its ninety-one year
practice of persecuting journalists, government officials and ordinary
citizens who exercise what should be their right to free speech. Publisher
Ragip Zarakolu and journalist Hrant Dink, who recently addressed Armenian
communities in the US, are only two of many brave individuals who have been
prosecuted for informing the Turkish public about the genocide.
“The Armenian National Committee and the Armenian American community are
gratified to see that after changing its policy by allowing its reporters to
describe the events of 1915 as genocide, the New York Times has come to
rebuke Turkey for its sinister and anti-democratic campaign of genocide
denial. Decades of hard, thoughtful work to get the Times and the Boston
Globe to attune their coverage of the issue with historical scholarhsip have
borne valuable fruit,” said Dikran Kaligian, Chairman of the ANC in the
Eastern United States.
The Armenian National Committee (ANC) is dedicated to advancing the concerns
of Armenian-Americans, the foremost of which is achieving recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. In light of the Turkish government’s campaign to have
U.S. media organizations as well government officials deny the genocide, the
ANC strives to oppose
revisionist agendas, which either out of racists or other unscrupulous
motives, defame a people through attempting to negate the historicity of its
mass victimization.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress