THE MORE TURKS TRY TO DENY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE THE GREATER NUMBER OF STATES RECOGNIZE IT
PanARMENIAN.Net
08.01.2007 15:02 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the New Year’s eve Harut Sassounian, the editor
of The California Courier, commented on the brightest events and
publications of the year 2006 on the Armenian Genocide issue. "The
Foreign Minister of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, announced this week that the
Turkish government is planning to launch in 2007 a new comprehensive
propaganda campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide. All previous Turkish
government attempts to bury the facts of the Armenian Genocide have
ended in failure, after wasting millions of dollars on lobbying firms
and books by phony "scholars." Ironically, the more the Turks try
to deny the crime committed by Ottoman Turkey in 1915, the greater
the number of countries, international organizations and individuals
that recognize it. In recent weeks, after the Argentinean Parliament
recognized the Armenian Genocide, Ankara warned that country’s Senate
not to follow suit. Despite the Turkish warning, and maybe because of
it, the Argentinean Senate adopted the Armenian Genocide resolution
unanimously! A couple of months ago, when the French Parliament adopted
a bill that would make it a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide, the
Turkish government gave a similar warning to the French Senate," he
says. " Several Turkish newspapers reported last week that the Armenian
American lobby scored a major victory when Pres. Bush could not get
the Senate to confirm Richard Hoagland, the Ambassador-designate
for Armenia. The Turkish press quoted an analyst as saying that the
blocking of Hoagland’s nomination was a major success for Armenians:
"The Armenian lobby has never been this strong," he continues.
"The Turkish Culture Minister announced last week that the official
opening ceremonies for the renovated Aghtamar Armenian Church would
take place on April 24.
The Patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop Mesrob Moutafian,
issued an uncharacteristically bold statement, saying that holding
the ceremony on that date would be exploiting Armenian people’s
suffering for political gain. He said that neither he nor any other
Armenian would participate in such a ceremony on April 24. It has
been obvious to me from the very beginning that Turkish officials were
planning to exploit the renovation of Aghtamar for political purposes,
independently of the date of the ceremony.
Maybe the Patriarch, instead of objecting, should have accepted that
date and turned the ceremony planned for April 24 into a commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide — which would have been a first in Turkey
since 1915," Sassounian says.
"Sylvester Stallone announced last week that he is interested in
making Franz Werfel’s famous novel, "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh,"
into a blockbuster movie.
Turks went into total panic and organized a worldwide e-mail
campaign urging Stallone not to be "an instrument of Armenian
lobbies." Armenians on the other hand were so excited that they
started celebrating as if the movie was already made.
Surprisingly, neither Turks nor Armenians seem to remember that
Stallone has made this same announcement several times in the past
with nothing to show for.
However, should Stallone end up making this movie someday, he can
count on the Turks to provide a lot of free publicity, ensuring its
success!" he goes on.
"Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan, told the editors of the New
York Times last week that they had become "a tool in the hands of
the Armenians." He was unhappy that the N.Y. Times had decided that
the newspaper would refer to the Armenian Genocide as a historical
fact. This is the second time that the Turkish Prime Minister has
personally complained to the N.Y. Times on this issue in the past
couple of years. Maybe it’s about time that Erdogan realized that
the N.Y. Times, true to its noble calling, is a tool for the truth
and not a tool for Turkish denialism," Sassounian remarks.