Ventura County Star, CA
Jan 26 2007
Genocide must be recognized by U.S.
By Susanna Sukiasyan
January 26, 2007
Re: your Jan. 21 article, "Turkish police suspect teen in
journalist’s shooting death":
During the Armenian genocide of 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were
murdered by the Ottoman Empire. Genocide should be treated with
abhorrence and legal consequences by all governments and countries,
and not judged by its political advantage or nonadvantage to a
country that could give aid.
In the political arena, human rights are not so much a moral issue,
but more of a complicated chess game. The United States plays this
game well, picking and choosing those countries it wishes to be
involved with. Human rights and global morality rely on the political
advantage of helping and recognizing the persecuted. Assets such as
oil, military bases, strategic location and political alliances may
determine whether or not crimes against humanity are recognized,
acted against or publicly condemned.
Because of its strategic military bases, access to Middle East oil
and its political alliance with Turkey, the United States has yet to
recognize the Armenian genocide.
After becoming a strategic site for American and NATO military bases,
Turkey gained greater leverage to promote its denial of the Armenian
genocide. Incirlik military base is one of the most strategically
important footholds for the U.S. Turkey is one of the largest
recipients of U.S. arms.
Acknowledging the Armenian genocide did not become a matter of human
rights; it became another move in international politics.
If the U.S. recognizes the massacre of 1.5 million people, it risks
losing a main ally in a turbulent area. Turkey has easy access to
major energy resources, oil and natural gas. Turkey played a major
role in the Persian Gulf War and the current war in Iraq. To benefit,
it is very important for the U.S. to continue this relationship.
Because of its importance in the "energy war," Turkey’s oil and
military bases have sealed an alliance with the U.S. Turkey has
become a key member of NATO. The U.S. needs this alliance and does
not want to upset the current political regime that refuses to
recognize its crimes of the past.
Armenia is of little military importance and has few resources with
which to barter. Thus, Turkey retains its political alliance with the
U.S. and it retains its policy of refusing to recognize the genocide.
In some instances, it accuses the Armenians of being responsible for
it.
As long as Turkey maintains its alliance with the U.S., crimes
against humanity are ignored.
Other NATO members officially recognize the extent of the Armenian
genocide. Although these members are allies with Turkey, they do not
need military bases to wage wars in the Middle East or bargain for
energy sources.
The United States waves its flag of justice and likes to present
itself as the example for social justice, but its record would not
reflect what it would like the world to think. Its motivations for
recognition of atrocities in the world are only moved by political
and economic gain, or publicity. As long as the publicity levels are
low, the United States continues its game of political chess.
It is a great scandal and irony to Armenians that the U.S. does not
recognize one of the most heinous crimes – the Armenian genocide. In
a world where history too often repeats itself, it is important the
United States recognize this in hopes of preventing similar events in
other countries. This recognition will provide displaced Armenians
with a recognized and accurate history rather than one of cover-up
and denial the Turkish government continues to uphold. It also shows
the world the U.S. believes in social justice and not simply
political partnership.
For the Armenian population, the desecration of churches, the burning
of libraries, and the ruination of towns and villages meant the loss
of homeland and heritage, and dispersion to the four corners of the
Earth. The Armenians saved only that which formed part of their
collective memory: language, songs, poetry and, now, tragic history.
Ironically, the largest Armenian community is now found in the United
States. The abuse of Armenian memory by denial by the U.S., a
government dedicated to social justice, was probably the most
agonizing of many tribulations. The violation of this "sacred
memory," as all survivors of the genocidal devastation have come to
enshrine the experience of traumatic death, has reverberated through
Armenian society.
Not to recognize the Armenian genocide gives the Turkish government
and other despotic regimes permission to continue crimes against
humanity.
Had the world shown outrage to Turkey at the time of the genocide,
Adolf Hitler would not have felt he could get away with exterminating
6 million "undesirables" during World War II.
For the United States still not to recognize the Armenian genocide
shows the world that human rights and social justice are not U.S.
priorities or valued in what is considered the most humane country.
Greed and power, in the forms of access to oil and military bases,
are the motivations that move the chess pieces of American policy.
– Susanna Sukiasyan, of Ojai, is an Armenian refugee who has received
political asylum in the United States. She attends Ventura College.
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