ANCA TESTIMONY TO SENATE PANEL CALLS FOR US LEADERSHIP IN ENDING CYCLE OF GENOCIDE
ASBAREZ
2/7/2007
WASHINGTON–The Armenian National Committee of America, in testimony
submitted today to a key US Senate Judiciary panel, called for an
end to US complicity in Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide,
and concrete steps to end the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
The ANCA’s written testimony was submitted as part of the inaugural
hearing of the newly created Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human
Rights and Law, titled "Genocide and the Rule of Law," which included
remarks by Canadian Senator Romeo Dallaire, Deputy Assistant Attorney
General Sigal Mandelker, actor and activist Don Cheadle, and American
University College of Law Professor Diane F. Orentlicher.
"Today, as we witness the genocide unfolding in Darfur, it has become
increasingly clear that the failure of the international community,
over the course of the past century, to confront and punish genocide
has created an environment of impunity in which the brutal cycle of
genocide continues," began ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian,
in his testimony.
Hamparian cited the history of US complicity in Turkey’s 92-year
campaign of genocide denial, most recently through the firing of former
Ambassador to Armenia John Marshall Evans for properly characterizing
the Armenian Genocide as ‘genocide,’ and the re-nomination of Richard
Hoagland for this diplomatic posting–despite his record of denying
the Armenian Genocide.
Hamparian publicly thanked Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who has
placed a "hold" on the Hoagland nomination.
At the opening of the hearing, Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL) presented
a video, "Genocide and the Rule of Law," which began with mention of
the Armenian Genocide, and went on to cite the other genocides of the
20th century. The film highlighted efforts by genocide law champion,
former Sen. Bill Proxmire (D-WI), who made over 3,000 Senate speeches
in support of US ratification of the United Nations Convention and
the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK),
in his moving opening remarks, cited a poem inspired by the Armenian
atrocities, but which sadly describes the inhumanity of all subsequent
genocides.
In his testimony, Cheadle noted Sudan as the most recent of example of
the cycle of genocide that pervaded the last century, beginning with
the Armenian Genocide. First term Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
outlined the "pattern of genocide" the international community has
faced over the past century, beginning with the Armenian Genocide.
The text of the ANCA testimony is provided below. Remarks
by the principal witnesses will be available on the Senate
Judiciary Subcommittee website in the upcoming days at:
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Also submitting written testimony were Save Darfur, Armenian Assembly,
Genocide Intervention Network, and a broad range of other ethnic and
human rights organizations.
Statement of Aram Hamparian
Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law
Hearing on "Genocide and the Rule of Law"
February 5, 2007
Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Coburn, and distinguished members
of the Subcommittee, on behalf of the Armenian National Committee
of America, I would like to thank you for holding this important
hearing and for inviting our organization to offer the insights of
the Armenian American community on a truly crucial issue for our
nation and the entire international community.
The cycle of genocide
Today, as we witness the genocide unfolding in Darfur, it has become
increasingly clear that the failure of the international community,
over the course of the past century, to confront and punish genocide
has created an environment of impunity in which the brutal cycle of
genocide continues.
As Armenian Americans–heirs of a nation that bore witness to the
20th Century’s first genocide–we bear a special responsibility to
help ensure that the lessons of our experience help prevent similar
atrocities from being visited upon any people, anywhere in the world.
We consider it our responsibility to contribute to the life-saving
work of the Save Darfur Coalition, Africa Action, the Genocide
Intervention Network, and other groups working to bring an end
to the horrific suffering in Sudan. Here in the United States, we
enthusiastically support the efforts of Facing History and Ourselves,
the Genocide Education Project and other educational groups teaching
America’s school children about the dangers of genocide and the value
of tolerance. We are especially encouraged by the powerful reach of
the band "System of a Down"–comprised of four Armenian Americans–in
educating countless millions about genocides–past and present. The
powerful documentary "Screamers," which is currently playing around
the nation, documents their work in this area. All these efforts are
aimed at breaking the genocidal cycle.
With specific regard to the situation in Darfur, we were gratified that
the Administration–in a break from past practice–properly invoked
the term genocide, but remain deeply troubled that our government has
yet to take the decisive steps required of us under our commitments
to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. We
run the risk of turning this landmark treaty into a dead letter if
our actions do not live up to our moral and legal obligations.
As members of this panel know, the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust
weighed heavily on the mind of international lawyer Raphael Lemkin,
whose family was brutally murdered by the Nazis in their genocidal
drive to destroy the Jews of Europe. He coined the term "genocide" and
was instrumental in the drafting and adoption of the Convention. In
a 1949 interview with CBS, Lemkin explained, "I became interested
in genocide because it happened to the Armenians; and after [wards]
the Armenians got a very rough deal at the Versailles Conference
because their criminals were guilty of genocide and were not punished."
The denial of the Armenian Genocide
Sadly, even in 2007, we are faced with a state-sponsored campaign of
denial that the Armenian Genocide ever took place.
This denial takes the form of Turkish laws against even the mention of
the Armenian Genocide, the systematic teaching of genocide denial to
Turkey’s school children, and, in nations around the world, a campaign
of threats, intimidation and blackmail against any individual, group,
or country that speaks the truth about the Ottoman Turkish government’s
murder of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
Our own Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the early years of
the Genocide, Henry Morgenthau, described the government’s crimes as
"a campaign of race extermination." The Allied Powers vowed to punish
the Turkish authorities for these crimes, using for the first time
the term "crimes against humanity," but, as we know too well, they
did not fulfill their promise of justice for the Armenian people,
setting the stage for nearly a century of Turkish government denials.
We work to end this denial because, as a matter of fundamental
morality, our nation should recognize and condemn all genocides–past
and present. The United States should, on principle, reject all
genocide denial–whether it come from Tehran, Khartoum or Ankara. To
do any less is to undermine our country’s credibility on the most
vital international issue of our time–the creation of a world safe
from genocide.
We work to end this denial because it seeks to obscure a proud
chapter in American history. Those who deny this crime dishonor
President Woodrow Wilson and all those who spoke out against the
atrocities committed against the Armenian people. They dishonor the
US diplomats who risked their lives to document the suffering of the
Armenian nation. They dishonor the Americans–rich and poor–who gave
of themselves as part of an unprecedented American relief effort to
alleviate the suffering of a brutalized population.
We work to end this denial because we know that the Republic of Armenia
cannot be safe as long as Turkey remains an unrepentant perpetrator
of genocide against the Armenian people.
We work to end this denial because Turkey’s acceptance of a just
resolution of the Armenian Genocide would represent significant
progress toward a more tolerant Turkish society, and a meaningful
step toward the Republic of Turkey’s long sought acceptance into the
European family of nations.
And, perhaps most importantly for the work of this panel today, we
work to end this denial because it sets a dangerous precedent–a real
life example of genocide committed with impunity–that makes future
genocides more likely. Prior to launching his "final solution," Adolf
Hitler infamously cited this example in a 1939 speech intended to
quiet the potential reservations of his generals, asking the chilling
question: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the
Armenians?"
The denial of any genocide, past or present, sets a dangerous precedent
for the future, emboldening potential perpetrators with the knowledge
that their crimes can be committed without condemnation or consequence.
The murder of Hrant Dink
The most recent victim of this denial is Hrant Dink, a courageous
journalist who was assassinated on January 19th of this year in front
of his newspaper’s offices in Istanbul.
One of the remaining Armenians living in Turkey, Hrant was born and
spent his early years in Malatya, a city whose Armenian population
was–with only a handful of exceptions–destroyed during the Armenian
Genocide. As editor of Agos, a bilingual Armenian-Turkish language
newspaper, he faced years of official persecution and regular death
threats in response to his writings about the Armenian Genocide. Last
year he was given a suspended sentence of six months under Article 301,
a new provision of the Turkish Penal Code that punishes discussion
of the Armenian Genocide as an "insult to Turkishness."
When he criticized this verdict, he was prosecuted once again under a
different provision of law that criminalizes attempts to "influence
the judiciary." In his last column, he wrote about the torment of
living in the shadow of death threats and the vulnerability he faced
due to the government’s incitement of hatred against him.
Hrant Dink was not alone. Many other writers in Turkey are being
silenced through Turkey’s criminal code. Nobel Prize-winner Orhan Pamuk
has been prosecuted under Article 301 for mentioning the killings of
Armenians. The writer Elif Shafak was prosecuted for writing a novel
in which her fictional characters discussed the Armenian Genocide.
Hrant Dink’s murder is tragic proof that the Turkish government
continues to fuel the same type of hatred and intolerance that led
to the Armenian Genocide more than ninety years ago. His killing
was not an isolated act, as Turkish leaders have said in what can
only be described as disingenuous expressions of regret, but rather
occurred as the result of the Turkish government’s official–and
increasingly aggressive–policy of denial. His example underscores the
pressing need for the United States to fully recognize the Armenian
Genocide–through Executive branch action and the adoption by the
Congress of the Armenian Genocide Resolution.
US complicity in Armenian Genocide denial
Sadly, the Turkish government is able to maintain its denial, against
all evidence and the tide of international opinion, in large part due
to the State Department’s refusal to speak with moral clarity about
the Armenian Genocide.
Our State Department remained almost entirely unwilling to speak
publicly against the Turkish government’s longstanding prosecution
and persecution of Hrant Dink. In fact, a search of the Department’s
website finds only one mention of him before his murder. In sharp
contrast, the same State Department that has been so reluctant
to defend free speech within Turkey has been more than willing to
loudly and aggressively seek to prevent our own legislature–the US
Congress–from even considering legislation commemorating Armenian
Genocide.
In a truly unfortunate escalation of our complicity in Turkey’s
denials, the State Department, last year, fired Ambassador
John Evans–a distinguished diplomat with over thirty years of
experience–for properly characterizing the Armenian Genocide. In the
proud tradition of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, who represented our
nation in the Ottoman Empire during the early years of the Genocide,
Ambassador Evans spoke the truth about this crime against humanity.
For this, his career of service to our nation was ended by an
Administration apparently more concerned with the sensitivities of a
foreign government–one that regularly violates the free speech rights
of its own citizens–than with the rights of an American citizen who
speaks out honestly about genocide. The Turkish government’s Foreign
Agent Registration Filings with the Justice Department reveal that
its foreign agents contacted several US officials regarding the
Ambassador’s comments, but, as of today, the State Department has
been unwilling to offer any meaningful explanation of the role the
Turkish government played in the Ambassador’s dismissal.
Most recently, the President–in the face of broad-based Congressional
opposition–has again nominated Richard Hoagland to serve as ambassador
to Armenia, despite his intensely controversial record of denying
the Genocide. As a community, Armenian Americans are deeply grateful
for the principled leadership of Senator Robert Menendez, who has,
once again, placed a hold on this ill-advised nomination.
In closing, I would like to stress that, although the Armenian Genocide
began in 1915, it continues today through the Turkish government’s
worldwide campaign of denial. We look to the members of this panel,
and to all Members of Congress, to help end US complicity in Turkey’s
denial, and to encourage the Republic of Turkey to abandon its efforts
to erase this chapter in its–and the world’s–history.
The proper recognition and universal commemoration of the Armenian
Genocide will, we are confident, represent a meaningful contribution
to our nation’s efforts to end the cycle of genocide.