‘NEVER AGAIN’ FOR ARMENIANS TOO
Los Angeles Times, CA
May 1 2007
Several American Jewish groups abandon their anti-genocide zeal when
it comes to Turkey’s massacre of Armenians.
By Daniel Sokatch and David N. Myers, DANIEL SOKATCH is executive
director of the Progressive Jewish Alliance. DAVID N. MYERS teaches
Jewish history at UCLA.
THIS YEAR, Congress established April 15 as Holocaust Memorial Day,
commemorating the Nazi genocide of European Jewry. Just nine days
later, on April 24, Armenians throughout the world observed the
commemoration of their great tragedy: the massacre of as many as 1.5
million Armenians at the hands of the Turks that began in 1915.
In many ways, it was the 20th century’s first genocide that helped
set the stage for its largest, including Rwanda and now Darfur. Adolf
Hitler reportedly said, on the eve of his invasion of Poland in 1939,
"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"
For the last 60 years, the Jewish community has labored to avoid
granting Hitler, in the words of philosopher Emil Fackenheim, "a
posthumous victory." Jews have taken as their motto "never again," and
most tend to understand that this charge refers to all of humanity,
not only to fellow Jews. One of the last surviving leaders of the
Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Simha "Kazik" Rotem, once said that the
central lesson of the Holocaust to him was that the Jewish people
should stand vigilant against genocidal acts directed at any people.
This is why it is troubling that some major Jewish organizations have
lined up in support of Turkey’s efforts to keep the U.S. Congress
from recognizing the Armenian massacres as an act of genocide. The
Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the American Jewish Committee (AJC),
the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and B’nai
B’rith International recently conveyed a letter from the Turkish
Jewish community opposing a resolution recognizing the genocide.
The ADL and the JINSA also added their own statements of opposition,
suggesting that the massacre of Armenians was a matter for historians,
not legislators, to decide.
The American Jewish community has insisted, and rightly so, that
the U.S. Congress, the United Nations and other governmental bodies
formally commemorate the Holocaust. Why should Jews not insist on
the same in this case, especially given the widespread scholarly
consensus that what happened to the Armenians from 1915 to 1923 was
genocide? After all, the man who coined the term "genocide" to refer
to the Holocaust – the Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin – cited
the Armenian massacres as a precedent.
The unfortunate and well-known answer to the question is that
Turkey has fiercely opposed efforts to call the Armenian massacres
"genocide." Moreover, it has asked its friends to help beat back the
attempts at historical recognition.
Jewish opposition to recognizing the Armenian genocide comes mainly
from a desire to safeguard the important strategic relationship
between Turkey and Israel. Alone among the world’s Muslim nations,
Turkey has forged close military, political and economic ties with
Israel. In addition, Jews remember with a deep sense of gratitude
that Turkey served as an important haven for their forebears fleeing
persecution, from the time of the Spanish Expulsion in 1492 to the
dark days of Nazism and beyond. And it is not just that Turkey has
been kind to Israel and the Jews. It is a critically important U.S.
ally in a dangerous region racked by religious extremism.
Nobody is suggesting that Jews forget Turkey’s historic friendship.
But it is a mistake for Jews – or, for that matter, anyone – to
surrender the moral imperative of condemning genocide in the hopes
of avoiding a perceived, but by no means necessary, strategic loss.
Similarly, it would be a mistake for Turkey to hinge its own strategic
interests on the denial of past criminal acts. Coming to terms with
the past, as democratic Germany has done in the aftermath of the
Holocaust and South Africa in the wake of apartheid, is the best path
to political legitimacy.
Turkey, a trusted ally and friend of the Jews and the United States,
must come to terms with its past for its own sake. It is that battle
that leading Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel laureate Orhan
Pamuk and martyred Armenian activist Hrant Dink, have been waging
so nobly. We should do all in our power to strengthen the hands of
these figures and avoid the abyss of historical revisionism.
Sixty years (and millions of historical documents) later, the world
still has to contend with those who deny the Holocaust. We need only
recall the shocking words and deeds of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on this score.
In response to such denials, all decent-minded people, and Jews in
particular, must continue to declare loudly "never again" – not only
to future genocides but also to the attempted denial of past genocides,
regardless of who the perpetrators or victims are.