"NEVER AGAIN" TO FUTURE GENOCIDES AND ATTEMPTED DENIAL OF PAST ONES

ArmRadio.am
01.05.2007 13:25

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.

It is troubling that some major Jewish organizations have lined up in
support of Turkey’s efforts to keep the US Congress from recognizing
the Armenian massacres as an act of genocide, Daniel Sokatch and and
David N. Myers write in an article published in the May 1st issue of
The Los Angeles Times.

"The American Jewish community has insisted, and rightly so, that
the US 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," the article says.

The authors note that 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."

Daniel Sokatch and David N. Myers suggest that 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.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress