RECOGNIZING AND REMEMBERING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Goran Sadjadi
Kurdish Aspect, CO
May 1 2007
This last week marked the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
During the First World War, a coalition of ultranationalist and
reformists within the Ottoman Empire planned a genocide resulting
in the systematic murders of over 1.5 million Armenian people in
their ancestral homelands. The reformists, known as the Young Turks,
emerged within the Ottoman State in the late 19th century and were
mostly composed of young military students.
Following the revolution and the deposition of the sultan, the Young
Turks sought to strengthen the Ottoman State through a centralization
of power and authority and a Turkish ultranationalist ideology to
eliminate the already existing multi-ethnic movements. The Young
Turks and their newly empowered political organization, the Committee
of Union and Progress (or in Turkish: Ýttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti),
carefully set up a special organization (Teþkilat-ý Mahsusa) that
conducted the slaughter and fatal deportation of the Armenian people
who lived in regions lying in present-day Turkey. The campaign was
initiated as part of an organized plan to eliminate the Armenians.
In 1915, the Young Turk government (CUP) began a campaign of
deportation and forced Armenian populations throughout the region into
starvation. The CUP sought to end the Armenian question in regards
to the peoples’ rights. The campaign began with disarmament of all
Armenians serving in the military, followed by the systematic killing
of religious, political and intellectual leaders. The deportation
of the Armenian population was formally declared on May 27th of
1915. Most of the men were slaughtered while the women, children
and elderly were forced to march for days without food or water and
consequently died of starvation. Thousands of others were massacred.
Today, over 20 countries have recognized the 1915 deportations
and massacres as an official genocide. However, the Turkish State
continues to deny the occurrence of the genocide despite evidence that
the systematic deportations and massacres of the Armenian people did
indeed take place and constitute genocide by all definitions.
In Turkey, people are arrested for merely suggesting that the events
that took place were genocide.
The Turkish government has even made several efforts to eliminate
recognition of the genocide by spending large sums of money and
through lobbying in Washington DC. One example of such efforts was
reported by the Washington Post in October 2000 when a bill seeking
United States recognition of the Armenian genocide was considered by
U.S. Congress. During this time, the Turkish government threatened
to end a $4.5 billion deal in military trade with the U.S. The bill
consequently failed.
Even today, official recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the
United States remains uncertain. Politicians in Washington DC have
suggested that passing any resolution to recognize the genocide would
lead to bitter relations between the United States and it’s Turkish
ally. While a new resolution is supported by 191 House members, it
is still unclear whether or not the resolution will make it to the
Congressional floor. If it does, however, it is expected to pass.
While recognition of the genocide by all people and countries
around the world is important, the recognition of ongoing injustices
within Turkey should also be a high priority. To this day, Turkey
remains a state consumed by ultranationalist ideology that harms any
progression of the state towards democracy and that feeds hostility
to the non-Turkish citizens in the country. The Armenian Question
was answered by the Young Turk government through genocide. The
Kurdish Question that exists today in Turkey is also being answered
by countless atrocities of ethnocide, displacements and the denial
of several rights of people of Kurdish descent by the Turkish State.
Unfortunately, without pressure on Turkey by the international
community to recognize the events that occurred 92 years ago as a
genocide, Turkey may never be able to admit their current injustices
against the Kurdish people. Without first admitting the facts, any
reform can be viewed as an impossible task. Recent changes that
were supposedly made in Turkey in order to be consistent with EU
standards have been deemed as simply theoretical. The EU Turkey Civic
Commission has addressed issues that indicate, "True democratic reform
can only occur if Turkey undertakes new political reform to its state
institutions and banishes adherence to ethnic nationalism which is
the root cause of the conflict and Turkey’s endemic instability." In
addition to fascist state policies, ultranationalist Turkish groups
are still widely influential throughout Turkey.
Such fascist state policy suffused with ultranationalism continues
to harm the ethnic minorities in Turkey; and even the Armenians that
still live there today. Hrant Dink, a journalist and prominent member
of the Armenian minority in Turkey, was critical of the Turkish denial
of the genocide and worked towards Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and
minority rights in Turkey. He was prosecuted three times for allegedly
denigrating Turkishness, a law punishable by up to sixth months to ten
years; such is a law that demonstrates the ultranationalist ideology
that exists in Turkey today.
Hrant Dink was murdered on January of 2007 by a Turkish nationalist.
While several arrests have been made, many people have protested
that the case remains unresolved. Since his murder, documents have
shown up revealing Dink’s fear for his own life as he was constantly
threatened by ultranationalists especially during the last few years
of his life. The most curious document was that which revealed that
Hrant Dink was particularly fearing his life during his court trials
and his encounters with generals of the Turkish military. All this was
a result of the dangerous problems that still plague Turkey since the
days of the genocide and the lack of progress being made to address
these problems.
The barbaric acts of destruction and genocide have been committed
throughout history and past mistakes have often been repeated; the
Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, the Kurdish
Genocide in Iraq and the current genocide in Darfur, as well as all
other past and present atrocities that exist today. These barbaric
acts must be recognized and condemned. The silent stance that the
world took in each of these cases was and is just as much a factor
as any other as to why they were repeated and why they continue today.
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day: Last week was the week of Armenian
Genocide Remembrance, and the Armenian National Committee of America
organized a commemoration event in New York City. Armenian communities
throughout the United States demonstrated and held other events
against the denial of the genocide. The event held in Washington DC
can be seen on youtube. Although many US politicians have refrained
from calling the event genocide, including the President, Americans
supporting recognition as well as other groups have participated in
the Armenian events to show their support. In Atlanta, the Kurdish
community has joined the Armenians in recognizing and remembering
the genocide. A video of a speech given by a Kurdish community
representative can be seen here.
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