BuzzFlash, IL
Aug 10 2007
Jeff Fleischer: Acknowledging the truth about the genocide against
Armenians
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
By Jeff Fleischer
The constant killing in Darfur is obviously the most critical
genocide facing the world today, but it isn’t the only one causing
controversy in Washington.
With Congress on the verge of finally recognizing the 1915 genocide
of the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire for what it was, the massacres
— and the resolution acknowledging them — have prompted another
round of high-priced lobbying by influential deniers.
First, some background. What’s not in dispute is that, prior to World
War I, more than 2 million Armenians lived under Ottoman rule and
that a huge chunk of that number was murdered during the war years.
Nearly the entire Armenian population was forcibly and systematically
relocated to the Syrian desert, with many dying along the way.
Estimates, taken from reports at the time and from later research,
place the number of people killed anywhere from the high six figures
to 1.5 million.
Today’s Turkish government argues that "only" 300,000 Armenians died
during this period. It trots out the claim that fighting against the
oppressive regime by Armenian resistance groups meant killings
occurred on both sides. And it disputes the use of the term
"genocide" by saying the government had no intention to wipe out all
Armenians.
These tactics aren’t new and, as the saying goes, Turkey doth protest
too much.
Holocaust deniers have long claimed (without evidence) that the
numbers of Jewish dead were inflated, as if a smaller death toll
would somehow negate the evil committed. In 1994 Rwanda, Hutu
extremists justified their killing by spreading radio propaganda
accusing Tutsis of "collaboration" with foreign enemies, just as
Hitler accused Jews of secretly working for Germany’s World War I
defeat. For the past few years, the Sudanese government of Omar
al-Bashir and its Janjaweed have used resistance from rebel groups in
Darfur as an excuse for mass killing, widespread rape, burning of
villages, and poisoning of wells. As with Darfur, the Ottomans didn’t
simply fight rebels; they used them as a pretext for committing
larger crimes.
As to intent, the genocide began with the rounding up and executing
of prominent Armenians, followed by a well-planned campaign to disarm
and deport them. Turkish massacres of Armenians also occurred
regularly in the two decades before the war, and continued until
1923. Several Ottoman leaders were later tried and convicted for
their roles in the extermination.
These days, more than 20 countries have passed laws formally
recognizing the genocide, and Armenian groups in the United States
have been working since the 1970s to have the same happen here. As
those efforts gained momentum, Turkey has done all it can to block
them. So when the Democrats took over Congress this year, the Turkish
government brought out the big guns.
According to The New Republic, the lobbying firm of former Rep. Bob
Livingston — briefly Speaker-elect before resigning in disgrace in
1996 — has received about $13 million from Turkey since 2000, was
instrumental in torpedoing a symbolic 2004 recognition measure, and
is now meeting often with pro-resolution Republicans. Turkey now pays
the firm of former Rep. Dick Gephardt — previously a resolution
supporter — $100,000 a month to lobby on its behalf. Several members
of Congress have recently pulled a 180 on their support for the
resolution after meeting with high-paid lobbyists. Needless to say,
the Armenians don’t have the same deep pockets.
More dangerously, Turkey has used its military relationship with the
United States to bully for a whitewashing of its past. Having already
closed its border with Armenia, the country has threatened to cut off
U.S. access to its border with Iraq and its Incirlik air base,
actions that would make supplying military personnel in Iraq far more
difficult. Condi Rice and Robert Gates have therefore urged Congress
not to pass a resolution, adding another level to the lobbying.
As of late June, genocide recognition had enough supporters in the
House to pass a bill, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to bring
the measure to a vote after the summer recess. Whether this
resolution will change anything remains an open question, and
obviously the genocide doesn’t become any more or less real based on
a Congressional stamp of approval. But its passage would put the U.S.
on the right side of history, and that’s better then the alternative.
When Adolf Hitler was on the verge of invading Poland, he had a
succinct answer for those in his government who questioned whether he
could kill or resettle local peoples at will: "Who, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"
At least Congress is speaking about it. Whether it can withstand the
deniers’ onslaught remains an open question.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Jeff Fleischer is a Chicago-based newspaper and magazine journalist.
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