BÝA, Turkey
Aug 26 2007

ADL Retracted Genocide Recognition

Following pressure by Turkey and Israel, the US-based Anti-Defamation
League has retracted its recognition of the "Armenian genocide" and
has instead called on Turkish-Armenian cooperation to resolve the
controversy.

býa news centre
26 Aðustos 2007, Pazar

Gökce Gündüc

"The immediate object of the League is to stop, by appeals to reason
and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation
of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and
fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to
unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or
body of citizens."

This is the mission statement of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a
foundation based in the USA, which had decided to recognise the
events of 1915 as a "genocide".

Following diplomatic pressure by Turkey and the intervention of
Israeli Prime Minister Simon Peres, the ADL has retracted the
recognition but called for historians to solve the issue.

Turkish Publisher Ragip Zarakolu and Dov Sinar from Academic College
in Israel evaluated the retraction for bianet.

State interests or consciences?

Sinar, who works in the area of peace journalism, said that Turkey
would not get anywhere without facing up to the past and taking
responsibility.

"The Jewish population in the USA was first concentrating on the
relationship between Israel and Turkey. In order not to make problems
for Israel, the American genocide was ignored. Since there has been
an increase in academic studies on the Armenian genocide in the last
twenty years, this stance has become more difficult to defend. Were
the state’s interests or consciences going to weigh more?"

Zarakolu: "Human tragedy" cannot be ignored

Zarakolu has argued that the ADL is in fact saying, "What I
experienced was a genocide, but what other peoples experience is not
a genocide." Zarakolu said that Israel, as a country whose people had
experienced a genocide was being insensitive towards the Armenian
Question.

"The denial in Turkey has led to comprehensive analyses and document
research. If Turkey had changed its stance, there might have been a
more gradual passage. It has become more difficult to lean on others
using geopolitical profit."

Zarakolu added that a "human tragedy" could not be ignored for the
sake of international politics, that this was not something
consciences could accept.

"Academics and researchers in Israel are criticising the double
standards. The retraction of the ADL may or may not be a result of
the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Middle East policies, but
the lesson to be learnt its that history should never be mixed up
with current politics."

Sinar: Both Israel and Turkey should accept Armenian genocide

Sinar said that the declaration of the Jewish Lobby in the USA was
independent of Israel. "Officially, no lobby has the right to
represent Israel. The ADL’s declarations have not caused much
reaction in Israel. They are not discussed in Israel. Israelis do not
really know what happens in the USA."

Sinar expects both Israel and Turkey to accept the claims of an
Armenian genocide because denying the past does not achieve anything:
"The Armenian genocide must be recognised."

In a statement signed by ADL’s national director Abraham Foxman and
published on Tuesday, the ADL had stated that it had come to the
conclusion that the events of 1915 were a "genocide", but that it
would continue to oppose attempts to pass any law in Congress
concerning this issue.(GG/AG)