Chicago Sun-Times, IL
Oct 14 2007

Take pride in slave past?
At least this country admits shameful history, something Turkey won’t
do

October 14, 2007
BY NEIL STEINBERG Sun-Times Columnist
Opening shot

You want to feel good about this country? Talk about slavery.

How, you may ask, can this shameful peak of human cruelty, whose
lingering bad effects are felt to this day, be a source of pride to
the nation that tolerated its existence for nearly a century?

Because at least we recognize it. We are aware of it; we teach about
slavery in schools. We can talk about it. And if we don’t face facts
as much as we should, then at least debating them isn’t against the
law.

Compare that to Turkey. A nation of 72 million people, Turkey is the
most westernized Muslim state in the world. And yet, a Turkish writer
would commit a crime and risk prison just by writing this sentence:
"in 1915, Turks oversaw the murder of 1.5 million Armenians, the
largest European genocide before World War II."

To Turkey, this is slander. So now, our alliance is endangered —
Turkey has recalled its ambassador, and is threatening to stop
helping us wage our losing war in Iraq — just because a House
subcommittee voted to label the 1915 deaths a "genocide.”

Why do they act this way? National pride, and inability to process
difficult truths. A too common problem in this world. The United
States might have its moments of shame, like any other land. But at
least we can talk about them. We should be proud of that.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress