Inside Pulse, NY
Oct 12 2007

We Can No Longer Deny History

Posted By Nick Rafter on 10.12.2007

"Who Remembers the Armenians?"

Those words were uttered by Adolf Hitler at the dawn of World War II.
Hitler was asked by his generals what he thought the world would say
if they killed everyone who got in their way during the 1939 invasion
of Poland.

There’s a thin line between "atrocity" and "massacre" and what we
describe as "genocide." Surely we all agree what the Turkish did
during World War I against the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian population
is indeed an atrocity. It was indeed a massacre, but it also was
genocide. We can no longer to afford to deny history, for perhaps if
we did remember the Armenians in 1939, Hitler’s genocide may not have
happened.

Our relationship with Turkey is a unique and important one. Having
been to Turkey recently, I can account for how Westernized and modern
the country really is and how friendly to Americans the Turkish
people are. Still, good friends do not deny the mistakes their
friends make, especially if it can prevent those mistakes from
happening to someone else in the future. Turkey committed genocide 90
years ago, and the Turley that exists today is a completely different
one than the Turkey that slaughtered 1.5 million Armenians, but it
does not erase history. Germany knows this, Turkey must also
understand this.

Already, a slew of our allies, including members of NATO, do
recognize the genocide including; Argentina, Armenia, Austria,
Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania,
The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland,
Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela. Wales in Britain and New South
Wales in Australia also recognize what happened as a genocide, as do
39 US States; Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas,
Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont,
Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Even as the genocide was going
on, in 1916, the United States Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau
Sr. described the acts against the Armenians as "race extermination."

If the United States truly wants to keep its moral authority in the
world. If the United States truly wants to be the beacon of freedom
and the advocate for human rights, then we have to call out our
friends and allies when they are wrong. We cannot continue to be the
world’s advocate for freedom and human rights when we only advocate
when it’s convenient for us, and ignore history when it’s not. We
would not rescind our beliefs that the Holocaust was genocide if
Germany threatens to close Rammstein unless we do. Turkey sought to
eliminate the Armenians from Turkish territory, either by deporting
them or by killing them, just as Hitler sought to rid Germany of
Jews. All the Armenians were guilty of was having the gall to ask for
independence, something we know all too dear. No amount o resistance
from the Armenians gave the Turkish the right to do what they did.

Also, when did we start to suddenly care about what NATO allies think
about us? George W. Bush didn’t take Turkey into consideration when
he invaded Iraq and because of the Kurdish issue, Turkey had a huge
stake in what would happen in Iraq, and our administration barely
took them into account. Now, suddenly, we’re concerned?

The United States Congress is not out to destroy Turkey, or even make
our friend look bad. Rather, they are seeking to remember the
Armenians, so another madman like Adolf Hitler doesn’t turn around
and throw our denial in our face and use it to justify their
genocide.

2007/10/12/we-can-no-longer-deny-history.html