PEOPLE WHO SURVIVED HOLOCAUST CAN’T DENY ANOTHER GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.03.2009 12:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Demonstrators in Turkey disparage Jews and Armenians,
Norman L. Epstein writes in an opinion piece published by The Canadian
Jewish News.

The article titled "Jews must reject Turkey’s genocide denial" says:

"Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has been leading the charge,
foaming at the mouth with his repeated ratings and accusations against
Israel of "mass murder" and "massacring innocent civilians." Turkish
media outlets have further fomented anti-Israel and anti-Jewish
sentiment with similar hyperbole. Mass rallies all over Turkey, some
of the largest worldwide, have deteriorated into vile anti-Semitic
spectacles.

The height of hypocrisy is self-evident in Turkey’s own highly suspect
human rights record. Moreover, its own campaign against Kurdish
separatists in northern Iraq has caused thousands of innocent civilian
deaths over the years, with little effort to avoid mass casualties.

Israel has carved out a close strategic alliance with Turkey recently,
the only genuine one it has with a country in the Muslim world. It was
born out of necessity, and Turkey has served as a mediator in peace
talks, particularly with Syria, in exchange for advancing Turkey’s
military know-how and technology.

In light of recent events, there has been much reflection in Israel
on the make-up and tenor of this expedient alliance. I am not going
to debate the merits of the relationship. However, there is a very
unsettling element to it. This partnership is predicated on pro-Israel
groups in the United States working in concert with pro-Turkey groups
to prevent the U.S. Congress from passing a resolution (which has
passed in Canada) recognizing the genocide of the Armenians by Turkish
nationalists at the beginning of the 20th century. This denial by
Turkey exists despite compelling and irrefutable evidence.

During the waning years of the Ottoman Empire, a group of army officers
overthrew the sultan in 1908. Turkish nationalism began to flourish,
and the Armenians, a significant Christian minority, began to assert
their own cultural identity and push for regional autonomy. The Turkish
leadership resented the Armenians’ resistance to assimilation, and
plans were made to exterminate the Armenian population.

It started on April 24, 1915, when Armenian leaders were summarily
executed. Men of military age were forced into labor camps, and those
who survived starvation and illness were shot in mass graves. Hangings
and mass executions continued on a large scale. Women, children
and the elderly were forced to march for weeks without food, with
few surviving.

Females of all ages were brutally subjected to torture, rape and
murder. Those who survived such atrocities threw themselves off
cliffs. In the end, 1.8 million Armenians perished.

Since the inception of modern Turkey in 1922, resolute denial of the
Armenian genocide has been intrinsic to Turkish society. It’s a crime
to speak of the genocide.

A further disturbing aspect of this denial of history is that Adolf
Hitler used the Armenian genocide as a template for the Nazis’
Final Solution, curtly saying at the time, "Who today remembers the
extermination of the Armenians?"

As Jews, we are ever so vigilant and outraged whenever diabolical
Holocaust deniers rear their ugly heads and spread poisonous
hatred. Therefore, it is an absolute moral imperative that Jewish
groups not become a party to Turkey’s denial of its crime.

Israel is strong enough to redefine its strategic alliance with Turkey
on its own terms. But it is morally unacceptable that a people reborn
out of the ashes of the Holocaust be complicit, even reluctantly,
in the denial of another genocide. It goes against the very essence
of the Jewish soul."

Norman Epstein is a physician in Toronto and the founder of Canadians
Against Slavery and Torture in Sudan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress