U.S. SHOULD CALL ARMENIAN KILLINGS GENOCIDE
By Leslie Campbell
Collegian (Kansas State Univ.)
should-call-armenian-killings-genocide-1.2185389
M arch 9 2010
Between the years of 1915 and 1923 in World War I, about 1.5 million
ethnic Armenians died in Ottoman, Turkey. These victims died either
from the merciless Turkish soldiers or from starvation and disease.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, genocide can be classified
as "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political
or cultural group." Turkey indicted leaders of the massacres after
World War I, and even acknowledged that the atrocities did occur
but insisted they were not "systematic" killings. Systematic or not,
a significant number of Armenians were mass-killed.
Controversy concerning this issue and the definition of genocide
is raising questions and arguments in Washington D.C. During his
presidential campaign, President Obama promised the American people
he would, in fact, deem the mass killings genocide. All of a sudden,
his standpoint has changed and with a 23-22 House of Representatives
vote, the Obama administration has urged the House to push back
the resolution.
In 2006, the French Parliament voted that not recognizing the killings
in Armenia as genocide was a criminal act. In response to this ruling,
Turkey denounced any former relationship established with France.
Several other countries have come forward to recognize the genocide
but the U.S. stays stagnant.
First of all, when you kill hundreds of thousands of people
from a single country, it is, in my opinion, genocide. Secondly,
this resolution has been on the horizon for years, with the Bush
administration in 2007 pushing the matter to the back burner to relieve
any tension that might ensue with Turkey. Obviously, this is due to
the Iraq war and Turkey’s involvement and ties with the U.S.
and the war effort.
Turkey has claimed a vote determining the events as genocide would
undoubtedly hurt the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey, as
well has hinder any resolution occurring between Armenia and Turkey.
Our excuse for backing out of the resolution is simply that we now
believe it would hurt the on-going negotiations between Armenia and
Turkey. The real truth is that Turkey, due to its ongoing trade
relationship with Iran, will be able to help the U.S. limit the
nuclear program in Iran. We refuse to identify the monstrosity that
occurred for the sake of our own political agenda. Even Mrs. Clinton,
a key leader on this issue, has publicly acknowledged that the change
of mindset in Washington is due to ongoing circumstances that have
"changed in very significant ways."
Letting another country threaten us because we plan on holding them
accountable for their actions is not the American way. America is at
war and we do need to stay loyal to our allies, but the recognition
of the massive loss of Armenian life is long overdue.