TURKEY SHOULD FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE OF 1915-23
Lillie Merigian
The Desert Sun
April 21 2010
International politics certainly have strange bedfellows. Some are
fickle, some devious, some expectant and some demanding. Which U.S.
"bedfellow" is all of above? Let’s talk Turkey! Oh, yes, that country.
Turkey, the country that is a longstanding NATO ally of the U.S.,
a Muslim nation that claims to be a "modern, democratic, secular"
republic and a friend of the United States — a friend? A friend
indeed or a friend in need?
For the past 95 years Turkey has refused to acknowledge the horrific
acts of its Ottoman government during 1915-23 genocide when the Young
Turk movement organized the large-scale massacre and deportations of
1.5 million Armenians from their historic homeland resulting in the
annihilation of more than half of the 2 million population.
Turkey’s present prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is in the
forefront denying such a thing ever happened. In fact, there is a
law in Turkey against saying or writing anything that is an insult to
"Turkishness." Modern, democratic?
Turkey receives $500 million in U.S. foreign aid, military and
economic, but spends megamillion bucks for powerful public relations
firms to improve its "modern, democratic, secular" image. And yet,
it dares intimidate our elected representatives with retaliatory
measures if passage of resolutions of the Armenian Genocide succeed in
Congress. It has gone so far as to threaten closure of the U.S. air
base in northern Turkey, deny access for the U.S. troops to pull
out of Iraq, and to break off relations with the U.S. and possibly
"get in bed" with Iran, its Muslim brother.
Congressional resolutions are passed every day. Recognition is given
to Be Kind to Animals Day, Pancake Week, Plant a Tree Month, and so
on. But remember the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century?
What did the Turkish government do when the House Foreign Affairs
Committee passed House Resolution 252, the Armenian Genocide
Resolution, by a narrow 23-22 margin? It immediately recalled its
ambassador from Washington for "consultations."
And what did our U.S. democratic, fighter for human rights, government
do? It immediately launched a campaign to undermine the adoption of
the resolution and began using the full force of the administration
to attempt to block members of Congress from doing exactly that which
President Obama promised during his campaign — namely, "properly
commemorating this crime against humanity." The United States of
America is allowing a foreign country to blackmail its "bedfellow"
into denying its horrific past.
Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin coined the word genocide in 1944 when
he cited the 1915-1923 annihilation of the Armenians and the Jewish
Holocaust as seminal examples of genocide. Our country needs to stand
tall and reaffirm its dedication to human rights and denounce the
Turkish government’s denial of the abundantly documented murder of
its Armenian Christian minority by its Ottoman predecessors.
According to an article in the California Courier written by Stephen
Zane, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and
author of "Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and Roots of Terrorism,"
"The Obama administration’s position on the Armenian genocide isn’t
simply whether or not to commemorate a tragedy that took place 95
years ago, it’s about whether we see our nation as appeasing our
strategic allies or upholding our longstanding principles."
Genocide is a crime that has no statutory limitations. The moral,
psychological and political impact does not diminish with the passage
of time. Armenians worldwide commemorate the loss of their forebears
every April 24 and demand recognition and reparations for their
descendants who will never forget.