VALLEY VOICE: US MUST ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
The Desert Sun
April 13 2015
Steven B. Quintanilla, Special to The Desert Sun
Although commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the
Armenian Genocide through a “moment of silence” may be respectful,
I am afraid it may be wholly inadequate in light of the exacerbated
pain caused by a “century of silence” by our government in Washington.
April 24, 1915, is the day several hundred Armenian intellectuals were
arrested and later executed by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Over
the following seven years, two-thirds of the Armenian population
(estimated at 1.5 million) was exterminated.
At the start of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during the early
part of World War I, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire — who was
also the leader of the greater Islamic community at the time — used
Armenians as scapegoats for the Ottoman Empire’s problems. Armenians,
as a distinct and different ethnic group from the Turks and as
Christians in an empire dominated by Islamic beliefs, were seen
(at the time) as a threat to the Ottoman Empire and the greater
Islamic community.
In addition to the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians, hundreds of
thousands more were forced into permanent exile from their ancestral
homelands. Tens of thousands of Armenian children were left orphaned
with lifelong painful memories of murdered family members. Many
thousands more were left in a state of crippled existence in mind,
body and spirit caused by the unspeakable atrocities committed against
the Armenian people during this dark and evil assault on humanity.
“Genocide,” as defined by a renowned Polish-Jewish lawyer in 1943,
means the deliberate killing of a racial, ethnic, religious or national
group. Clearly, under the plain meaning of this definition, the killing
of 1.5 million people of a particular ethnic group (Armenian), most
of whom adhered to the religion of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
a Christian denomination, was “genocide.”
The Armenian Genocide has been recognized as a historical fact by
Canada, Sweden, Italy, Poland, France, Belgium, Greece, Argentina,
and (even) Russia. Concerns over upsetting Turkey, a key ally in a
historically highly volatile region, have kept numerous U.S.
presidential administrations and members of Congress silent on the
issue, which tragically continues to this day. In fact, just last
month, 40 members of House of Representatives launched a bi-partisan
effort to persuade Congress and the president to officially recognize
the Armenian Genocide as a historic fact. But, like many efforts
before, it fell on deaf ears and the painful silence sadly endures.
Why should America end its century of silence by formally recognizing
the Armenian Genocide as a historical fact? I believe we should because
most of the world will listen. America must end its silence on the
issue not only because of the moral obligation I believe America owes
to the Armenian-American community which has contributed in a very
meaningful and highly productive manner to the social, cultural,
economic and political fabric of America, but also because we have
an ethical, fiduciary and moral obligation to humankind. I sincerely
believe (and pray and hope) America’s formal recognition of the
Armenian Genocide will serve as a catalyst for creating an official
international framework to prevent the same human atrocities from
occurring again. We should not stand by and let our silence (let alone
our century of silence) be used as justification, albeit as insane as
it may be, by yet another despotic and evil ruler or regime to commit.
Steven B. Quintanilla is an attorney in Rancho Mirage. Email him
at [email protected]