X
    Categories: 2018

Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post: The Armenian genocide was genocide

Washington Post
Aug 17 2018
Letters to the Editor
  

I was initially heartened to read the Aug. 12 obituary for Arsène Tchakarian, “Fought for French resistance in WWII,” which described a heroic historical story that few of us had heard. But then I reached the part that noted that Tchakarian was a survivor of the Armenian genocide. The obituary put quotes around the word “genocide” and gave equal time to Turkish denialism. Three of my four grandparents narrowly escaped being killed and lost most of their families and all their property during the Armenian genocide. I have read The Post for many years, and I have noticed that on the occasions when the Armenian genocide comes up, The Post almost always frames it as a matter of debate rather than the historical fact that it is. It’s deeply insulting and, given the context of the obituary, ironic, because one of the most famous quotes about the Armenian genocide is the remark attributed to Adolf Hitler, “Who remembers now the extermination of the Armenians?”

Karine Jegalian, Garrett Park

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS