ianyan magazine
March 7 2010
Resolutions, Evolution and Armenian Genocide Recognition
By Liana Aghajanian on March 7th, 2010
By now, Armenians, Turks and those who care about foreign affairs in
general have come to find out that on Thursday, the House Foreign
Affairs Committee voted to recognize the mass killings of Armenians in
the early 20th century as genocide.
The vote, a very narrow and nerve racking 23 to 22 was broadcast on
Armenian cable channel Horizon, and also shown subsequently online.
Right after the vote, Turkey recalled its Ambassador, Namik Tan, back
for consultations, Armenian publications swiftly posted the news,
status updates and tweets exploded with joy and disappointment on both
sides and the Obama administration, who had urged the committee to
vote against the resolution, said it will seek to block the bill from
coming into fruition.
Those who followed along with my live tweeting of the event were
overjoyed and happy to say the least, especially after the slim margin
of just one vote.
As for me, for a moment, I was shocked and surprised, although I
probably shouldn’t have been. A similar resolution passed through the
same committee in 2007 and was later successfully blocked from ever
amounting to anything.
For a while after the vote was counted, I was in a sort of euphoric
haze, not because of the actual vote, but because of what those who
belonged to the committee had said along the way.
One phrase that stuck in my mind came from Representative Lynn
Woosley, who represents the California’s sixth congressional district.
To deny this resolution, she said, would be to deny the lives of those
who perished. `For those who say it’s not the right time,’ she
continued, `If not now, when? When will it be convenient. I urge my
colleagues to stand up for human rights.’
Others, reaffirmed that they believe a genocide took place, but felt
it wasn’t the right time, that the lives of troops would be in danger,
that the possibility of losing a key ally like Turkey wasn’t in the
best interest of the U.S.
Like all other Armenians, I have grown up with stories about the
genocide. Relatives from my father’s side, while crossing the Araks
river to escape the killings, drowned. I’ve seen documentaries,
rallies, television specials, photos, there is no doubt in my mind
that a genocide occurred.
Do I think that this resolution is a good idea? I still don’t know.
This post from Lena Osipova describes almost to a tee how I feel. The
agenda, the goals of Diaspora Armenians, who still live in a 1915
meters deep well, as Hrant Dink said are different than Armenians in
Armenia.
While we sit in free countries, in our warm houses and flashy cars in
our garages, many in Armenia are still suffering from economic turmoil
and poverty . There is corruption and discrimination and much more
that we, thousands of miles away, have the good fortune to not see.
Most diaspora Armenians have never even met a Turk, nor do they want
to. For so long, the glue that has held us all together has been the
Armenian Genocide. Don’t marry odars, they tell us, we need to
preserve the Armenian ethnicity. We crowd the streets in every major
metropolitan city on April 24, chanting away phrases like `Dirty
Turkey can’t deny/The 1915 genocide.’ We don’t adapt and we don’t
adopt, and in turn, Armenia suffers.
Do I need the U.S. government to recognize the genocide? Maybe, but I
don’t feel any less Armenian, I don’t feel like something is missing
if they don’t. My feelings could very well be the result of it not
being recognized for so long, who knows.
Do I hate President Obama and think of him as a `liar’ or `coward?’
No, and I don’t understand the knee jerk reactions of those who do.
Obama is the president of the United States and as such, he will
always err on the best interests for his country, whether or not it’s
`wrong’ or `right.’ We need to understand this. Contrary to popular
belief, the interests of Armenian-Americans aren’t on his agenda at
the moment, nor should they be. To think that they should, wouldn’t be
realistic.
The answer still is, for me, `I don’t know.’ My thoughts pull me in
two directions – they tell me once that recognition might never
happen, a reality that I seem to be making peace with every day, and
then, they whisper to me again, telling me that this has the
possibility to finally put to rest what the diaspora has been rallying
around for so long.
I’m not a politician, or a historian or an analyst. I’m a journalist.
And before I became a journalist, I was and still am Armenian. And I
am still struggling with what the aftermath of this resolution might
be, and cautiously hoping that things will turn out for the better.
But what is `better?’ I still don’t know.