Tag: “Genocide” Resolution

Turkish EU Minister on the Armenian Genocide Controversy

‘We Are Very Sensitive About This Issue’

Photo Gallery: 3 Photos

DPA

In a SPIEGEL interview, Ankara’s Minister for European Affairs Egemen Bagis discusses Turkey’s journey to the West and his country’s dispute with the United States over a resolution on the genocide of the Armenians recently passed by Congress.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Bagis, why does Turkey still need a minister for European Union affairs? Isn’t Europe a dead issue in your country?

Bagis: Absolutely not. My government is investing more energy in the reform process than any other government. In 2013 we will be ready for accession.SPIEGEL: But do Turks share your enthusiam? Three out of four Turks believe that the EU wants to divide your country and spread Christianity.

Bagis: I have other figures: If Turkey held a referendum today on accession, 60 percent would vote for it. On the other hand, only 40 percent of Turks believe that accession will definitely take place. In Europe it is the other way round: Forty percent want to take Turkey in, but 60 percent believe the country will join the EU one day.

SPIEGEL: In other words: There is skepticism on both sides.

Bagis: Let’s put it this way: Some countries like Malta apply for membership and are in the next day. Others need a little more time. I have no problem with the fact that some Europeans say they want negotiations with an open-ended outcome. Today everything has an open-ended outcome, even Catholic marriages.

SPIEGEL: Turkey has been seeking EU membership since 1959. Is it not humiliating to be held at bay for so long?

Bagis: No, because we also made mistakes. There have been three military coups since 1959, and many Turkish government’s didn’t have a clear vision or idea of Europe. It was the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that first made the necessary constitutional amendments between 2002 and 2004 so that we could finally start accession negotiations.

SPIEGEL: Only 17 percent of Germans support Turkish membership in the EU.

Bagis: Believe me, one day Europeans will have to appeal to the Turkish public to support EU membership. Europe has many problems. Tell me, for example, how the EU plans to solve its energy crisis without Turkish help? A large part of the future energy resources Europe needs will flow through Turkey. And tell me how you are going to solve your economic and demographic problems? The average age in Europe is 40, while in Turkey it is 28. Where are you going to get your work force from? Who is supposed to pay your pensions?

SPIEGEL: As long as declared opponents of Turkish accession like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France President Nicolas Sarkozy are in office, you won’t get very far with such arguments.

Bagis: I am very thankful that German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has publicly stated that he wants accession talks to continue. With regards to President Sarkozy: He used this horrible, insulting phrase, “privileged partnership” …

SPIEGEL: … a term that was actually coined by Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union party.

Bagis: But Sarkozy repeated it often enough. My government has only one answer: We will only accept full membership — nothing more, nothing less. We want the same chances as every candidate country.

SPIEGEL: Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, said: “The Turks have only ever gone in one direction — towards the West.”

Bagis: And that is still true. But at the same time, we are also a bridge and have four strong pillars, one in each direction …

SPIEGEL: … of which you recently pulled out two by recalling your ambassadors to the United States and Sweden. The move was triggered by the decision of a Congressional committee to pass a resolution recognizing the death of more than a million Armenians in 1915-16 as genocide. A similar resolution was passed by Sweden’s parliament.

Bagis: With this decision, Sweden has become slave to a thesis that, unfortunately, is based on falsehoods. The voting in the US on the so-called genocide was a success for Turkey. The Congressman from California, who got support from the Armenian lobby, made a fool out of himself. He tried to scratch the back of every Representative in the corridors of Congress in order to get their vote. But then he only won by a single vote.

SPIEGEL: Still, a Congressional committee approved the resolution.

Bagis: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later declared that the resolution will not be passed by the entire House of Representatives. As you know, the French parliament passed a similar law on the so-called Armenian genocide in 2006. Afterwards there was a ban on French airforce flights over Turkey. We are very sensitive about this issue.

SPIEGEL: What options do you have if the Americans do, in the end, recognize the genocide officially? Would you want to close the Incirlik airbase? Leave NATO?

Bagis: I will leave that up to your readers’ imagination. But allow me to remind you of one thing: Seventy percent of the logistical support for the Iraq deployment comes through Incirlik.

SPIEGEL: Why is it so difficult for Turkey to recognize the genocide of the Armenians?

Bagis: It is up to the historians, not politicians, to judge what happened in the past. Politicians look into the future. We have offered to create a joint commission of historians together with the Republic of Armenia — so far without success. Besides, you should know that the Ottoman Empire was an ally of the German Reich. Nothing that happened back then happened without consultations with the Germans.

SPIEGEL: If you dont accept the word “genocide,” then how can you have a “Genocide Museum” in the city of Igdir in eastern Turkey, dedicated to the Turks who died in 1915?

Bagis: That’s very easy: Every action leads to a reaction. But I don’t want to rule out the possibility that, someday, this museum could be transformed into a “Museum of Coexistance” or a “Museum of Mutual Pain.” I do not want to deny that the Armenians went through very difficult times …

SPIEGEL: You call it “difficult times”? We are taking about 1.5 million Armenians who perished between 1915 and 1917.

Bagis: According to American historian Justin McCarthy, 600,000 Armenians died at the time — and at the same time, 2 million Kurds and Turks. There was a civil war in Turkey, right in the middle of World War I.

SPIEGEL: The interior minister at that time, Talat Pascha, told the then US ambassador, Henry Morgenthau, that the “physical extermination” of the Amernians was a necessary goal of the war.

Bagis: According to McCarthy, this quote isn’t entirely accurate. But I am not a historian. I wasn’t there, you weren’t there. Why don’t we leave this question to a mutual commission of historians comprised of Armenians and Turks?

SPIEGEL: There was a time when Turkey seemed further along the road toward confronting its past. In 1919, the three men mainly responsible for the Armenian genocide — Talat Pasha, Enver Pasha and Cemal Pasha — were all sentenced to death in absentia. Atatürk wanted nothing to do with them. Nevertheless, there are still three large, magnificent tombstones for these men in Istanbul.

Bagis: It is traditional in our culture to commemorate the dead. Like all of us, these men surely did some good and some bad things in their lives and for their country.

SPIEGEL: Is Turkey worried the Armenians will demand reparations?

Bagis: You know, there are an estimated 100,000 illegal Armenian immigrants in our country, who work here providing care for the elderly and children. For me, this shows that there is no hate between our people. On the contrary: We are attempting to achieve rapprochement, there is a peace process between our countries …

SPIEGEL: … which is stagnating at the moment.

Bagis: That is not our fault. We have attempted to bridge our differences; we want to open all archives. But when you see that the other side is blocking all your attempts, it makes you skeptical.

SPIEGEL: This issue represents one of the few on which the AKP government, the military and the secular elite are all on the same page. Doesn’t that bother you?

Bagis: No. My government focuses on solving problems. We want good neighborly relations, also with Armenia.

SPIEGEL: Turkey’s new foreign policy earned considerable praise, but the country’s domestic policies have been enigmatic for some people in the West. Isn’t your government overplaying its hand in its power struggle with the army? You are no longer arresting only potential putschists, but also critics of the government.

Bagis: The investigations in the so-called Ergenekon case, where men are suspected of having planned a putsch against the government, are an issue for the judiciary. In the latest progress report, the European Union assesses the investigation as an opportunity for Turkey to further democratize itself.SPIEGEL: Others see signs of continuing Islamization. Restaurants are losing their alcohol licenses, young people are being harassed for holding hands in public and Family Minister Aliye Kavaf has described homosexuality as a “disease.”

Bagis: I do not agree with her, I do not consider homosexuality to be a disease. But I am neither a historian nor a doctor. Besides, I really don’t think that Turkey has become more conservative. It just so happens that the conservatives are a lot more visible today than they were previously.

Interview conducted by Bernhard Zand and Daniel Steinvorth
https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/turkish-eu-minister-on-the-armenian-genocide-controversy-we-are-very-sensitive-about-this-issue-a-683701.html

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April 12, 2010
Soyak: Armenian Diaspora Ready for Cooperation with Turkey

SATURDAY, 03 APRIL 2010 10:38

Giving an interview to TurkishNY, Co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council Kaan Soyak said that contribution that bilateral trade between Turkey and Armenia can make should not be ignored in the process of normalization of relations.

Stressing that there is political will towards normalization of relations both in Armenia and Turkey, Soyak said, “The most important factors for normalization of relations between two countries are considered as genocide resolutions and Nagorno-Karabakh problem. We want the economical dimension of the ties to come to the surface in shaping the relations between two countries.”

Pointing out that the volume of trade between two countries is about $200 mln despite closed borders, Soyak implied that Armenian diaspora is ready to cooperate with Turkey and said, “It is important that a big part of Armenian diaspora supports opening of borders. In that case, businessmen of Anatolia will be able to cooperate with Armenian diaspora in Russia, Middle Asia, Arabian countries, Europe, North and South America and even Far East without having any communication problem.” Stressing that volume of trade between Turkey and Armenia might reach to $1 bln with opening of state border, Soyak said, “It would be inevitable for the region to turn into a trade center with the opening of borders. Commercial relations will be the factor that provides reconciliation between two communities.”

Underscoring that Turkey should not ignore influence of Russia over Armenia and Azerbaijan in its efforts towards resettlement of Nagorno-Karabakh problem, Soyak said, “In my opinion, resettlement of Nagorno-Karabakh problem may be achieved in two years. Russia may solve the problem in some extent to relieve Turkish community on Nagorno-Karabakh problem, which would make normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia possible. On the other hand, even if such formula can be implented, the comprehensive solution to the problem will be dependent to the other developments in Caucasus, especially to the resolution of S. Ossetia and Abkhazia issues. Such a temporary solution for Nagorno-Karabakh is towards the interests of Russia as investments of Russia in Armenia cannot be operated because of closed borders.”

The full text of the interview of Co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council Kaan Soyak can be found in Turkishny.com in Turkish language.

April 4, 2010
Erdogan Says Going To U.S., Sending Back Turkish Envoy

Saudi Arabia — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference in Jeddah, 20Jan2010

02.04.2010

(Reuters, RFE/RL) – Turkey said on Friday that it is sending its ambassador back to Washington, a month after he was recalled to protest against a U.S. congressional committee recognizing as genocide the World War One massacres of Armenians in Turkey. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also confirmed that he will attend an international unclear summit to be hosted by President Barack Obama in Washington on April 12-13.

“I received an invitation five, six months ago, to attend an international event that other countries will also be attending and serves a good cause, to prevent the use and spreading of nuclear weapons. I will be going to the United States,” Erdogan told journalists. “My ambassador Namik Tan will be going back to Washington before my visit,” he said.

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian will also take part in the summit. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited him to Washington during a telephone call on March 12 that appeared to have centered on Armenia’s stalled rapprochement with Turkey.

Clinton phoned Sarkisian the day after he suggested that Turkey will not unconditionally normalize relations with Armenia anytime soon and again threatened to annul the U.S.-brokered protocols signed by the two nations in October. Some observers say the Obama administration will use the Washington forum for a last-ditch attempt to salvage the agreements.

It is not yet clear whether the U.S. president will meet Sarkisian and Erdogan on the sidelines of the summit. A spokesman for Sarkisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service earlier this week that the Armenian leader may hold meetings with “various participants” of the two-day gathering. A senior member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) said on Friday that a meeting between Sarkisian and Erdogan is “very possible.”

Ankara recalled its ambassador to Washington immediately after Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved on March 4 a resolution urging Obama to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.”

In a telephone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last Sunday, Clinton assured Turkey that the White House opposes further progress of the congressional resolution. It is uncertain whether the resolution will go to a vote of the full House of Representatives or whether it could pass.

AFP news agency quoted Davutoglu as saying on Thursday that Washington has conveyed “increasing messages easing our concerns and meeting our expectations … and [showing] that the strategic dimension of Turkish-U.S. relations is being understood.”

Erdogan likewise spoke of “positive developments” in Turkish-American contacts. “I hope these positive developments will continue also in April,” he said.

It was an apparent reference to Obama’s statement due on the April 24 anniversary of the start of mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Ankara hopes that Obama will again refrain from using the word “genocide” to describe the events of 1915-1918.

The United States is keen to smooth over relations with Turkey, NATO’s only Muslim member, and a key ally in trouble spots from Afghanistan to the Middle East. Washington is seeking to convince Turkey, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, to support a fourth round of U.N. economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, while Erdogan has spoken against the use of sanctions.

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/2001131.html

April 2, 2010
Desperate Turkish Tactics to Woo Diaspora on the Eve of April 24

[sassoun@pacbell.net]

The Turkish government has been receiving a succession of bad news in recent weeks. Its persistent policy of denial of the Armenian Genocide suffered serious setbacks when the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Swedish Parliament, and Catalonia’s regional Parliament in Spain adopted resolutions acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.

Turkish denialists are terrified by these official acknowledgments on the eve of the 95^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. They are even more alarmed by the fact that the Parliaments of Bulgaria, Israel, Serbia, Spain, and Great Britain are about to consider similar resolutions in April.

The Turkish leadership was under the mistaken impression that the Protocols signed with Armenia six months ago would end any further action on the Armenian Genocide by the international community. In fact, Turkey had viewed these Protocols as a last ditch effort to stem the tide of such acknowledgments in the future. Its devious strategy almost worked, as the genocide resolutions in both Spain and the U.S. Congress were adopted by a mere one vote majority. The opponents of these resolutions specifically cited the “reconciliation” between Armenia and Turkey as their reason for voting against them.

Alarmed by these developments, and distracted by serious internal problems, the Turkish government has initiated, perhaps a little too late, a series of actions, hoping to prevent further defeats on the Armenian Genocide issue.

These actions range from using harsh, bullying tactics against countries that dare to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, and a soft approach to mislead the international community into thinking that the Turkish government is being more accommodating towards Armenians.

Among the Turkish bullying tactics against countries acknowledging the genocide are:

— Recalling its ambassador;

— Canceling military contracts; and

— Boycotting the purchase of consumer goods.

Last week, Turkish officials added a new twist, threatening to sue the more than 20 countries that have already acknowledged the Armenian Genocide. This is one of the many bluffs Turkish leaders use from time to time to discourage additional countries from acknowledging the Genocide. I truly hope that Turkey would carry out this threat, as it would create worldwide publicity for the mass crimes committed against Armenians. Any fair-minded non-Turkish court would immediately dismiss such a frivolous lawsuit!

Turkey’s more clever tactics, using soft gloves at the advice of western public relations agents, include:

— Renovating a couple of historic Armenian churches, while thousands of others are converted to mosques, stables, residences or simply ruined.

— The “gracious” gesture of allowing religious services to be performed once a year for a limited number of people and limited duration to be determined by Turkish authorities, at the 10^th century Holy Cross Armenian Church at Akhtamar Island, on Lake Van. This world famous house of worship is officially designated as a touristic site, not a church!

— Reviewing the possibility of lifting the ban on children of refugees from Armenia to attend private Armenian schools in Istanbul.

— A “show” meeting held last week between Prime Minister Erdogan and the head of Istanbul’s Sourp Prgich Armenian hospital, who was wrongly named as the leader of Turkey’s Armenian community. This meeting was more akin to a slave being summoned by his master. Afterwards, Bedros Shirinoglu dutifully told the Turkish media that “1915” was nothing more than a feud between two loving friends, instigated by third parties! He said that his grandfather was among the victims, but so were many Turks! Shirinoglu blamed himself and asked for Erdogan’s forgiveness for the latter’s threat to deport 100,000 Armenian refugees, saying that the inflated figure was his own fault, not the Prime Minister’s.

— Finally, Foreign Minister Davutoglu came up last week with a new ploy to divide the Armenian Diaspora, after having limited success in his attempt to split the Diaspora from Armenia with the Protocols. Davutoglu announced that the Turkish authorities will initiate “dialog” with “reasonable Diaspora Armenians,” meaning Armenians who do not mind selling out the Armenian Cause for their own ego and personal gain. The Turkish Foreign Minister stated that contacts will be established with Armenian “intellectuals, universities, and civil societies.”

Clearly, Turkish officials are resorting to all possible means, including the continued exloitation of the defunct Protocols, to discourage additional countries from acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.

Armenia and the Diaspora must remain vigilant and united, especially in the weeks leading up to the 95^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in order not to fall victim to Turkish machinations, inducements and entrapments.

March 30, 2010
Turkish Lobby Distributes Brochures In Washington DC Against Armenian Allegations

Thursday, 25 March 2010

Turkish lobby in Washington DC, holds efforts to inform Congressmen against Armenian allegations to prevent so called Armenian genocide resolution which was passed in the Foreign Affairs Committee of U.S. House of Representatives to go further. Turkish lobby has prepared a brochure entitled “Armenian Fabrications, can you believe this?” to inform Congressmen and related circles in Washington against so called Armenian genocide.

The first page of the brochure shows the piece of artwork by the famous Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin entitled “Apotheosis of war” (1871 Prussia-France war). It is told that the painting of Russian artist is used by Armenians as a propaganda materialto deceive the unsuspecting public. The following page in the booklet shows how the photograph of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is used by Armenian lobbies. It is proved that how Armenians changed the photo by photomontage and placed human corpses before Ataturk’s feet by cutting of little puppies from the scene.

What did Hitler tell?

The brochure also shows how Nazi leader Hitler, who committed a genocide against Jews, is also used by Armenians to falsify the historical truth. It is stressed that there is no historical proof that Hitler said, “There is no one that remembers genocide of Armenians today”, alhough it is used by Armenian authors very often as a support to their allegations.

Numbers Game

In the section entitled as “Numbers game”, it is shown how Armenian lobbies increased the number of “genocide” victims constantly. While the number of victims of so called genocide was “1 million” in 2000, today it is told that 1,5 million Armenian people were massacred by Turks. Refering to Ottoman Empire’s census data, booklet states that population of Armenians in all over the empire was 1,294,851. It is asked that how it could be possible to massacre more Armenians than Armenian population.

Turkish Victims

The brochure also commemorates Turkish diplomats and their families who are murdered by Armenian terrorists. The booklet provides information about Armenian terror in 1970 and 80’s and Turkish people that are murdered by Armenian terrorists.

March 28, 2010
NEO-CONS AND GENOCIDE-DENYING CORRUPT LACKEY POLITICIANS SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

By Appo Jabarian

USA Armenian Life Magazine
March 24, 2010

In early March, the political wrangling between the righteous and
corrupt politicians in Washington before, during and after the voting
by the House Foreign affairs committee sparked a series of articles
critical of genocide-denying corrupt U.S. politicians both in the
House and the White House.

In a 12 March article in Huffington Post, Stephen Zunes wrote that
failure to acknowledge the genocide “is a tragic affront to the
rapidly dwindling number of genocide survivors as well as their
descendents. It’s also a disservice to the many Turks who opposed
the Ottoman Empire’s policies and tried to stop the genocide, as
well as the growing number of Turks today who face imprisonment by
their U.S.-backed regime for daring to publicly concede the crimes
of their forebears. For example, Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist
who … was prosecuted and fled into exile to escape death threats
after making a number of public references to the genocide.

“Some opponents of the resolution argue that it is pointless for
Congress to pass resolutions regarding historical events.

Yet there were no such complaints regarding resolutions commemorating
the Holocaust, nor are there normally complaints regarding the
scores of dedicatory resolutions passed by Congress in recent years,”
added Zunes.

Opponents of the resolution also falsely argue that its passage by the
Congress can harm the U.S.-Turkey relations. “The United States has
done much greater harm in its relations with Turkey through policies
far more significant than a symbolic resolution acknowledging a
tragic historical period. The United States clandestinely backed
an attempted military coup by right-wing Turkish officers in 2003,
arming Iraqi and Iranian Kurds with close ties to Kurdish rebels in
Turkey who have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Turkish
citizens. The United States also invaded neighboring Iraq. As a result,
the percentage of Turks who view the United States positively declined
from 52 percent to only 9 percent,” asserted Zunes.

The Obama administration, also controlled by the neo-cons, insists that
“this is a bad time to upset the Turkish government.

However, it was also considered a ‘bad time’ to pass the resolution
back in 2007, on the grounds that it not jeopardize U.S. access to
Turkish bases as part of efforts to support the counter-insurgency
war by U.S. occupation forces in Iraq. It was also considered a ‘bad
time’ when a similar resolution was put forward in 2000 because the
United States was using its bases in Turkey to patrol the ‘no fly
zones’ in northern Iraq. And it was also considered a ‘bad time’
in 1985 and 1987, when similar resolutions were put forward because
U.S. bases in Turkey were considered important listening posts for
monitoring the Soviet Union during the Cold War. For deniers of the
Armenian genocide, it’s always a ‘bad time,’” he pointed out.

In 1981, at a time when the neo-cons failed to control the White
House, President Ronald Reagan brushed off strong diplomatic protests
from Turkey and used the term genocide in relation to Armenians,
yet U.S.-Turkish relations did not suffer.

How come U.S. acknowledgement of the Jewish Holocaust does NOT upset
the German government, which also hosts critical U.S. bases?

“Obama is sending a message to future tyrants that they can commit
genocide without acknowledgement by the world’s most powerful
country.” In 1994, the Clinton administration “refused to use the word
‘genocide’ in the midst of the Rwandan government’s massacres of over
half that country’s Tutsi population, a decision that contributed to
the delay in deploying international peacekeeping forces until after
the slaughter of 800,000 people. … The Obama administration’

s
position on the Armenian genocide isn’t simply about whether to
commemorate a tragedy that took place 95 years ago. It’s about where
we stand as a nation in facing up to the most horrible of crimes,”
confronted Zunes.

In a March 16 HuffingtonPost.com article, titled “Why the Armenian
Genocide Matters,”, Writer of words and music, rider of waves, world
traveler Robbie Gennet wrote: “You may ask yourself why the Armenian
genocide currently matters, or more accurately, why Turkey is so
resolute against it being recognized as such. One would think after
almost a hundred years, an official apology for killing or displacing
2 million Armenians would be a welcome and long overdue occasion for
Turkey to make peace with Armenia. … Germany has made great steps to
publicly acknowledge and profusely apologize for the Jewish Holocaust,
even paying reparations, making holocaust denial and the display of
symbols of Nazism a criminal offense and establishing a National
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Berlin. But Turkey? They won’t even
allow the US to label the Armenian genocide as such or acknowledge
it in any way. Here is why: land.”

She outlined: “Take a look at a map of pre-genocide Armenia here, here
and here. What you will notice is that a huge chunk of what is now
Turkey was then considered Armenia. If the 1915 Turkish actions were
indeed recognized as a genocide, current day Armenia could potentially
petition for the return of its land. Note that this may even include
the area known as Cilicia, a separate but ethnically connected entity
bordering the Mediterranean Sea that dates back to the Kingdom of
Cilician Armenia in the early part of the second Millenium. These
historically grounded lands could rightfully be considered Armenian if
they could establish that they were unlawfully taken from them via the
genocide. The evidence is there and so is the history. Armenia itself
was officially named way back in 512 BC when it was annexed to Persia,
while Cilicia was established as a principality it 1078. After years
of struggle under Turkish, Kurdish and Mongol rule, the Ottoman Empire
ruled Armenia from 1453-1829, after which the Russian Empire ruled
through the rest of the 19th century. After the Genocide and WWI,
what’s left of Armenia was annexed by Bolshevist Russia and became
part of the Soviet Union from 1922-1991, after which Armenia declared
its independence. But let’s back up for a moment for a glimpse at
what happened during WWI”.

She revealed: “In 1913, three so-called Young Turks took over the
Turkish government via a coup with a goal of uniting all of the
Turkic peoples in the region and creating a new Turkish empire called
Turan with one language and one religion. They wanted to expand their
borders eastward but standing in their way was historic Armenia. Hence,
the Armenian Genocide.”

Gennet asserted: “Judging from Turkey’s recalcitrance to discuss or
acknowledge it, that stain may never go away. But that doesn’t mean
it will ever be forgotten, no matter how much Turkey wishes it would
fade into history. Though they would like to take advantage of the
world’s collective amnesia, the internet has made it impossible to
forget and erase” the facts of the genocide by Turkey. In answer to
Adolph Hitler’s infamous quote, “Who still talks nowadays about the
Armenians?” she rebutted: “We all do, Mr. Hitler, and long after your
genocidal dreams have faded, long after the last survivors of those
inflicted generations have passed, they will not be forgotten.”

Turkish writer Lale Kemal interestingly wrote in Today’s Zaman:
“Turkey has currently been paying the price of sweeping under the
carpet its chronic and historic problems, such as the events of 1915,
in which, it is claimed, over 1 million Armenians were subjected
to a genocide campaign under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the
predecessor to modern Turkey. … The Armenian Diaspora has moved
tobring this topic to the agenda of the Spanish Parliament after the
regional Catalonian Parliament passed a bill recognizing the events
as Armenian genocide. … The adoption of the genocide resolution
by the Committee on Foreign Affairs has already set an encouraging
example for Sweden to be followed by Britain.”

Speaking of the Turkish-occupied Armenian lands, Kemal wrote: “But
Ankara believes that adoption of such a resolution by the full US House
would have a snowball effect, raising the danger that Armenians will
initiate legal measures seeking land and compensation from Ankara.”

“While awareness of anti-Semitism is fortunately widespread enough
to marginalize those who refuse to acknowledge the Holocaust,
tolerance for anti-Armenian bigotry appears strong enough that it’s
still considered politically acceptable to deny their genocide,”
lamented Zunes.

The U.S. congressional mid-term elections in November is the number
one source for pre-occupation among the incumbent congressional
candidates in battle-ground districts and states.

Armenian Americans and their friends across the nation should move to
politically punish the deniers. Denial of the crime of any genocide –
from Turkish-occupied Western Armenia and Cilicia to Darfur, should
be made politically unaffordable. The neo-cons and their lackeys do
not understand the language of morality. But they readily comprehend
the language of deterrence.

March 26, 2010