In New York’s Times Square on Sunday afternoon, Armenians, documentary filmmakers, politicians and historians who refuse to allow the nearly successful genocidal campaign by the Ottoman Turks to be forgotten, gathered to mark the 93rd year of the atrocity and of the Turkish denials.
The two-hour event featured the usual speeches – you know, that quote by Adolph Hitler that no one speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians, the response by Armenian-American writer William Saroyan about the resilience of the Armenian people. Notably, however, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) promised to resurrect the Armenian Genocide resolution in Congress, and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) vowed to derail the appointment of Marie L. Yovanovitch as ambassador to Armenia if she refuses to characterize “the events of 1915” as “genocide” – just as he blocked the appointment of Richard Hoagland for that reason. (BTW, for the 8th year in a row President Bush marked “Armenian Remembrance Day” on April 24th by once again using mealy-mouthed euphemisms - “mass killings and forced exile,” “epic human tragedy” - instead of “genocide.”)
French philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Lévy explains the parallels between the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust (video link), and argues in favor of criminalizing speech that denies either crime against humanity. As an American The Stiletto does not favor such free speech restrictions, but Lévy’s argument offers an illuminating perspective on the crime of genocide. Here is a snippet:
One of the things which characterizes and distinguishes genocide is … at the very moment the criminal act is carried out it already incorporates its own denial. … The Jews know it well and the Armenians knew it before them. For the crime to be perfect it has to be traceless. And for it to be traceless it has to be annihilated even from the memories of the survivors and descendants. … And this is the reason revisionism can rightfully be qualified as the ultimate stage of genocide.
Thus, each time the Turkish government denies the genocide occurred – or portrays the victims as traitors to the Ottoman Empire – their crime against humanity is perpetuated against the survivors and their descendents.
Note: The Stiletto writes about politics and other stuff at The Stiletto Blog, chosen an Official Honoree in the Political Blogs category by the judges of the 12th Annual Webby Awards (the Oscars of the online universe) along with CNN Political Ticker, Swampland (Time magazine) and The Caucus (The New York Times).
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12 users commented in " Armenian Genocide: Denying The Undeniable "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThanks Stiletto your writing on this subject is appreciated.
Thanks for the reporting from someone who couldn’t be there! I don’t agree that genocide denial should be illegal either, since those efforts have painted Armenians as the bad guys trying to end free speech more than it pushed forward the cause of genocide recognition and I believe there should be room for all voices… just those other voices shouldn’t be given the same weight as the truth as unfortunately the media so often loves to strike a balance between the two instead of reporting facts.
Agreed. There is absolutely no equivalence between genocide claims and genocide denial and to have one view “from each side” is the same as negating the genocide claim - a form of media-sanctioned genocide denial. If the media wants to be “fair and balanced” on this issue, they would need to publish 1.5 million genocide claims for EACH genocide denial.
Dear Everybody:
Unfortunately, Genocide is not avoidable. Only way a nation can escape from it is being more powerful from its potential enemies. Therefore, all comments or recognitions by different parties or entities, with all due respect, neither is going to prevent it nor is going to heal the would of the survivors.
Armenians and those who claim have some kind of sympathy for them should support Armenian nation in meaningful ways rather than only cry for them.
Hello Azatzenkian,
Nobody is crying for anyone. The bigger picture is the human tragedy, in this case the Armenians.
I believe your comment suggests the inevitability of States who commit genocide against others.
We can argue that Germany’s problems could have been prevented from within before they became an international menace. Most Germans within the Country became active and excepted ruthlessness and a facist State which lead up to genocide.
Internationally we can detect early warnings of genocide and it usually happens within a state not against an opposing state.
Working against hate and racism may help stop genocide before it starts.
To reply from your opinion I would have to say genocide is avoidabe! What type of madness do humans live in when mass killing is exceptable?
You forgot to mention how the Israeli lobby here in the US fights relentlessly the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide. This includes phony organizations like the ADL & AJC. Apparently the Holocaust is the only genocide approved. And since the US does ONLY what Israel wants, then the Armenian Genocide will only be a ‘tragedy’.
Genocide is usually state sponsered. Therefore comdemnation should be state sponsered as well. Unfortunatly genocide will occur again.
Let us reevaluate Armenia’s persistence on the word ‘genocide’ from a different perspective:
Armenia’s attitude towards Turkey’s land integrity: Article 11 of the Armenian Declaration of Independence of August 23, 1990; refers to Eastern Anatolia of Turkey as Western Armenia and as such beholds that this area is part of Armenia. Since the Armenian constitution recognizes as a basis “the fundamental principles of the Armenian statehood and national aspirations engraved in the Declaration of Independence of Armenia”, it likewise accepts the characterization of Eastern Anatolia as Western Armenia and this, albeit indirectly, translates into the advancement of territorial claims. The Armenian politicians and school books call Eastern Anatolia of Turkey, ‘invaded mother land of Armenia’ and in Armenia the school children are being grown up being conditioned to be patriots to rescue their invaded land. Even the marches they sing are about this condition. The Armenians who write in such blogs that the Eastern Anatolia cities do not belong to Turkey, as if the present Eastern boundaries of Turkey was not determined by treaties of Gumru (1920), Moscow (1921) and the whole boundaries by Lausanne (1923) Treaties; after the Turkish Freedom War.
Additionally Armenia refused Turkey’s recurrent offers to commit an agreement declaring that each country recognizes the other country’s land integrity, in 1992 and later.
Why do the Armenians force Turkey to accept a genocide? The answer is hidden in a speech of the chief of Dashnak Party Hrant Markaryan who told that their efforts for the recognition of Armenian (so-called) genocide was not an isolated purpose but it was a part of the struggle for rescue of the West Armenia (Armenian Forum Vol2 No 4; Armenian Weekly On-line, 18 June, 4 July 2003). The Armenian then prime minister Andranik Markaryan told that the internationally recognition of (so called) Armenian genocide and demanding land from Ankara as ‘compensation’ was possible only after Armenia had strengthened and the Armenians should not have told that they demanded land from Ankara loudly and everywhere (Arminfo 26 May 2004). On one occasion President Kocharian stated that since today’s Armenia does not have the clout to advance such demands, doing so should be left to future generations at a time when conditions would hopefully be better suited to this end’. A poll taken in Armenia revealed that almost all youngsters in the Republic of Armenia wished to follow up with land claims from Turkey and 90% of them said Turkey must unequivocally accept genocide allegations. (Milliyet - April 11, 2006)
The world should not forget that Germany’s claim on Zudetland and Gdansk just because they were its historical lands caused burst of World War II! History is full of wars which broke up because of claims of states on their historical lands. If an item like the aforementioned Armenian item were present in the lawbook of Mexico claiming that Texas, Arizonna, New Mexico and California which were historical lands of Mexico, belonged to Mexico but invaded, would the American tolerate it?
Therefore the world should not overlook Armenia’s aggressivity, which is hidden behind their role of victim and should think about the price of their support to the Armenians very well.
The documents the Armenians present to prove that genocide occurred consists of many forgeries. For example:
1) The number of Armenians who were relocated:
The number of the Armenians who were relocated was reported as 600-700 thousand by Boğos Nubar Pasha who attended to the talks of Sevres Treaty as a chief of Armenians. However the number of relocated Armenians is given as 1.5 million by some Armenian sources and 2 and even 2.5 million by some others.
2) Aram Andonian’s book (The telegrams which were claimed to have been sent by Talat Pasha to order the massacre of the Armenians which were pressed in the book of Aram Andonian in 1920, in three languages): It was proven by both the Turkish and foreign historians that these telegrams were fake too.
After these telegrams were published in Daily Telegraph in England, in 1922, the English Foreign Ministry made a scrutiny and denounced that they were prepared by an Armenian association.
3) Diary of American Ambassador Morgenthau published in 1918. Professor Heath Lowry, an American historian from Princeton University displayed that the events depicted in the book depended on lies or half true events, by comparing the information Ambassador Morgenthau sent to American Foreign Ministry, with those written in the diary, in his book entitled ‘The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story’, in 1990 .
4) The cover photograph of the book of Tessa Hoffmann: Tessa Hoffmann printed the painting of Russian artist Vasili Vereshchagin depicting a mass of skulls which was painted in 1871, as if it were the photograph of 1915 Armenian genocide, in the cover of his book and had to admit his forgery during the trial of Doğu Perinçek held in Switzerland in March 2007, in which he was listened as a wittness.
Aylin Ata your perspectives loose credibility when you realize many people throughout the world including non-Armenians, educated Turks know the truth of the Ottoman Turkish genocide against innocent Armenians.
In reading your opinion anyone can realize that this issue has been public knowledge for over 75 years before Armenia’s Declaration of independence in 1990.
Also cherry picking some statement from Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan speech does not speak for supporters of Armenian genocide acknowlegment throughout the world.
There is no alterior motive for public recognition of the Armenian genocide. It was clearly an inhumane act to the minority people in Ottoman Turkey, and should be rightfully acknowledged.
You seem to warn readers from support of Armenians when in-fact it is simply support for humanity more-so any ethnic group.
There is only one perspective and no alterior motives for proper genocide acknowlegment, thinking the contrary only puts you in the “role of denier”.
Because of the following reasons the events which took place during the World War I between the Turks and Armenians can not be considered as genocide:
1) After the Ottoman State was defeated in the 1st World War in 1918, the French and English arrested 144 high level Ottoman veteran or civil officials including the ex-prime ministers, ex-deputies, governors and many newspapermen, and banished them to Malta Island, assuming their guilt for the death of Armenians. However, the English High Commissary could not find any reliable evidence against these officials, neither in the English nor in Ottoman Archives. In chief of the Ottoman Archives was an Armenian official . Lord Curzon asked help of American government. Sir A.Geddes, Washington Ambassador of England reported on July 13, 1921 that his cooperative study with the American Foreign Ministry on all the reports of the American ambassadors about the Armenians’ death unfortunately revealed no proof against the Turkish prisoners in Malta’. Therefore, no indictment could be prepared and the English Royal Attorney-General could not bring suit. So, the Malta prisoners all had to be made free in 1921. Note also that all the proofs that the Armenians still present to support genocide thesis including the diary of Ambassador Morgenthau, the telegrams of Aram Andonian and others were published long before these trials. But, the English and French invaders and the Americans did not accept them reliable and therefore looked for real evidences.
2) When the deportation were under way, the Armenians of the big cities were exempted, İstanbul, İzmir, Aleppo, where there were a great population of Armenians lived. Additionally, Katholic and Protestan Armenians were also exempted.
3) It is another striking point that in 1916, a new law letting the Armenians return their homes and claim their property was issued.
4) The Ottoman government tried more than 1300 men for not having taken the necessary measures during the migration and convicted many and executed several in 1916, because of the documented and horrible massacres of the deportee columns (Reporting of Talat Pasha published in Berliner Tageblatt Newspaper on 4 May 1916; the order sent to provinces from the Ottoman government dated 1June 1915 from Prime Ministry Ottoman Archieve SHFR, nr 54/9)
5) Not all the historians support the genocide thesis.
6) The Armenians performed hundreds of revolts against the Ottomans, being organized by Armenian committees Hınchak and Dashnak and inflicted horrible massacres upon the Turks and Muslims, beginning late 19.century. 527 000 Turks were slayed by Armenian volunteers in the Russian Army.
7)In 1915, there were 16 Armenian senators in the Ottoman senate. The Ottoman ministry of commerse and ambassador to England were Armenian till 1914. The Ottomans offered a chair to Armenian Bogos Nubar Pasha who later joined the talks of Sevres Treaty as the representative of the Armenians, but he did not accept.
Holocaust was proven before the Nuremburg Tribunal with the trappings of due process, not by the parliaments. Why did the Armenians not bring their genocide allegation before the International Court of Justice?
The answer is simple: Because they know that their thesis is not supported by historical facts and the documents they have presented to public consists of forgeries. It is also because of this that they fiercefully reject discussing the issue in a joint commission composed of Turkish, Armenian historians and additionally historians from other nations. Instead they lobby and urge parliamentary assemblies to recognize the so-called genocide.
Is it not striking that Brian Ardouny of the Armenian Assembly of America has recently announced ‘We don’t need to prove the genocide historically, because it has already been accepted politically’’? And is it not also striking that the director of the Armenian Archives replied the director of Turkish Archives who suggested to examine both the Armenian and Turkish Archives jointly, that they did not care of the archives but all they cared of was what the world thought?
And I wonder how long the world will go on being blind and deaf!
The previous posts of genocide deniers are not new and easily refutable.
Calling most all of the international community who advocate human rights on this issue “blind and deaf” does little else then polarize yourselves from everyone else.
Keep up the good work, if Ataturk, Hitler, and the Nazi Party was alive they would be proud.
I lost 61 members of my family in the district of Mardin, Turkey, in 1915. Some of their children (my grandfather ans his two cousins) told me that our family (11 great uncles) was decimated by the Turks. the city of Mardin was far away from the Battle zones. Why did the Turks relocated the Armenians in Kutahya, Bursa, Konia, instead they send them to the desert to die?
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