Armenian Genocide Denied and Remembered

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright April 25, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

               Forced to deal with one of the great crimes of the 20th Century, Armenian Remembrance Day commemorates the systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Young Turks regime during and after WW I [1915-1923].  Calling the event “one of the worst atrocities of the 20th Century,” President Barack Obama stopped short of labeling the massacre a “genocide,” something vehemently rejected by the current Turkish government.  Events surrounding the Armenian genocide have been well documented, beginning April 24, 1915 when the Young Turk military rounded up some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople suspected of ties to Russia’s Marxist Bolshevik revolution, leading them on a death march into the Syrian desert, depriving them of food and water.  Young Turks continued the Armenian massacre through 1923.

            “We honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who were brutally massacred or marched to their death in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire,” Barack read from a prepared statement, stopping short of labeling the event “genocide.”  Coined by Polish Jewish legal scholar Raphael Lemkin [1900-1959] in 1944 following the Nazi extermination of European Jews, the term genocide designates the “destruction of a nation or an ethnic group,” something akin to wiping out social, cultural, political and religious institutions.  Lemkin’s first definition in 1933 to the League of Nations included “a crime of barbarity,” citing the Ottoman Turks slaughter of Armenians during and after WW I.  Lemkin’s definition surfaced in Count 3 at the Nuremberg Trials of 24 Nazi war criminals, specifying defendants “conducted deliberate and systematic genocide—namely, the extermination of racial and national groups.”

            Today’s quibbling about the definition of what happened to Armenians at the hands of the Young Turk regime, as Lemkin defined it, qualifies as genocide.  Nothing met Lemkin’s evolving definition better than the Nazi “Final Solution” involving the systematic, technologically precise extermination of European Jews.  Whether or not the Ottoman Turks used gas chambers or crematoria is not necessary to qualify as genocide.  “A full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts is in all of our interests.  Moving forward with the future cannot be done without reckoning with the facts of the past,” said Obama, stopping short of calling the Ottoman Armenian massacre genocide.  Twenty-one countries, including Canada, Sweden and Argentina, and 43 U.S. states, including California, recognize the Ottoman Armenian massacre as genocide.  Dishonesty by the U.S. government is shameful.

            As a candidate in 2008, Obama was emphatic about recognizing the Armenian genocide.  “My firm conviction that the Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence,” said Barack in 2008.  His failure to call the 1915-23 massacre a genocide today mirrors the politically correct culture more concerned about political fallout than historical reality.  If Turkey breaks off diplomatic relations with the U.S. quibbling over words then it’s their call.  Turkey’s Washington ambassador Namik Tan threatened draconic consequences should the U.S. officially recognize the Armenian genocide.  “As president, I will recognize the Armenian genocide,” said Obama in 2008.  His remarks today infuriated the Armenian community, tired of more excuses by U.S. officials.

            U.S. officials must finally heed Obama’s words in 2008:  “The facts are undeniable.  An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy,” said Obama, unwilling to compromise Turkey’s key logistical role as a supply chain to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  Instead of disgracing Raphael Lemkin, Obama must rethink his position and stop placating a recognized NATO ally.  U.S. officials can fashion a resolution that acknowledges the Ottoman genocide of Armenians by specifying clearly that the Ottoman regime no longer has any ties with Turkey’s present government.  With Armenians commemorating their Day of Remembrance, it’s high time for the president and U.S. Congress to set the historical record straight.  No matter how much it offends Turkey and no matter what the repercussions, the president and Congress must act in good conscience.

             Mincing words on Armenian Genocide Day, Obama disappointed the Armenian community.  Obama’s words “represent the very opposite of the principled and honest change he promised Armenian Americans and to all the citizens of your nation,” said Armenian National Committee of American Chairman Ken Hachikian.  With Jews gaining full recognition for the WW II Nazi genocide, it’s high time for the U.S. government to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.  When Jews around the world experience pain of Holocaust denial, they should find genocide denial by their own government equally reprehensible.  Leading the banner for human rights around the globe, the U.S. government must step up and once-and-for-all officially recognize the Armenian genocide.  No amount of denial can heal the wounds of genocide, especially by the President of the United States.

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