Today marks the 92nd anniversary of commencement of the Armenian Genocide. In 1915, the Turkish government systematically slaughtered approximately 1.5 million Armenians. The genocide of the Armenians proved inspirational to Adolf Hitler, who said, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Today, at least one group does not speak of the annihilation of the Armenians: Turkey. Despite overwhelming evidence of their country's crimes against humanity, Turkey denies culpability to this day, to the point of exerting diplomatic pressure against anyone who says otherwise. One politician who has cowered under their pressure is George W. Bush.
George Bush and Dennis Hastert have never supported US recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Speaker Nancy Pelosi does. After the jump, I'll delve into Turkish crimes, their denial, and why it is important Democrats take the lead on remembering the Genocide so it never happens again.
It is estimated that in 1915, there were two million Armenians living under the Ottoman Empire. The "Young Turks"--Mehmet Talaat, Minister of the Interior in 1915 and (eventually) Prime Minister; Ismail Enver, Minister of War, and; Ahmed Jemal, Minister of the Marine and Military Governor of Syria--deported and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Armenians, either through outright killing or internment in concentration camps where predictable conditions led to their deaths.
As the Turks rampaged through the Caucasus (modern day Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and part of Turkey), the Armenians who were spared up to that point faced wholesale butchery. According to a April 29, 1915, New York Times article, "The Turkish government [said] the Red Cross will not be permitted to send surgeons and nurses to the aid of the Armenian people of the Turkish empire." When the Turks were done, some 1.5 million Armenians were murdered.
In his book, An American Physician in Turkey, Clarence Ussher wrote of his missionary experience with the Armenians suffering under the Ottoman Empire. "I speak of what I do know by the witness of my own eyes and ears, my own nerves quivering in sympathy with the torture of the people I have labored for, my own fellowship with their suffering." The eyes of the witnesses saw the atrocity, and to this day, the Turks deny their crimes and do so with the grudging appeasement of the West.
Every April 24th, Congress debates commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. And every year, some external force exerts enough pressure to keep it from happening. Two years ago, Ambassador John Evans lost his job as ambassador to Armenia because he acknowledged that there was a genocide. To this day, the Bush government has no permanent ambassador in Armenia.
This year, things may be different. Speaker Pelosi has long been an advocate of recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Scholars around the world overwhelmingly agree with her and advocates of such an acknowledgement. Prof. Israel W. Charny, the Executive Director or the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem and the Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Genocide has been a leader on this front. When then-Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres opted to appease the Turkish government's denial, Charny fired off a note to him, saying that "as a Jew and an Israeli I am ashamed of the extent to which you have now entered into the range of actual denial of the Armenian Genocide, comparable to denials of the Holocaust."
Under the Bush presidency, we have lost much of our moral standing in the world, perhaps irreparably. But if the harm is reparable, Democrats will have to lead the way. One place to start is to stand up to Turkey and acknowledge their crimes. Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff gets it: "You can essentially sum up the argument against recognition in one word: expediency...I don't see how we can speak with moral authority on the genocide in Darfur if we're unwilling to speak with clarity about the genocide against the Armenians."
On this day of remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, let us hope that Congressman Schiff and others lead us in restoring some of our moral standing and in remembering one of history's most horrendous crimes. If you are willing to contact your Congressman in support of a resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, I humbly ask that you do so.