The recent flotilla massacre committed in international waters has called attention to larger issues that impact the relations between Israel and Turkey. One of these issues is the Armenian genocide. Four professors, three in Israel and one in the United States, have called on the State of Israel to officially recognize the Armenian genocide after years of refusing to do so.
From Yeshiva World News:
As Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues playing the world’s champion of human rights, four professors from Bar Ilan and Georgetown Universities have sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu seeking official Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide and an official call to Turkey to bring an end to its occupation of Cyprus.
Signing the letter are Professors Yossi Katz, David Tzuriel, and Yaakov Katz, all from Bar Ilan and Dr. Ofir Yisraeli from Georgetown.
In the letter, they decry Turkey’s "hypocrisy", pointing out that despite the many agreements signed between Israel and Turkey, the latter is rapidly become an adversary of Israel.
The academics feel that over the years, Israel has refrained from addressing the slaughter of Armenians during World War I and immediately thereafter, opting to place strategic ties with Turkey over doing the correct thing, but now, Israel can indeed adopt a morally commendable position towards compelling Turkey to accept responsibility for its actions.
In recent weeks there has been a surge of activity related to the genocide, which took place between 1915 and 1918. The Armenian National Institute maintains a very good FAQ and outlines of the genocide on their website. Unfortunately, while it is a very valuable resource, they do not permit copying, and linking is discouraged unless the website is a nonprofit. So I will not be using them as a source here.
I recently purchased, an I am about halfway through, an account of the genocide by Taner Akçam, a Turkish dissident and sociologist and for a period worked for the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota. The book, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility, is available at Amazon. With the publication of his first book and earlier account of the genocide, he became the first scholar of Turkish origin to publish on the topic:
In 2007, the Armenian Bar Association presented the Hrant Dink Freedom Award to Taner Akçam as "a champion of historical truth about the Armenian Genocide and for his courageous defense of liberty and free speech." He has also been honored by the Harvard University Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations as well as the Massachusetts State Legislature. In a mayoral proclamation of April 24, 2005, marking the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the city of Rochester, Minnesota, commended the work of Taner Akçam and other like-minded Turkish scholars as "a vital step toward truth, justice, and reconciliation."
From his Clark University faculty profile.
His book, which is so far very good, places the Armenian genocide within the context of an emergent Turkish nationalism and the decline of the Ottoman Empire. He uses Ottoman, European and American sources to show that the campaign against the Armenians was not the result of the First World War and general disorganized mayhem, as is often claimed by those who deny it, but the product of a deliberate state-sponsored program of mass extermination.
The Armenian Mirror Spectator reported on May 31 that a signature gathering coalition had collected over ten thousand signatures in support of US recognition of the genocide:
A petition campaign created by a coalition of Boston-area Jewish and Armenian groups and community members has surpassed its original goal of 10,000 signatures and continues to gain support. The online petition, hosted by Change.org, urges US officials to stand up to Turkey’s multi-million dollar campaign of genocide denial, specifically calling on Congress and President Obama to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. While the organizers are based in Boston, the petition has spread throughout the country, reaching every state and hundreds of cities.
"When you look at the diversity of those who signed the petition, it is clear that there is a strong demand by Americans throughout the country that the United States recognize the Armenian Genocide. It demonstrates that this is not simply an Armenian issue, but a powerful call to align America’s foreign policy with human rights and historical truth," said coalition Co-Chair Laura Boghosian.
The petition’s letter to members of Congress and President Obama states, "As we confront the specter of genocide and its denial in the 21st century, our government has a duty to ensure that the lessons of the past are not forgotten. The time is long overdue for the United States to stand up to Turkish pressure and join the 43 individual U.S. states and numerous countries and international bodies that have affirmed the Armenian Genocide."
There was a congressional effort to recognize the Armenian genocide in 2007, over objections from the White House and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates:
The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the bill Wednesday despite intense lobbying by Turkish officials and opposition from President Bush. The vote was a triumph for well-organized Armenian-American interest groups who have lobbied Congress for decades to pass a resolution. The administration will now try to pressure Democratic leaders in Congress not to schedule a vote, although it is expected to pass.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterated his opposition to the resolution Thursday, saying the measure could hurt relations at a time when U.S. forces in Iraq rely heavily on Turkish permission to use their airspace for U.S. air cargo flights.
While many will no doubt conclude that the recent interest in recognizing the Armenian genocide is solely the result of the Israeli flotilla massacre, I don't really believe that it matters. If the Israeli government and its supporters have an incentive to relax their opposition to international and US recognition of this crime, that itself is a good, even if their purpose is to punish the modern state of Turkey. President Obama supports recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and last year he issued a statement in support of recognition and reconciliation:
Ninety four years ago, one of the great atrocities of the 20th century began. Each year, we pause to remember the 1.5 million Armenians who were subsequently massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire. The Meds Yeghern must live on in our memories, just as it lives on in the hearts of the Armenian people.
History, unresolved, can be a heavy weight. Just as the terrible events of 1915 remind us of the dark prospect of man’s inhumanity to man, reckoning with the past holds out the powerful promise of reconciliation. I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed. My interest remains the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts.
I particularly like the beginning of the second paragraph: "History, unresolved, can be a heavy weight." Regardless of the motivations for a renewed focus on this dark page of history, the path to reconciliation begins with recognition. If there is any unqualified good that can come from the death of the flotilla peace activists, we should welcome it.