Azat Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 EDITORIAL It was genocide March 22, 2006 JOHN EVANS IS THE U.S. ambassador to Armenia, as of this writing. But he probably won't be for long. Evans, a career diplomat who was selected to receive an American Foreign Service Assn. award last year for his frank public speaking, irked his superiors at the State Department by uttering the following words at UC Berkeley in February 2005: "I will today call it the Armenian genocide." For that bit of truth-telling, Evans was forced to issue a clarification, then a correction, then to endure having his award rescinded under pressure from his bosses, and finally to face losing his job altogether. What happened in Armenia in 1915 is well known. The Ottoman Empire attempted to exterminate the Armenian population through slaughter and mass deportation. It finished half the job, killing about 1.2 million people. Yet the State Department has long avoided the word "genocide," not out of any dispute over history but out of deference to Turkey, whose membership in NATO and location between Europe and Asia make it a strategic ally. It is time to stop tiptoeing around this issue and to accept settled history. Genocide, according to accepted U.N. definition, means "the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." Armenia is not even a borderline case. Punishing an ambassador for speaking honestly about a 90-year-old crime befits a cynical, double-dealing monarchy, not the leader of the free world. Turks point out that their Ottoman ancestors considered it treason to side with Russia at the outbreak of World War I, as many Armenians did. But the massacres were also fueled by Muslim animosity toward a Christian minority. When then-U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morganthau protested the bloodletting, he received a telling response from Mehmed Talaat, the interior minister in charge of the anti-Armenian campaign. "Why are you so interested in Armenians anyway? You are a Jew, these people are Christians," Talaat said. "Why can't you let us do with these Christians as we please?" For Armenians who escaped the killing and came to this country, inadequate recognition of their history is crazy-making. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), whose district includes the heart of the Armenian diaspora, keeps introducing a bill to officially recognize the genocide, only to see congressional leadership quash it each year, under pressure from the State Department. Some nations, thankfully, are stepping where Congress fears to tread. The European Parliament last year passed a nonbinding resolution asking that Turkey acknowledge the genocide as a precondition for joining the European Union. The Turkish government, typically, was infuriated, yet it still desperately wants to join the EU. One day, the country that was founded as a direct repudiation of its Ottoman past will face its history squarely, as part of a long-overdue maturing process. Some day before then, we hope, the State Department will too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azat Posted March 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 LETTERS Viewpoints differ on genocide vs. massacre March 26, 2006 Re "It was genocide," editorial, March 22 Your unambiguous restatement of the historical fact of the Armenian genocide was a resounding slap of truth on the shamefully pandering face of official complicity. At a time when the value and role of newspapers in the digital age is under debate, The Times has shown us with clarity and courage that integrity remains the defining essence of journalism. JOHN SHAHABIAN Sacramento • It's astonishing that Turks point to treason, as many Armenians sided with Russia at the outbreak of World War I while Turkey sided with Germany. Turkey also maintained warm relations with Germany during World War II and only switched sides at the end of the war. Regardless, it is absurd to reason genocide, even if some Armenians had indeed sided with Russia. BERGE JOLOLIAN Cambridge, Mass. • Your editorial not only accepts a one-sided perspective of history, it maligns those who hold a different point of view. Many scholars and historians expert in the region's history disagree on how these events should be viewed. Turkey has pursued the facts surrounding this period through collaborative efforts, opening its Ottoman archives to researchers. Turkish scholars have tried to work with their Armenian counterparts to seek a common understanding of the period. And in 2005, Turkey's prime minister issued an unprecedented proposal to Armenia's president for an impartial study of the matter by Turkish and Armenian historians, the results of which will be shared with the international community. A. ENGIN ANSAY Consul General of Turkey Los Angeles • With respect to the tragic events of 1915, one should consider the backdrop of World War I and a crumbling, multiethnic Ottoman Empire. It was a tumultuous time, during which communities committed unspeakable massacres toward each other. The missing point in allegations of genocide by the Armenians and friends is the key element for such massacres to be qualified as genocide: the intent. The intention of the Ottoman state to annihilate the Armenians in the relocations has never been proved. Armenians desperately produced forged documents attributed to the Ottoman authorities. Armenians were a political group because they revolted and joined arms with the invading Russians. Maybe next time you could be less partisan and more objective and give a line or two to the other side of the story. UFUK GEZER Ankara, Turkey • We need to rightly consider the massacre of the Armenians by the Turks as the first holocaust of the 20th century. As the merchant class of the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians were not only dispossessed of their wealth, businesses and lands, but thousands of Armenian men were taken away and executed while women and children were sold into bondage and slavery. There may not have been any cameras to record these terrible events, but in the little killing field of Margada and the riverbeds of towns like Mus, mass graves are yielding up their dark secrets. It is time for Turkey to come clean. SAEEDA WALI MOHAMMED Los Angeles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yervant1 Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 The Turks are so quick to label LA Times partisan with one pro Genocide issue, when for years they used the "alleged" or "so called Genocide". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.