Israel's Armenian Genocide recognition dilemma, truth or political

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Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Oct 17 2022

 

Armenia has had few Jews and a poor relationship with Israel. That could be changing.

BY LARRY LUXNER OCTOBER 17, 2022

YEREVAN, Armenia (JTA) — Just outside a remote village two hours’ drive east of Yerevan, in a clearing reachable only by hiking down a steep embankment and crossing a rickety wooden bridge, looms a remarkable sight: a blue metal gate decorated with a Star of David that guards the entrance to one of the world’s most unusual Jewish cemeteries.

Here, in a pastoral setting disturbed only by the chirping of birds and the rushing waters of the Yeghegis River, lie 64 complete tombstones and fragments of others dating from 1266 to 1346. Their inscriptions, written in both Hebrew and Aramaic, have been studied by scholars for years.

Rimma Varzhapetyan, chair of the Armenian Jewish community, at her Yerevan office. (Larry Luxner)

Among them is the epitaph of a young Jewish boy that reflects the profound grief of his parents: “Your dead [shall live], corpses shall rise, awake and sing for joy, O dwellers in the dust! For [your dew] is a radiant dew.”

The medieval cemetery, rarely visited these days and in an obvious state of neglect, is nevertheless proof that a Jewish community has long existed and even flourished in Armenia — home of the biblical Noah’s Ark and the world’s first Christian nation.

That community is today among the smallest of the 15 republics that, until 1991, formed the Soviet Union — although it has swelled in recent months, if only temporarily, with Jews fleeing Russia. In addition, even as Israel is home to the oldest Armenian diaspora community and Jerusalem’s Old City boasts an Armenian quarter, Armenia’s relationship with Jews and Israel is difficult, both for historical reasons and because Israel is a key ally of Armenia’s archenemy, Azerbaijan.

Rimma Varzhapetyan, 74, chairs the Yerevan-based Jewish Community of Armenia. Her organization, which has been around for 25 years, occupies a small office on the ground floor of an institute for deaf and mute people.

Varzhapetyan took issue with a 2019 poll by the Pew Research Center, in which 32% of Armenian respondents said they wouldn’t accept Jews as fellow citizens — the highest percentage of any of the 18 European countries included in the survey.

“There is no antisemitism in Armenia,” said the Russian-speaking Varzhapetyan, who was born in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region but has lived in Armenia for the last 52 years. “It’s true that our economy isn’t that developed, so many Jews — scientists, doctors, journalists and others — made aliyah. Today, there isn’t much religious life, but we do try to celebrate all the Jewish holidays.”

After the Soviet collapse, about 15,000 Armenian Jewish families emigrated to Israel, she said, and these days, the Maryland-size country of about 3 million is home to around 280 Jewish families, though it’s hard to say for sure since the country’s few Jews are mostly intermarried.

Varzhapetyan’s numbers are far more optimistic than those of Rabbi Gershon Burshteyn, the spiritual leader of Yerevan’s Mordechay Navi Jewish Religious Center of Armenia since 1996.

Burshteyn, a locally born Orthodox Jew with a striking resemblance to Tevye the Dairyman — he even speaks with a Yiddish accent — said most Jews here are from families that arrived after World War II from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Uzbekistan and, to a lesser extent, Azerbaijan.

Rabbi Gershon Burshteyn, spiritual leader of the Mordechay Navi Jewish Religious Center of Armenia, seen outside the center he leads. (Larry Luxner)

“Before the 1920s, there were two Jewish communities here: one from Poland and one from Iran. At the time, they made up 17% of the population of Yerevan,” said Burshteyn, 60. “But during the Armenian genocide of 1915, there were rumors that the Russian Army would hand Yerevan to the Turks, so the Persian Jews went back to Iran.”

Today, he said, no more than 100 to 200 of Armenia’s 2.9 million inhabitants are Jews; nearly all of them live in Yerevan, except for a handful in Vanadzor, Armenia’s third-largest city. But those numbers are confusing, since at least 500 Armenians would qualify for aliyah under Israel’s 1953 Law of Return, meaning they have at least one Jewish grandparent.

On the other hand, because intermarriage is so prevalent here, only 20 or so Armenians are the offspring of Jewish mothers and fathers, according to Burshteyn.

No more than 25 people attend Shabbat services, and the worshippers are almost all 45 years of age or older. Kosher meat is available thanks to a schochet, or ritual slaughterer, who visits once or twice a month from Tbilisi — the capital of neighboring Georgia — while Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services attract about 100 people.

Ida Zilman, 71, is a painter and designer who teaches arts and crafts at a local primary school. Her father, a Ukrainian Jew from Odessa, was seriously wounded while fighting for the Soviet Red Army, and in 1944 he was demobilized and sent to the Caucasus to work as a geologist.

“He helped establish the metallurgy industry in Armenia, and it was here that he met my mom,” said Zilman, a grandmother who attends synagogue services on Jewish holidays. With her late husband, she also visited Israel, where she has a stepsister in Ashdod.

“I adore Israel, but I feel comfortable here in Armenia,” she said. “There are rumors that it’s antisemitic, but that’s not true. When I tell people I’m Jewish, they smile.”

Six years ago, Israel issued a stamp commemorating the famed French-Armenian crooner Charles Aznavour, his parents and his sister Aida, all of whom had sheltered Jews at their home during World War II. In addition, dozens of other Armenians across Europe who protected or saved Jewish lives are honored at Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

However, those warm feelings are not universal, cautions Ilya Dorfman, a software entrepreneur in his early 50s who lived in Moscow, Toronto, San Francisco and New York before deciding to return to his native Armenia.

“Sometimes, I speak with young people here and they have the idea that Jews are always against Armenians. But it never translates into hatred against the Jews,” he said. “It’s certainly not anything like the antisemitism I felt when I lived in Russia, or even Ukraine after independence.”

Much of the ill will that exists between Armenia and Israel stems from Israel’s extensive military support of oil-rich Azerbaijan, with which Armenia has fought numerous wars over the Nagorno Karabakh region claimed by both former Soviet states. Fighting raged from 1988 to 1994, claiming the lives of 16,000 Azerbaijanis and 4,000 Armenians.

The long-simmering conflict exploded into war again in late 2020. Azerbaijan — led by President Ilham Aliyev and heavily aided by Turkey and Israel — eventually recaptured the 20% of its territory it had lost to Armenia in 1994. (Azerbaijan’s forces included soldiers from that country’s Jewish population of about 8,000.)

Last month, renewed border skirmishes between the two countries left nearly 300 people dead on both sides, with predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan and largely Christian Armenia trading accusations of genocide and human-rights atrocities.

“The fact is that Israel supplied weapons to this criminal gangster Aliyev and his brainwashed elite. He gave medals to soldiers who cut off the heads of Armenian and Yazidi soldiers,” Dorfman said. “You wouldn’t believe how many letters we wrote from the Jewish community here exposing what really happened. But in Israel, this is not a very popular subject.”

Artiom Chernamorian, founder of a nonprofit group called Nairi Union of Armenians in Petah Tikva, Israel, says he’s disgusted with official Israeli policy toward the country of his birth — as well as Israel’s alliance with Azerbaijan.

“Israel has so much money for NGOs around the world, but not even one shekel to support the Jewish community of Armenia. It’s a shame,” said Chernamorian, who made aliyah 20 years ago. “Why is Israel — a nation that suffered genocide — helping an Islamic dictator kill Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh? We all know he’s a killer, and Azerbaijan is definitely not a democracy.”

Armenians also deeply resent the fact that Israel refuses to officially recognize the Ottoman slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 as a genocide, for fear of offending Turkey — with which it reestablished diplomatic relations this year after a long hiatus.

At the entrance to Yerevan’s Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex, visitors are greeted with a quote from Adolf Hitler, who, one week before his 1939 invasion of Poland, said, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

One man working hard to improve Israeli-Armenian relations is Achot Chakhmouradian.

Since 2013, Chakhmouradian has been Israel’s honorary consul in Yerevan. His office, on the second floor of his family-owned auto dealership, is decorated with framed certificates in Hebrew and Armenian, along with his pet python, which he keeps in an enormous glass tank.

“Our two countries have so much in common,” says Chakhmouradian, who’s not Jewish. “Both are landlocked and surrounded by Muslim countries. And we are both ancient people with modern tragedies — the Armenian genocide of 1915 and the Holocaust. As a consequence, we have large communities abroad, but the Armenian diaspora is even bigger than the Jewish one.”

Chakhmouradian said that in 2018, following a change of government in Armenia, his country finally decided to open an embassy in Tel Aviv, and relations flourished, with high-level visits and an active interparliamentary friendship group. But two years later — when war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan — the ambassador was recalled in protest over Israel’s weapons sales to the Baku government.

“In my opinion, that was not the right decision,” he said. “Israel is not the only country selling weapons. For example, Russia is a much bigger ally of Armenia, and they were also selling weapons to both sides.”

Portrait of Armenian Ceramics artist Vic Lepejian in his shop in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, Oct. 3, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Chakhmouradian said nearly 180,000 Israelis visited Georgia in 2019, before the pandemic hit; that same year, Armenia received barely 5,000 tourists. While there are more Israelis with ties to Georgia than Armenia, Chakhmouradian said he was optimistic that the number of tourists to Armenia could increase dramatically with direct flights from Tel Aviv to Yerevan — a flying time of less than two and a half hours.

Things may be looking up, in fact. In April, Israeli president Isaac Herzog met Arman Akopian, Armenia’s new ambassador to Israel, who presented his credentials and signed the official guest book in unusually fluent Hebrew. The two men then discussed the 1,700-year-old history of the Armenian community in Israel and affinities between the two peoples.

In addition, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s recent mobilization of reserves to fight that war has led tens of thousands of Russian citizens to emigrate to Armenia, one of the only places where they can still travel easily. That includes at least 450 Jews who have taken up residence in Yerevan, according to Rabbi Burshteyn — dramatically boosting the size of the local Jewish community, even if only temporarily.

And on Oct. 6, Azerbaijan’s Aliyev met informally with Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — marking the first top-level talks between the Turkish and Armenian leaders in decades. That follows Erdoğan’s recent rapprochement with Israel and the resumption of diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey.

“There’s a huge Armenian presence in the Old City of Jerusalem, and many Armenians want to visit Israel on pilgrimage. But nobody wants to lose a whole day traveling,” Chakhmouradian said. “If there were direct flights, I’m sure some of these tourists could also become businessmen or potential investors. The potential is enormous.”

https://www.jta.org/2022/10/17/global/armenia-has-had-few-jews-and-a-poor-relationship-with-israel-that-could-be-changing

[Yervant1]

The Times of Israel

Dec 23 2022

When State Interests Trump Antisemitism

by David Davidian

The two-decade mayor of the capital of an ally of Israel stated (pg 50) the following in 2005 to a municipal delegation from Bavaria, Germany,

“Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You, Nazis, already eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 40s, right? You should be able to understand us.”

And further, if that mayor was promoted to deputy foreign minister between 2018 and 2019, what might the outrage be? It was none! Hajibala Abutalybov, the former mayor of Baku, Azerbaijan, and eventual deputy foreign minister, made this statement.

In a prelude, consider the following from the Azerbaijani International Magazine, August 1999, page 24,

“It wasn’t long until Hitler started looking for someone to represent him in the Transcaucasian region. He couldn’t find anyone suitable among the Armenians or Georgians but had heard that Rasulzade was highly educated and cultured.”

Mammad Amin Rasulzade was a leader in forming the 1918 Azerbaijani Republic. He fled after the Soviet Red Army absorbed Azerbaijan in 1920.

In May 1942, Rasulzade participated in meetings between Nazis and representatives of Caucasian Muslim emigres and actively recruited legionnaires for the German Wehrmacht from among Azerbaijani POWs.

The efforts of Rasulzade and Soviet Azerbaijani military defectors such as Major Abdurrahman Fatalibeyli, the eventual leader of the Azerbaijani Nazi Legion and head of the Azerbaijani National Committee in Berlin, were significant. So much so that the Azerbaijani soldiers of the Aserbaidschanische Feld-Bataillon I./111 participated in suppressing the August 1944 Warsaw Uprising that killed an estimated 40,000 civilians.

A major street in the Azerbaijani capital is named after Rasulzade. Azerbaijani postage stamps were issued in honor of Rasulzade. The 1993 and 1999 thousand Azerbaijani manat bills have an image of Rasulzade. Several statues in honor of Rasulzade are scattered across Azerbaijan. Any reaction or outrage anywhere? None!

Interestingly, nothing is made of this Azerbaijani hero worship. Yet, a few Jewish and many Azerbaijani writers note the role of the Armenian Garegin Ndhdeh during WWII, blindly quoting bogus Turkish references.

Garegin Nzhdeh worked with the Germans to circumvent the Turks from invading the Caucasus upon joining the German-Axis side during WWII, which the Turks would have done if the Nazis were winning. Nzhdeh helped prevent Nazi racial laws from going into effect against Armenians. The Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg referred to the Armenians and Jews as “the peoples of the wastes.” In a declaration by the German High Command, “the Armenians were even worse than the Jews.” The former in Der Mythus des Zwanzigsten Jahrunderts (Munich 1930, p. 213), the latter in The Myth of the Master Race: Alfred Rosenberg and Nazi Ideology (Robert Cecil, London, 1972, p. 200).

Although antisemitism is real, some of it appears tolerated when state interests override its elimination. Israel’s support for Azerbaijani irredentism, as expressed in the current war of words between Baku and Tehran, is an example of state interests trumping societal ethos. One could repeat the adage that racism ignored is racism encouraged, but they know that in Baku.

Yerevan, Armenia

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/when-state-interests-trump-antisemitism/

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Truth is Stranger Than Fiction: Israel’s

Ambassador to Azerbaijan is an Armenian

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

 

When I first heard that Israel’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan, George Deek, is an Armenian, I thought that it can’t be true. However, I was astonished to find out that it was correct. As Mark Twain said: “Truth is stranger than fiction!”

Long before he became Israel’s Ambassador to Baku, Deek tweeted: “My father's grandmother's name was Antaraan Hambarian, an Armenian. She is a survivor of the Armenian tragedy of... http://fb.me/2WQnyz9Vu. 8:43 AM. Apr 12, 2015.”

The Facebook link Deek included in his tweet was significant because it referred to an April 12, 2015 article titled: “Turkey angry at pope after ‘genocide’ remarks.” So Deek was aware that there was an Armenian Genocide, his father’s grandmother was a survivor of that Genocide, and her name was Antaraan Hamparian, even though he misspelled her first name which was most probably Antaram.

After Deek became Israel’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan in 2019, several Armenians angrily criticized him for referring to the Armenian Genocide as a ‘tragedy’ in his 2015 tweet. Here are some of the disparaging replies: “Will you survive betrayal of your ancestors?” “She would be proud of you... serving two countries actively denying the very thing that robbed her of her own family,” “Probably she would be greatly ashamed of you,” “Your poor grandmother is turning in her grave, sorry you condone ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and genocide,” “I can’t believe you have Armenian roots! SHAME ON YOU 1,500,000 times then, for SUPPORTING TERRORISTS Azerbaijan and Turkey! IT’S A SHAME FOR US THAT YOU HAVE ARMENIAN BLOOD IN YOUR VEINS!” and “Your great grandmother will spit on your face if she would hear what you say!”

On Sept. 30, 2021, the ANCA (Armenian National Committee of America) posted on its Facebook page: “Most shameful diplomatic appointment in the history of diplomacy. Genocide survivor state Israel sending George Deek (a self-described ethnic Armenian descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors) as its ambassador to Azerbaijan, a country openly working to complete this crime.”

In July 2021, Deek angered Armenians again by tweeting: “Together with the diplomatic corps in Azerbaijan, I had the historic privilege of being the first Israeli Ambassador to visit the remarkable city of Shusha,” a noteworthy Armenian town captured by Azerbaijan during the 2020 war.

In an interview with The Times of Israel on January 13, 2023, Amb. Deek described himself as ‘an Arab and an Israeli.’ His father was an Orthodox Christian of mixed Armenian and Palestinian roots. Here is an excerpt from that interview:

The Times of Israel: “When you meet Azeris and they discover you’re an Arab Christian, what kind of reactions do you get?”

Amb. Deek: “Naturally, it’s surprising and confusing for most Azeris. The sense of surprise is great for helping me explain about the diversity of Israeli society. But frankly, at this point, I’ve stopped correcting them because it gets tiring. It’s still funny when on December 24, they still wish me a Happy Hanukkah rather than Merry Christmas.”

The Times of Israel: “As an Israeli Christian, what’s your perspective on the Armenian community -- which consists mainly of fellow Israeli Christians -- and the challenges they face in Israel, both in connection with the Jerusalem-Baku relationship and with other non-related issues?”

Amb. Deek: “I have deep sympathy for the Armenian community in Israel, and specifically in Jaffa, where I grew up. We share the same faith and many cultural traditions. Many of my friends from school and from youth movements are Armenian. I had teachers who influenced me immensely who are Armenian, and I consider them as close friends.”

On January 5, 2023, the Azeri Caliber.az website quoted Amb. Deek as declaring: “Israel is proposing its assistance to Azerbaijan in the setting up of ‘smart cities’ in Armenian districts occupied by Azerbaijan.”

On January 12, 2023, Amb. Deek was interviewed by Caliber.az on video which was titled, “Beyond the visible: Excavating the depths of Israeli-Azerbaijani ties with Ambassador George Deek.”

In that interview, Amb. Deek made the following alarming statement: “The most important event is when Azerbaijan entered the second Karabakh war and we [israel] have been here standing shoulder to shoulder with our partner and friend Azerbaijan. Our strategic cooperation continued and intensified during that period but also on the humanitarian field. The fact that I took the risk to go to Ganja in the middle of the attacks on the city and to talk to the local community, to meet them, to provide humanitarian support with equipment like basic things from blankets and heaters and so on to people who lost their homes and everything they could. And I think that created also the connection in the hearts, not just in the minds, so I think the second Karabakh war showed Azerbaijan what we mean when we say friend, what we mean when we say partner. For us these are not empty words of diplomats.... These are things that come from the heart and they actually have a strong meaning for us…. Israel’s position has been clear about the Karabakh issue for a long time. Israel supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. It has done so in words and in deeds before the second Karabakh war and after the second Karabakh war.”

He also wrongly added that “practically, the Arab-Israeli conflict is basically over.” Amb. Deek not only does not have respect for his Armenian heritage, he also has no respect for his Palestinian heritage. He must have sold his soul to the devil for his job.

The most astounding aspect of Amb. Deek’s appointment is that Israel’s Foreign Ministry officials sent an envoy with an Armenian background to Azerbaijan! Despite Amb. Deek’s effusive words about Azerbaijan, I doubt whether Pres. Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan fully trust him. In Azerbaijan, they have nothing but hatred and contempt for any Armenian, even those who are partly Armenian.

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Armenia - March 15 2023

Israeli city of Haifa to erect Armenian Genocide memorial

March 15, 2023 - 16:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The city council of the Israeli city of Haifa has unanimously voted for the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the construction of a memorial to the victims in the city.

Haifa has now become the second city in Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide after Petah Tikva (east of Tel Aviv), where a memorial to the victims was erected in April 2020.

The Turkish Ambassador to Israel, meanwhile, has demanded that the country’s government ban the erection of the monument in Haifa.

In a conversation with RUSARMINFO, Israeli political scientist, ex-member of the Knesset Alexander Tsinker said that the Israeli Foreign Ministry has decided to leave the letter of the Turkish ambassador unanswered, as “they had reason to do so”.

Israel has not yet recognized the Armenian Genocide. Despite the fact that a bill on recognition has been repeatedly submitted to the Knesset for consideration, it has always been rejected after lengthy discussions.
https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/306074/Israeli_city_of_Haifa_to_erect_Armenian_Genocide_memorial

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Armenpress.am

Israel’s Haifa inaugurates Armenian Genocide Square

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12:12, 21 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Haifa, the third-largest city in Israel, inaugurated the Armenian Genocide Square on March 20, the Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem (ANCJ) reported.

ANCJ said that the inauguration ceremony took place “despite great pressure from the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv.”

Haifa Mayor Dr. Einat Kalisch-Rotem, City Council members, the Armenian ambassador to Israel Arman Hakobyan, representatives of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, representatives of the ANCJ and members of the Armenian community of Israel and representatives of all various communities of Haifa attended the ceremony.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1106817.html?fbclid=IwAR3Yp4omGmUFVy2-eln_hPPVwaxXTXK0tTtdrey5aE7IKU55Rj9NILamMyI

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The Times of Israel

April 4 2023

Turkey’s feathers ruffled by Haifa’s newly unveiled Armenian Genocide Square The northern city, where many ethnic Armenians live, is the first Israeli municipality to give such recognition to the World War I atrocities

By CANAAN LIDOR

Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem and members of the Armenian Christian community of Haifa during the renaming ceremony of the Armenian Genocide Square in Haifa, Israel on March 20. (Haifa Municipality)

Turkey’s ambassador to Israel has protested the naming of a square for the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Haifa, which last month became the first Israeli city to acknowledge the tragedy in this way.

The initiative “heavily carries the potential of deteriorating these bonds which the peoples and the Governments of Israel and Türkiye wish to improve,” wrote Şakir Özkan Torunlar in a letter, obtained by The Times of Israel Tuesday, to Haifa Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem about the renaming, which took effect on March 20.

As the April 24 anniversary of the genocide approaches, Torunlar’s protest is a reminder of the issue’s sensitivity in the already-complicated relationship between Turkey, a powerful Muslim-majority nation, and Israel, where many feel an affinity to the Armenian experience because of the Holocaust.

Torunlar in his letter demanded the mayor reverse the decision to commemorate the genocide in the name of a square, and reiterated the official line of Turkey, stating that “such an act of genocide has never been committed in the history of the Turkish nation.”

Located along Ben Gurion Avenue in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city and home to about half of the country’s 15,000-odd non-Jewish ethnic Armenians, the inauguration of Armenian Genocide Square marks the second time that an Israeli local government has acknowledged the atrocities. Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, in 2020 unveiled a monument to the victims in what it later named the Charles Aznavour Park, commemorating the late French singer who was of Armenian descent.

The naming in Haifa highlighted the gap between widespread sympathy in Israel for the Armenian commemorative cause and the reluctance of successive Israeli governments seeking good ties with Turkey to officially recognize the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenian civilians by Turkish troops during World War I.

Eliran Tal, the top spokesperson for the Haifa municipality, spoke of the naming as an example for the government to follow. “We can only hope now that the State of Israel acknowledges the genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, which claimed the lives of 1.5 million Armenians,” he wrote in a statement. Turkish diplomats, he added, “worked hard to pressure” the city to drop the plan.

In recent years, a new impediment has presented itself to recognition: Israel’s deepening ties with Azerbaijan, an oil-rich nation with strong ties to Turkey, a border with Iran and a bloody territorial dispute with Armenia.

Such recognition could strain the already-fraught relationship between Israel and Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout nationalist Muslim who in the past has accused Israel of perpetrating a “genocide” against Palestinians, among other allegations against the Jewish state and people.

Turkey returned its ambassador to Israel last year, ending a four-year partial break in diplomatic relations following the slaying of Palestinians by Israeli troops in 2018 riots. It was the latest in a series of similar crises since Erdogan’s rise to power in 2003.

Yerem Lapadjian, a leader of Haifa’s community of about 6,000 Christian ethnic Armenians, shared the hope that Haifa’s move would hasten a formal recognition of the genocide by Israel, which he said he considers his homeland in addition to Armenia. But his feelings about the square run deeper than geopolitics.

“When I walk past the Armenian Genocide Square, where I will also be commemorating the tragedy on the April 24 anniversary, I think of my late grandfather, a genocide survivor named Sarkis Lapadjian who died in Haifa in 1953,” the grandson said.

As a teenager, his grandfather escaped his village after hearing rumors that the Turks were murdering all the men, Lapadjian recalled. “He fled to Egypt, but he returned to his village near Adana, Turkey to reconnect with his parents. They’d all been murdered, and he fled again, this time to Lebanon and finally Haifa. He’s a holocaust survivor: A survivor of the Armenian holocaust.”

Israel’s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide is particularly painful to Lapadjian, a 70-year-old car electrician. “It’s inconceivable. The Armenian genocide, perpetrated when Turkey was an ally of Germany, served as a blueprint for the Holocaust. Had the world spoken out in 1915, perhaps the Jewish genocide would have been prevented. It’s high time for Israel to speak out,” he said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/turkeys-feathers-ruffled-by-haifas-newly-unveiled-armenian-genocide-square/

[Yervant1]

 

YNet, Israel

Aug 22 2023

 

Israel can prevent a new Armenian genocide

 

Opinion: Israel sells this regime weapons, to be used against Armenia, which is a fellow democracy and one of the world’s oldest Christian civilizations and is in bed with a family-run kleptocracy

Dr. Sergei Melkonian

As things stand, Israel is indirectly complicit in what Luis Moreno Ocampo, the first chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, in recent days called a genocide against Armenians. But it is also in a unique position to put an end to the atrocity.

I refer to the eight-month blockade of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave by Azerbaijan, one of Israel’s leading strategic allies. For the past two months not even Red Cross humanitarian missions have been allowed through, and last week the first resident died of starvation. Food and medicine are running out, and Ocampo has warned that many more deaths will follow unless Azerbaijan stops blocking the Lachin Corridor, the enclave’s vital access road.

As many readers will know, Nagorno-Karabakh is a territory populated by ethnic Armenians that ended up on the Azeri side of the border because of Soviet machinations. Since the USSR collapse, it has operated as a self-governing entity, but in 2020 Azerbaijan attacked and seized much of the region in a war in which thousands of Armenians were killed. Israeli drones supplied to Azerbaijan played a big role in that victory.

Now comes the blockade against what remains of Nagorno-Karabakh and the 120,000 Armenians living there, clearly aimed at compelling their flight due to the threat of starvation. Indeed, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has been quite transparent, stating that the residents should either accept Azerbaijani citizenship or seek another home.

There are 30,000 children, 9,000 disabled people, and 20,000 elderly people among those who are besieged in Nagorno-Karabakh. "Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks," Ocampo wrote in recent days in a pro bono report (read it here), entitled "Genocide against Armenians in 2023." He noted that Article II© of the Genocide Convention determined that "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction" constituted genocide.

"You will find no crematoria in Nagorno-Karabakh, nor machetes, but genocide by starvation is no less devastating for being silent," Ocampo said. "It was the same deadly method used against Armenians in 1915, against Poles and Jews in 1939, and against the people of Srebrenica in 1993.”

Ocampo argued that state actors must intervene to force Azerbaijan to end the blockade, and the issue is now being debated at the United Nations Security Council.

Most observers might have expected the state actors in question to perhaps be the European Union or the United States, which are promoting sham “peace talks” between Armenia and Azerbaijan in which the people of Nagorno-Karabakh effectively have no voice. Or maybe even Russia, which has toothless peacekeepers in the area and which has a strategic alliance with Azerbaijan.

But perhaps they should be thinking of Israel.

The Jewish state, which was established after Jews suffered the greatest genocide in history, is indecorously close to the odious regime of President Ilham Aliyev in Baku.

Israel sells this regime weapons, to be used against Armenia, which is a fellow democracy and one of the world’s oldest Christian civilizations. Israel buys huge amounts of oil from this regime. Israel does a growing amount of business with this regime. And Israel also receives a forward base against its nemesis Iran from the regime.

This is a classic case of realpolitik in action.

That’s because in return for these things, Israel is in bed with a family-run kleptocracy that has, according to the Pandora Papers, siphoned away hundreds of millions of dollars of their country’s oil and natural gas wealth, and which allows its people to wallow in poverty and denies them basic freedoms. It also agitates wildly against Armenians and Armenia itself, commits atrocities against them, and carries out systematic desecrations of Armenian heritage sites. Now comes what is being described by one of the world’s leading jurists as an attempt at a second Armenian genocide.

Jews, of all people, should not look the other way. If sympathy for Armenia, a fellow scrappy democracy in a mostly non-democratic part of the world, is not enough, surely the genocide discussion should focus Israeli minds. Jews cannot be complicit in this.

Exactly 50 km away from the disaster zone, Israel is implementing large-scale investment programs. Israel is among Azerbaijan's top 10 trading partners, with trade between the two countries reaching $1.7 billion last year. About 90 Israeli companies are actively working in Azerbaijan. Three months ago, President Yitzhak Herzog visited Azerbaijan and discussed more new projects.

The growing influence of Israel on Azerbaijan and the wide presence of Israeli companies in the country can provide leverage.

During the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, Israel continued to supply weapons to Azerbaijan. Since 2016, there have been 92 flights with Israeli arms supplies. The last delivery was this week: IL-76TD of Azerbaijan's Silk Way Airlines arrived at Uvda airbase to receive weapons and transport them to Baku.

A temporary moratorium on the supply of weapons to a country that is committing deadly outrages against civilians could be a serious signal for Azerbaijan to reconsider its policy.

We know there are righteous people in Israel who agree. Just last week, a large group of Israeli scientists, journalists, public figures, and rabbis addressed an open letter to President Herzog concerning the humanitarian catastrophe.

Israelis protest in 2020, against arms sales to Azerbaijan fearing genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh

(Photo: Moti Kimchi)

Rabbi Avidan Freedman clearly drew the line between political gain and a morally correct choice: "As an Israeli and a Zionist, I burst with pride when Israelis are first on the scene to provide support for humanitarian crises around the world … When Israel thinks that it serves its interests by providing weapons to countries that … commit grave violations of human rights – it is a heartbreaking violation of our mission."

The Armenian people who survived the first genocide of the 20th century could not stay indifferent during the Holocaust. That is why 24 Armenians have been officially recognized as Righteous among the Nations at Yad Vashem.

Israel now has a chance to do the righteous thing itself and to provide a lesson in morality to an often indifferent world.

Dr. Sergei Melkonian is a research fellow at the Yerevan-based think tank APRI.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjqkhbman

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

EAFJD condemns the recent statement of Rabbinical Center of Europe on Nagorno- Karabakh

13:14, 8 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) expresses its profound regret and strong condemnation of the recent statement issued by the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) concerning the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh. In this statement the European rabbis expressed their concerns regarding the usage of terms such as "genocide" in reference to the situation the native Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh is facing.

"As a European-Armenian organization the EAFJD acknowledges the sensitivity of the term, particularly in light of the immense suffering endured by the Jewish people during the Holocaust, and fully supports the importance of paying homage as well as preserving the memory of those tragic events. The term is not used as a historical comparison; rather, it is being utilized in accordance with the definition outlined in the United Nations' Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

"Several reports and statements from independent international organizations and human rights groups have been alerting about Azerbaijan’s ongoing policy in Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh which is genocidal in its essence. In a recent report the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo argues that there is “a reasonable basis to believe a Azerbaijan is currently committing a “genocide” against the indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh/ Artsakh. Genocide Watch has also issued numerous alerts in this regard.

"The international legal definition of genocide, as recognized by the United Nations in the 1948 Genocide Convention, includes acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. State parties of the Genocide Convention assumed duty to prevent and punish Genocide. The International Court of Justice ruled that the state parties should “not wait until the perpetration of Genocide commences” and “the whole point of obligation is to prevent or attempt to prevent the occurrence of the act.”

"For nine months now Azerbaijan has been keeping the 120.000 native Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh, including 30.000 children in a blockade, in blatant violation of 9 November 2020 trilateral ceasefire statement that it signed. Since 15 June 2023, the Azerbaijani authorities have imposed a total siege by blocking access to food and other essential goods. This has been happening, despite the fact that the United States, the European Union, International Court of Justice, the European Court of Justice have all been calling on Azerbaijani to immediately lift the blockade. Azerbaijan has been using starvation and deprivation of access to basic necessities with the aim of forcing the Armenians out of their own homeland.

"The EAFJD calls on the rabbis of the RCE to recognize the severity of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh and stay true to the principles of justice and human rights as representatives of a nation that once urgently needed the support and empathy of the international community in its quest for justice," EAFJD said in a statement.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1119048.html?fbclid=IwAR33322HHmcHMzIEZHLjifhKZ7VxnhMl9-lNtzkrIOMy5XcSuFPsy3x0ANA

[Yervant1]

Sept 9 2023

Statement in Response to the Open Letter sent by the Rabbinical Center of Europe to the President and Prime Minister of Armenia

September 9, 2023

The Lemkin Institute's response to the Open Letter sent by the Rabbinical Center of Europe to the President and Prime Minister of Armenia, signed by 50 leading European rabbis, which states that “[e]xpressions such as ‘ghetto’, ‘genocide’,
‘holocaust’ and others are (…) inappropriate to be part of the jargon used in any kind of political disagreement” and call on the Armenian government to “explicitly and unequivocally clarify that the Armenian people recognizes and honors the terrible human suffering undergone by the Jewish people.”

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has taken note of the Open Letter sent by the Rabbinical Center of Europe to the President and Prime Minister of Armenia, signed by 50 leading European rabbis, that states that “[e]xpressions such as ‘ghetto’, ‘genocide’, ‘holocaust’ and others are (…) inappropriate to be part of the jargon used in any kind of political disagreement” and call on the Armenian government to “explicitly and unequivocally clarify that the Armenian people recognizes and honors the terrible human suffering undergone by the Jewish people” and to stop “belittling the extent of the Jewish people’s suffering to further any political interest through incessantly using phrases associated with the holocaust suffered by the Jewish people”.

The Lemkin Institute has been raising the alarm about the numerous and growing red flags for genocide against Armenians in the South Caucasus since 2021. An increasing number of NGOs and organizations dedicated to the study and prevention of genocide have also spoken out about this threat, as evidenced by numerous reports and statements.

We believe that the Armenian people are facing a Second Armenian Genocide for the reasons outlined in our 126-page Report on the Risk Factors and Indicators of the Crime of Genocide in the Republic of Artsakh: Applying the UN Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes to the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. This genocide may already be taking place in the territory of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh, as a consequence of the over nine month blockade by Azerbaijan. It may also be planned against Armenians in the Republic of Armenia. We invite the signatories of the Open Letter to read parts of the report to better understand why we, and others, are using the term “genocide.”

Our report documents the viciously genocidal language of Azerbaijani government officials (President Ilham Aliyev regularly refers to Armenians as “rats,” “dogs,” “wild beasts,” “predators,” “jackals,” and “terrorists,” among other dehumanizing terms) as well as the horrific atrocities committed by the Azerbaijan military against captured Armenian civilians and POWs. The UN Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes, upon which the report is based, is the best and most widely accepted early warning mechanism the world currently has. Azerbaijan exhibits all of the indicators of the two risk factors specific to genocide, among others. The report further demonstrates the sophisticated propaganda techniques employed by Azerbaijan in Europe and elsewhere to deny what it is doing now just as it actively denies the 1915-1923 genocide against Armenians.

In calling the threatened genocide a “political disagreement,” the Open Letter suggests that the drafters’ framing of the facts on the ground may have been inadvertently influenced by the well-funded and skillful propaganda of the Azerbaijani government. Azerbaijan is daily threatening Armenians in Artsakh as well as in the Republic of Armenia, both in word and in deed. The people of Artsakh are starving. President Ilham Aliyev is threatening to attack Armenia and Artsakh to “return” lands to Azerbaijan based on false historical claims. President Aliyev has made very clear, on more than one occasion, that his goal is to rid the territory of Artsakh of any trace of autonomous Armenian existence.

In our opinion, rather than “belittling” the term genocide, Armenian officials have in fact been very cautious and precise in using the terms “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” with reference to the langauge and behavior of Azerbaijani officials. Their use of these terms now is indicative of the extremity of the situation on the ground.

As for the use of more narrow terms such as “ghetto,” as well as references to the National Socialist regime in Germany and the Holocaust: These are clearly efforts to use a well-known historical analogy to enlighten a world that is willfully blind to the threat of genocide that Armenians face from Azerbaijan. The signatories of the Open Letter dispute the analogies, and that is their right. We hope that the letter will lead to a productive conversation between the signatories and Armenian officials about shared concerns. Solidarity between threatened peoples is one of the greatest tools we have to prevent genocide.

More broadly, as in all cases of genocide, the Armenian people face a dilemma in trying to get the word out about the very dire nature of their predicament. What words do threatened communities use to focus the attention of a busy, preoccupied, and very political world on eliminationist rhetoric and behavior directed at them, so that there is a chance to save lives that only a few days or months from now may be lost forever? How can threatened communities push through the walls of propaganda and influence that the more powerful aggressors build to guarantee their own impunity, as Azerbaijan most certainly has done? Sometimes shifting the framework requires appealing to the world's existing knowledge base. And even that often does not work, because human beings often prefer to ignore looming catastrophes rather than address them head on. Since the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Lemkin Institute has watched with increasing dismay how European countries and the United States (in addition to Azerbaijan’s strong supporters, such as Turkey, Russia, and Israel) have willfully ignored the threat of genocide from Azerbaijan and have blindly treated the “conflict’ as one between equal partners with similar aims. That view is inaccurate and dangerous.

We fear that the broader issue is being lost: Armenia – far from using the term “genocide” to describe a “political disagreement” and thereby cheapening the word “genocide” – is attempting to prevent a genocide against its own people, something it cannot do alone, given its small size, limited resources, and geopolitical place on the world map. It is asking the world for help. Unfortunately, at this point, the Open Letter from the Rabbinical Center of Europe has served not only to embolden the aggressor state but also risks muting the response of the states that stand the best chance of coming to the aid of Armenians.

As a genocide prevention organization, we must further note that the word “genocide” cannot be limited to one case. The Shoah must be honored as a catastrophic historical caesura that is almost inconceivable in its size and horror. It was the catalyst for the adoption of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. We understand the need to protect the memory of its victims and survivors through many different means, including the precise use of language. But not applying the term “genocide” in the current case of Armenians in the South Caucasus would violate the rule of precision. Using the legal definition as well as the UN Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes, there is a very strong evidentiary base to claim what we are seeing is genocide in progress.

Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term genocide, began his quest for a term and for an international law against genocide not with the Holocaust but with the Armenian Genocide. In the years between the Armenian Genocide and the Holocuast, in which would 49 members of Lemkin’s family were murdered, he was influenced by many cases, including the 1933 Simele massacres and the Holodomor. Those cases are written into the language of the Genocide Convention. If we ignore his insights into the crime, and the many genocidal patterns his work identified, including the use of man-made starvation, we can never expect to prevent genocide.

At the Lemkin Institute, we sincerely wish the world had paid closer attention to Raphael Lemkin’s proposal in 1933 for an international law against “vandalism” and “barbarism” (the terms that later became his word “genocide”). We also wish the world had taken Adolf Hitler’s manifesto, Mein Kampf, more seriously before the outbreak of the world war in 1939. We wish the voices of Jewish communities across Europe had been listened to with greater interest and commitment and imagination after the war began. We wish that all the red flags that exhibited themselves in Rwanda between 1991 and 1994 were appreciated more deeply for what they were telling us, so that efforts could have been made to respond forcefully, intelligently, and quickly when it was necessary to do so in the early months of 1994. How many voices then claimed that victim communities were being alarmist?

All we can do now is try to be better by using the mechanisms at our disposal to present evidence as early as possible. Most of these mechanisms were developed in the wake of disaster: after the Holocaust and, again, after the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and after the start of genocide in Darfur, Sudan. So many people died, so many communities were completely extinguished, before we as a species were able to come up with the tools that might stop this crime.

In the case of Armenians in the South Caucasus, the Lemkin Institute and many other organizations are attempting to use these mechanisms before catastrophe. Artsakh is a genocide that can be prevented. We sincerely hope you will join the effort to prevent a Second Armenian Genocide before it is too late.

https://www.lemkininstitute.com/statements-new-page/statement-in-response-to-the-open-letter-sent-by-the-rabbinical-center-of-europe-to-the-president-and-prime-minister-of-armenia

[Yervant1]

Open Letter to the Rabbinical Centre of Europe

From the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (IIGHRS, A Division of the Zoryan Institute)

September 11, 2023

 

Dear Rabbinical Centre of Europe:

 

As a non-profit organization dedicated to genocide and human rights studies since 1982, the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (“IIGHRS”, A Division of the Zoryan Institute) is deeply concerned about and takes great issue with the open joint letter that was released by the RCE signed by 50 senior leading European Rabbis.

 

We recognize that we are currently living in a time where antisemitism is at historically high levels. We also condemn the recent trend in which Holocaust imagery and language have been misappropriated, especially regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. We would like to point out, however, that the word “genocide”, coined by Jewish scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943/1944, was adopted into law in 1948, many years after the Armenian Genocide and as a result of the Shoah. Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention states:

 

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Kindly note that the above definition of the crime of genocide does not include any reference to the number of people who perished, or the magnitude of suffering, but rather to the intent behind the destruction of a group. According to this definition, the Srebrenica massacres (8,000 victims), the Genocide in Rwanda (800,000 victims), the Cambodian Genocide (2 million people), the Shoah (6 million people), and the Armenian Genocide (1.5 million), are all widely understood as constituting genocide under the definition of the Genocide Convention. Applying this term to the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is fully in accord with the scholarly and legal understandings of genocide and in no way trivializes or diminishes the Holocaust or any other example of genocide. In fact, various legal scholars such as former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo, as well as genocide scholars have described the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as constituting genocide. The situation there is not a simple ‘political disagreement’ as was described in your letter.

We hope that the RCE can appreciate that the phenomenon of genocide is not unique to any one group, nation, religion, or ethnicity. The attempted destruction of an entire population is a crime against all humanity and must be recognized as such no matter who the victim group may be. In our view, genocide is a shared human experience, and unfortunately, this heinous crime has impacted many groups throughout history, and continues to do so in various parts of the world today. This includes Nagorno-Karabakh, whereby a government is deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about another group’s physical destruction, which is one of the acts of genocide defined in Article II of the Convention listed above.

 

The Zoryan institute, by teaching genocide comparatively, and by recognizing the destruction, trauma and pain that this crime inflicts, seeks not to prioritize one case over another, but rather deepen our understanding about the common patterns and dynamics that allow genocide to take place and allow us to more effectively prevent future instances of genocide moving forward. Our goal is to educate and teach about genocide in order to work towards a safer and more just world.

 

We cordially invite you to better acquaint yourselves with the ongoing situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and encourage you to read the recently published edition of the Zoryan Institute academic journal, Genocide Studies International, published by the University of Toronto Press that is devoted to this particular crisis: https://www.utpjournals.press/toc/gsi/15/1.

 

We would be happy to send you a physical copy of this issue for your reference.

 

Sincerely,

The Zoryan Institute (IIGHRS) Board of Directors

Editors of Genocide Studies International

Editors of Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies

Faculty Members of the Genocide and Human Rights University Program

Affiliates

Dr. Maureen Hiebert, Chair of the Zoryan Institute’s Academic Board, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Calgary

 

Dr. Varouj Aivazian, Chair of the Zoryan Institute’s Corporate Board, Professor of Finance and Chair of the Economics Department at University of Toronto Mississauga

 

Dr. Alexander Alvarez, Vice-chair Academic Advisory Board, Zoryan Institute, Co-Editor Genocide Studies International, Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Northern Arizona University

 

Dr. Rouben Adalian, Board Member of the Zoryan Institute

 

Dr. Joyce Apsel, Clinical Professor, Liberal Studies, NYU, and President of the Institute for the Study of Genocide

 

Dr. Yair Auron, Professor of Emeritus, Open in University Israel

 

Mr. Diran Avedian, President, and Founder of Lactopur Inc.

 

Dr. Talar Chahinian, Co-editor of Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies and Lecturer in the Program for Armenian Studies at University of California Irvine

 

Dr. Doris Bergen, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies, the University of Toronto

 

Dr. Bedross Der Matossian, Professor of History, the Hymen Rosenberg Professor in Judiac Studies, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

 

Mr. Federico Gaitan Hairabedian, Esq., Lawyer and President of the Luisa Hairabedian Foundation, Argentina

 

Ms. Mari Hovhannisyan, the Zoryan Institute Armenia International Foundation for Research and Development

 

Dr. Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Endowed Chair in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College (NH, USA)

 

Dr. Sossie Kasbarian, Co-editor of Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies and Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Stirling

 

Ms. Arsinée Khanjian, Canadian actress, director, producer, playwright, and human rights activist

 

Dr. Adam Muller, Co-Editor of Genocide Studies International and Director of the Peace and Conflict Studies Department, University of Manitoba

 

Dr. Jennifer Rich, Co-Editor of Genocide Studies International, Exec. Director of the Rowan Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights, Director of the MA Program in Holocaust and Genocide Education, and Associate Professor of Sociology at Rowan University

 

Dr. William Schabas, Professor of International Law at Middlesex University in London and Professor of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at Leiden University

 

Ms. Kate Simola, the Zoryan Institute of Canada Inc.

 

Dr. Lok Siu, Professor of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley and Chair of the Asian American Research Centre

 

Dr. Amy Sodaro, Associate Professor and Deputy Chairperson of the Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice Department at CUNY

 

Dr. Henry Theriault, Co-Editor of Genocide Studies International, Past President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Worcester State University

 

Dr. Alan Whitehorn, Professor Emeritus, Royal Military College of Canada

 

Dr. Andrew Woolford, Professor and Department Head, Sociology & Criminology, University of Manitoba

 

Ambassador A. Yeganian, Chair of the Zoryan Institute Armenia International Foundation for Research and Development

 

Ms. Megan Reid, Deputy Executive Director of the Zoryan Institute

 

Mr. K. M. Greg Sarkissian, Co-Founder and President of the Zoryan Institute

Zoryan Institute, a non-profit organization, serves the cause of scholarship and public awareness relating to issues of universal human rights, genocide, and diaspora-homeland relations. This is done through the systematic continued efforts of scholars and specialists using a comparative and multidisciplinary approach and in accordance with the highest academic standards.

 

To these ends the Institute undertakes and supports multi-disciplinary research, documentation, lectures, seminars, colloquia, and publications.

[Yervant1]

Sept 11 2023

Rabbis’ Refusal to Consider Renewed Armenian Genocide Shameful

By Michael Rubin

AEIdeas

September 11, 2023

“Expressions such as ‘ghetto’, ‘genocide’, ‘holocaust’ and others are . . . inappropriate to be part of the jargon used in any kind of political disagreement,” the Rabbinical Center of Europe declared on September 6. The statement by 50 rabbis condemning Armenia for raising alarm about the ongoing atrocity in Artsakh left many scratching their heads for three reasons.

First, many Jews had never heard of the “Rabbinical Center of Europe.” The group is real but represents mostly a Hasidic subsection of Europe’s Jewish community. Second, the group’s posturing is devoid of research. The rabbis did not visit Armenia let alone Artsakh, the self-governing republic that Nagorno-Karabakh’s residents established as the Soviet Union collapsed. Finally, the rabbis seem aloof to how Azerbaijan use their statement to deflect from ongoing slaughter.

Indeed, the rabbis’ statement appears a vestige of the past: For decades, various Jewish organizations opposed recognition of the Armenian Genocide because they believed acknowledgement of genocide pre-Holocaust would diminish the uniqueness of the Nazi slaughter of six million Jews. Prominent Jewish or Israel-interest groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), American Jewish Committee, and Anti-Defamation League quietly interceded with congressmen to derail Armenian Genocide resolutions long before any vote in Congress, until, in 2007, seven Jewish Democrats broke with precedent to vote in favor of the resolution.

That same year, the Anti-Defamation League fired New England Regional director Andrew Tarsy after the New England branch recognized the Armenian Genocide, but National chairman Abe Foxman rehired him the next day after a national uproar. Many within the Jewish community came to recognize that the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust could be both unique and share common traits. Past persecution need not pit Jews and Armenians against each other, or force either into denial. Organizations like the Rabbinical Center of Europe are right to educate about and preserve remembrance of the Holocaust, but they are ignorant in their knowledge about the Armenian Genocide.

They also appear cowardly. While the Jewish community in Armenia grows, both Azerbaijan and Turkey hemorrhage Jews. Dictatorships in both countries like to trot out Jewish representatives in a museumification of the Jewish community, but numbers do not lie. Azerbaijan’s Jewish community, around 40,000 strong at independence, has declined more than 75 percent since.

The frequent Azerbaijani narrative of Armenian collaboration with Nazi Germany is also cynical. True, some Armenians cast their lot with Nazis not out of antagonism toward Jews but more to undermine the Soviet Union. Today, Diary of Anne Frank populates children’s libraries and Armenians shelter Jews fleeing oppression in Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Iran. Heightening such cynicism is Azerbaijan’s unwillingness to address its own World War II-era history of Nazi collaboration and the slaughter of Polish Jews by the Azerbaijani Legion. Cynicism is especially rife when Azerbaijan host foreign rabbis. President Ilham Aliyev ignores his own father’s history suppressing Jews both as KGB chief for Azerbaijan and as a politburo member under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Rabbis should prize knowledge rather than base their statement in ignorance. They may assume comparison to ghettoes is facile, but how do they know it is not? Azerbaijan has locked its Armenians in Artsakh by blockading the region, often arresting those who seek to depart. People starve. If Artsakh is like a World War II-era ghetto, then what would that make the rabbis’ denialism? At best, they become like Franklin Roosevelt who turned his back on the reality of the Holocaust; at worst, they become useful idiots for the perpetrators.

As for genocide, what other term might the rabbis suggest for the eradication not only of a people but also any physical evidence of their existence? There was a reason why Adolf Hitler cited the Armenian Genocide as inspiration. Can current events be decontextualized from the eradication of more than one million Armenians, an event Aliyev and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mock and deny?

The Rabbinical Center of Europe has embarrassed itself. Rather than make empty statements, perhaps the rabbis should try to visit Artsakh. Let us hope the Armenian Genocide Museum and the Artsakh government invite them. If Azerbaijan prevents them from visiting Stepanakert, perhaps the rabbis might ask why.

Learn more: Silence Is Never the Answer When Hostages Are Taken | Good Luck with That Grand Strategy | China Preaching Autocracy to Africans Shouldn’t Surprise, but It Won’t Work | The US Should Reflag Islands in the South China Sea

https://www.aei.org/foreign-and-defense-policy/rabbis-refusal-to-consider-renewed-armenian-genocide-shameful/

[Yervant1]

Your words will have any weight, if and when your government accepts the Armenian Genocide. Otherwise it's only words of convenience!

 

Jan 12 2024

Israel rubs ‘Armenian genocide’ in Turkey’s face after it supports ICJ hearing

Jerusalem, Jan 12 (EFE).- Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Friday criticized Turkey’s history, saying “we remember the Armenians,” after its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced that his country would send documents to the International Court of Justice in The Hague that support the charge of genocide brought by South Africa against Israel.

“The President of Turkey Erdogan, from a country with the Armenian genocide in its past, now boasts of targeting Israel with unfounded claims. We remember the Armenians, the Kurds. Your history speaks for itself. Israel stands in defense, not destruction, against your barbarian allies,” Katz said in a message directed at the Turkish leader on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

The Armenian genocide refers to the systematic extermination of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire during World War I through massacres, death marches, and deportations.

The Turkish government maintains that the deportation of Armenians was a legitimate action that cannot be called genocide, and many countries seeking good diplomatic relations with Turkey have avoided acknowledging the events as genocide.

Israel does not recognize the events as genocide, and this is the first time a senior Israeli official has described the events as such.

Israel has been accused of genocide by South Africa before the UN’s top court, which held its first hearing in The Hague on Thursday and Friday, with the Israeli legal team accusing South Africa of “hypocrisy.”

Katz said South Africa is violating the Genocide Convention by supporting “the Hamas terrorist organization, which calls for the elimination of the State of Israel”.

Turkey has expressed “satisfaction” with South Africa’s complaint from the outset, and a Turkish parliamentary delegation is in The Hague to follow the trial.

“I believe that Israel will be convicted there. We believe in the justice of the International Court of Justice,” the Turkish president said.

Turkey is a historic ally of Israel, but after the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Erdogan denounced Israel’s response of massive bombardment of Gaza as a “war crime,” and Israel withdrew its ambassador from Ankara at the end of October. EFE

sga/ics/mcd

https://www.laprensalatina.com/israel-rubs-armenian-genocide-in-turkeys-face-after-it-supports-icj-hearing/

 

[Yervant1]

No comment! We'll wait and see. Probably April 24 will come and go without any declaration. Recently Israeli weapons helped Azeries kill countless Armenians.

Jan 14 2024

Recognize the Armenian genocide now The state of the Jewish people has for years refrained from officially recognizing the genocide that the Turks perpetrated against the Armenians, due to what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informally defined as "vital security interests" as well as "the profound economic relationship between the two states." The outcome of this definition is that even now, Erdogan has identified with and supported the modern day Amalek.

By Nadav Shragai

This coming April will mark the 109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide by the Turks, for which, Turkey's current president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, refuses to assume responsibility. This date will almost simultaneously also mark 76 years of Israel's embarrassing efforts to evade formal recognition of this genocide. And right now, we are commemorating another important episode in modern history: 100 days since the October 7 massacre, in addition to the blood libel that Turkey's president has accused Israel of, which according to him is "like the Nazis", as he has alleged that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

This current juncture – at the precise time when a court hearing has begun in The Hague alleging that "Israel has violated the Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" – should lead the way, however late this might be, to a profound discourse and reflection towards official Israeli recognition, after all this time, for the Armenian genocide.

The state of the Jewish people, which itself experienced the Holocaust, a considerably more severe historical event both in terms of scale and ferocity, has for years refrained from officially recognizing the genocide that the Turks perpetrated against the Armenians, due to what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informally defined as "vital security interests" as well as "the profound economic relationship between the two states." The outcome of this definition is that even now when for the umpteenth time, Erdogan has identified with and supported the modern-day Amalek, the Palestinazi Hamas, and even when he has reiterated the absurd comparison between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hitler – Israel still refuses to recognize the Armenian genocide.

This genocide took the form of death marches, mass slaughters, and the widespread forced expulsion of the Armenian population by the Turks during World War I. The Ottoman government established 25 concentration camps for the Armenians who survived the expulsion. At that time, Dayr az-Zawr in north-eastern Syria was the end of the line on the road to hell for the Armenians. Many of the death marches were organized to reach Dayr az-Zawr and it is here that the Armenians were eventually savagely massacred. Those who did manage to survive these marches were forced to feed off animal meat and the corpses of dead children.

Some Armenians turned themselves into a living documentation of the horrors, etching on their skin the incidents they had survived on the way and the crimes perpetrated by the Turks. They covered up this writing with layers of dirt, but once they were caught – their pursuers poured water on them to erase the testimony that had been etched on their bodies.

Hitler's question

"The quickest way of getting rid of the women and children who were gathered in the concentration camps was to burn them," various witnesses to the atrocities later wrote in the testimonies they submitted. The US and Italian consuls described how tens of thousands of Armenians, including women and children, were drowned in the Black Sea. Two doctors from the city of Trabzon on the Black Sea coast testified that Armenian children had been killed with poison gas. Comprehensive documentation of the Turks' crimes is also evident in the diaries of Henry Morgenthau Sr., the US Ambassador to Turkey between 1913 and 1916.

Eitan Belkind, a key member of the anti-Ottoman Jewish spy ring known as NILI, who infiltrated the Turkish army during World War I, was witness to the horrific murder of some 5,000 Armenians who were tied together and then set on fire using a ring of thorn bushes placed around them. "The screams of the miserable and the flames ascended into the sky hand in hand," wrote Belkind.

Avsholom Feinberg, one of the founders of NILI, who used to travel a lot during the war, also provided testimony of the Armenians who were murdered: "Their members in the working battalions are being put to death en masse by shooting. They are starving them. They are abusing them. I asked myself if I may only cry because 'my People is shattered', and did Jeremiah not shed tears of blood also for the Armenians?"

Former minister, Yair Tsaban: "The claim of 'interests' accompanied the Jewish people during the darkest hours of the Nazi era, when we desperately appealed for help, but the nations of the world explained to us that due to various 'interests' – it is not possible to respond to our cries for help."

In his book, Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide, Professor Yair Auron revealed that on the eve of the Jewish Holocaust, in August 1939, Hitler arrogantly asked his S.S. officers: "Who remembers today what they did to the Armenians?" Now, when Erdogan constantly vilifies and reviles the State of Israel whenever he gets the chance to, Israel no longer has any logical, formal reason to continue to rely on the paltry excuse that it had good reason to rely on in the first place – that of "interests".

At this current period in time, when Erdogan unashamedly supports the new Nazis of our generation, Israel has been presented with another opportunity to amend this situation. The Jewish state should have asked itself a long time ago: would it, itself, have accepted the refusal to acknowledge the Jewish Holocaust by any state due to economic or security interests, as it has pinned its refusal for years on such interests in its decision to refrain from any official acknowledgment of the Armenian people's holocaust.

After all, the moral compass should be the same in both cases, and the Israeli government's refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide is a clear case of blatant moral bankruptcy. Though the Armenian holocaust was different from the Jewish Holocaust – less industrially organized and effective, and much more limited in terms of its scale – despite these significant differences, the Armenian people did suffer a real form of genocide. Many historians and more than 30 states have recognized the genocide of this people, in which between one to one and a half million people were annihilated. To our great shame, of all nations, Israel has refrained from acknowledging this, and in the clear conflict between morality and interests – it is the interests that prevailed.

Issues that go beyond politics

In the past, the Ministry of Education shelved a curriculum that included teaching about the Armenian genocide. Israeli TV refrained from broadcasting the documentary movie of Theodore Bogosian, An Armenian Journey, which dealt with this genocide. On another occasion, a text deemed to be too direct was censored, which Noemie Nalbandian had prepared to be read out at the annual Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony at Mt. Herzl, as it mentioned the Armenian holocaust.

When Shimon Peres was Israel's minister of foreign affairs, he approached the Anti-Defamation League, imploring the organization to tone down its resolution, categorically determining that the slaughter of the Armenians was genocide. When Turkey canceled a number of arms deals with France, after the French had acknowledged the Armenian genocide – it was Israel, rather embarrassingly, which was granted these contracts, as Jerusalem had made the decision to avoid any such recognition of the Armenian's plight.

Israel's continued political contortions when faced with the Armenian people's genocide, even now when the administration that is the heir to the perpetrators of that horrific act aligns with the worst of our enemies, should give cause for a conversation, however brief, with Yair Tsaban, originally a member of the left-wing Mapam (United Workers Party) and one of the founders of Kibbutz Tzora. Tsaban, who for many years has been at the forefront of the struggle for Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide, was the first minister in an Israeli government to 'rebel' against official policy, and already 28 years ago, he attended the memorial day ceremonies of the Armenian community in Israel.

Even today, at the ripe old age of 93, Tsaban is horrified by the use of the word "interests" in relation to the lack of Israel's official acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide. "The claim of 'interests,'" he reminds us, "accompanied the Jewish people during the darkest hours of the Nazi era, when the Jews desperately appealed for help, but the nations of the world explained to us that due to various 'interests' – it is not possible to respond to their cries for help."

"How can Israel continue to look the Righteous Among the Nations and their descendants in the eye – as they too literally had 'existential interests' in not hiding Jews or saving them, but they preferred to live by the dictates of their conscience rather their existential interest?" asks Tsaban.

"As a people who have undergone the worst of all genocides – we neither have nor should make any exceptions when it comes to the genocide of another people. On the contrary – we have the moral obligation of adopting a much more rigorous and less tolerant approach to cases of genocide experienced by others." Tsaban reiterates the words of one of Israel's most renowned poets, Nathan Alterman, who in one of his poems called on the "Champions of healthy realism" to stop "worshiping the idols called interests."

"There are issues that go beyond politics and diplomacy," said Benjamin Netanyahu in 1989, serving as the Deputy Foreign Minister at the time, and he stressed: "Genocides are a clear case of this particular category." It is not yet too late.

https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/01/14/recognize-the-armenian-genocide-now/

 

[Yervant1]

Israel’s Foreign Minister Tweets the Term

Armenian Genocide: ‘Too little, Too Late’

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, California Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

 

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz reminded Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Armenian Genocide after the Turkish leader supported South Africa’s complaint with the International Court of Justice (World Court) that Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Katz tweeted on January 12, 2024: “The president of Turkey Erdogan, from a country with the Armenian genocide in its past, now boasts of targeting Israel with unfounded claims. We remember the Armenians, the Kurds. Your history speaks for itself. Israel stands in defense, not destruction, against your barbarian allies.”

Within the larger context of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Israel’s reference to the Armenian Genocide to attack Turkey raises a number of important issues. After refusing for decades to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, Israel’s Foreign Minister all of a sudden remembered the Armenian Genocide when it suited his country’s interests. Here are my comments on his tweet:

1) Israeli Foreign Minister’s reference to the Armenian Genocide cannot be considered a formal recognition which can only occur when the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) adopts a resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.

2) This is not the first time that an Israeli Minister has referred to the Armenian Genocide. Three other past Israeli Ministers had made similar acknowledgements when they were serving in the government:

– Minister of Education Yossi Sarid stated on April 24, 2000, “I join you, members of the Armenian community, on your Memorial Day, as you mark the 85th anniversary of your genocide. I am here, with you, as a human being, as a Jew, as an Israeli, and as Education Minister of the State of Israel.”

– Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin stated on April 24, 2000: “Something happened that cannot be defined except as genocide. One-and-a-half million people disappeared. It wasn’t negligence, it was deliberate.” Earlier, when serving as Deputy Foreign Minister in 1994, Beilin made a similar statement on the Armenian Genocide.

– Minister of Immigrant Absorption Yair Tsaban attended the Memorial Day ceremonies of the Armenian community in Israel in 1995 and urged the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

3) Nevertheless, Israel’s Knesset attempted several times in recent decades to adopt a resolution to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Each time, the government of Israel blocked the resolution to appease Turkey.

4) It is unacceptable that Israel is using the Armenian Genocide as a bargaining chip in its problematic relations with Turkey. The State of Israel, as a nation of Holocaust survivors, should have been the first country, hopefully not the last, to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

5) Equally unacceptable is the Israeli government’s excuses for its denial of the Armenian Genocide. When relations are good between Israel and Turkey, Israeli officials say: “We don’t wish to ruin our good relations with Turkey because of the Armenian Genocide.” And when the relations are bad, as it is now, Israel declares: “We do not want to make our relations with Turkey worse by recognizing the Armenian Genocide.” Israel has thus tarnished its reputation in the international community as a genocide denialist.

6) Contrary to the Israeli government’s denialism, individual Jews have been some of the leading voices calling attention to the Armenian Genocide: Henry Morgenthau, U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1913-1916); Franz Werfel, Austrian Jewish novelist, author of: “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh”; Raphael Lemkin, Polish Jewish Lawyer, who coined the term genocide; Reuven Rivlin, former President of Israel when he was the Knesset Chairman; Professors Israel Charny, Yair Auron, and Yehuda Bauer; and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wiesel.

7) For years and more recently, Erdogan has used very harsh words to insult the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, likening him to Hitler, and accusing him of being a ‘war criminal and terrorist’ who is committing genocide against the Palestinians. However, as in past conflicts, when the current crisis is over, Israel and Turkey will return to their earlier lovey-dovey relationship. Even at the height of this existing hostile situation, the two countries have continued their billions of dollars of trade, exchange of intelligence, and tourism.

8) Western Europe and the United States, by ignoring the Turkish leader’s misdeeds within NATO and his warmongering in several regional conflicts, have spoiled Erdogan to such a degree that he knows he would be able to get away with anything he wanted to do without facing any consequences. Back in 2010, when a Turkish humanitarian flotilla was approaching Gaza to break Israel’s blockade, Israel’s military attacked the Turkish ship killing 10 Turks. Thereafter, Netanyahu issued an apology to Erdogan and paid $20 million in compensation to the victims’ families.

9) Even if Israel recognizes the Armenian Genocide, Armenians will not forget the billions of dollars of lethal weapons that Israel sold to Azerbaijan to kill and injure thousands of Armenian soldiers during the Artsakh War. Shockingly, even in the midst of the Israel-Gaza war, Israel has continued to sell additional sophisticated armaments to Azerbaijan, as several Azeri cargo planes have been seen leaving Israel loaded with such weapons.

The “Israel Hayom” newspaper published on January 14, 2024, an article by Nadav Shragai, titled: “Recognize the Armenian genocide now.” The author boldly wrote: “The Israeli government’s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide is a clear case of blatant moral bankruptcy.”

Back in 1989, when Netanyahu was Deputy Foreign Minister and had not yet lost his moral compass, had said: “There are issues that go beyond politics and diplomacy. Genocides are a clear case of this particular category.”

[Yervant1]

Common Dreams

Jan 22 2024

What the New York Times Gets Wrong About Lemkin's Work on Genocide

Words matter, but the paper of record has ignored our letter of clarification about historical misrepresentation and the important role of the Armenian genocide in the thinking of the man who coined the term.

Jan 22, 2024Common Dreams

On January 11, 2024, the New York Times published an article by Isabel Kershner and John Eligon titled “At World Court, Israel to Confront Accusations of Genocide.” From the standpoint of critical media literacy and ethical journalistic practices, the article exhibits framing biases, historical and contextual omissions, and overly simplistic reasoning that attempts to explain why “Israel has categorically rejected the allegations being brought this week in the International Court of Justice by South Africa.” We assert that this editorial spin does a disservice to journalism and adds to a faulty record that enables human rights violators.

The overall tone is in lockstep with corporate media’s bias toward Israel—a bias credibly substantiated by the likes of the Lemkin Institute for the Prevention of Genocide, The Intercept, The Guardian, Mint Press News, and Common Dreams. While multiple aspects of the article are troublesome, the third sentence provoked our immediate response letter to the Editor of the New York Times. That sentence is as follows.

Oversimplifying Lemkin’s endeavors does a shameful disservice to his legacy. Such a decontextualized presentation edits out the foundation of his body of work and contracts the character of his mission.

“Genocide, the term first employed by a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent in 1944 to describe the Nazis’ systematic murder of about six million Jews and others based on their ethnicity, is among the most serious crimes of which a country can be accused.”

Days later, echoing a similar mischaracterization of Raphael Lemkin’s work, USA Todaypublished a piece by Noa Tisby titled, “Is Israel guilty of genocide in Gaza? Why the accusation at the UN is unfounded” (January 16). Tisby’s article, like that of Kershner and Eligon, amended the breadth and depth of Lemkin’s work to accommodate a particular narrative.

Considering the New York Times’ reputation as a leading U.S. paper of record, the need for public correction therein took precedence over the op-ed in USA Today. Hence, our letter:

As two Armenian Americans who grew up in the shadow of the 20th century’s first genocide, an attorney and a media expert respectively, we found critical context lacking in “At World Court, Israel to Confront Accusations of Genocide,” by Isabel Kershner and John Eligon (January 11). Any discussion of genocide and Raphael Lemkin is grossly incomplete without citing how the Armenian genocide informed the Polish-Jewish lawyer’s noble work.

Lemkin (b.1900), while a university student in the 1920s, learned of the Ottoman Turk's coordinated mass slaughter of Armenians that culminated in 1915. The extermination of Armenians informed Lemkin's life mission to establish international laws and treaties making genocide a punishable offense. In 1944, Lemkin finally named that crime genocide.

This article implies that Lemkin advocated solely for the Jewish cause. A humanitarian first, Lemkin sought to establish protections for all people. For example, he worked with Algerians who sought to hold accountable their colonizers for crimes against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide impelled Lemkin to action. Absent this historical context, the article reinforces the Israeli government's illogical claim that Jewish people are the sole victims of genocide. South Africa’s charge that the Israeli government is engaging in genocide reflects Lemkin’s commitment to the denunciation of the crime irrespective of ethnicity.

The New York Times ignored our letter.

Oversimplifying Lemkin’s endeavors does a shameful disservice to his legacy. Such a decontextualized presentation edits out the foundation of his body of work and contracts the character of his mission. It ignores the events that prompted and preoccupied his thinking on international discourse toward establishing laws against the crime that he came to term “genocide.” Lemkin was horrified that the Ottoman Turkish government could kill its own citizens—albeit “dhimmi,” or second-class citizens—with impunity. His application of the term genocide to the Ottoman Turk’s systematic mass slaughter of the Armenians predated the Holocaust. Years later, as a formidable advisor to prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials, Lemkin drew conclusive parallels to the Nazis’ genocidal massacre of Europe’s Jewish citizens.

To selectively invoke Lemkin’s work on genocide as a defense against the charges brought against Israel banks on the idea that public memory is short.

Editing the Armenian Genocide from Lemkin’s life work has contemporary and historical implications. In light of increasing attacks by a radicalized right-wing contingency in Israel on Jerusalem’s Armenians, deleting the Armenians from current reporting sets a dangerous tone for Armenians living under current threat. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has featured articles on Armenphobia and on the Armenians’ right to exist, and has issued statements of concern over recent attacks on the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem’s Armenians, or “East Jerusalemites” as they are designated by the Israeli government, like other Palestinians, live in a system that privileges Israel’s Jewish population. Hostilities from Jewish fundamentalists toward Armenians in Jerusalem are nothing new. However, the level and frequency of aggressions have intensified thanks to Netanyahu’s far-right government which has energized and normalized them. With attention concentrated on Gaza, Israeli extremists are free to act without fear of consequences. The Lemkin Institute explained that this can be “viewed as another attempt by Israeli extremists to create a homogenized Jewish ethnostate in the Palestinian territories.”

The New York Times article’s abridged version of Lemkin’s work emboldens those who continue to deny that the 1915 Armenian Genocide occurred. To selectively invoke Lemkin’s work on genocide as a defense against the charges brought against Israel banks on the idea that public memory is short. A well-worn quote reported by A.P. Berlin bureau chief, Louis Lochner, from a speech given by Hitler to his military generals before the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland rhetorically asked, “Who today, after all, remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?” With hot wars blazing and existential alarms blasting, we not only remember the Armenians but uphold this New York Times article as a cautionary tale that words matter.

MISCHA GERACOULIS

Mischa Geracoulis is a media literacy expert, writer, and educator, serving as Project Censored’s curriculum development coordinator, and on the editorial boards of the Censored Press and The Markaz Review.

HEIDI BOGHOSIAN

Heidi Boghosian is an attorney and is the executive director of the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute. Previously she was the executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive bar association established in 1937, where she oversaw the legal defense of people targeted by government. She also co-hosts the weekly civil liberties radio show Law and Disorder, which is based out of Pacifica Radio's WBAI, New York, and is broadcast to more than 25 states on over 60 nationally affiliated stations.

The article’s abridged version of Lemkin’s work emboldens those who continue to deny that the 1915 Armenian Genocide occurred. To selectively invoke Lemkin’s work on genocide as a defense against the charges brought against Israel banks on the idea that public memory is short. A well-worn quote reported by A.P. Berlin bureau chief, Louis Lochner, from a speech given by Hitler to his military generals before the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland rhetorically asked, “Who today, after all, remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?” With hot wars blazing and existential alarms blasting, we not only remember the Armenians but uphold this article as a cautionary tale that words matter.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/new-york-times-genocide-lemkin

[Yervant1]

How about you (Netanyahu) recognize the AG first, before using it for politics!

Ha'aretz, Israel

March 10 2024


Netanyahu Accuses Erdogan of Denying Armenian Genocide as Ties Between Countries Worsen

The Israeli PM made his statement in response to the Turkish president's comparison between him and Hitler, marking a further deterioration in the tone in the diplomatic confrontation between the two countries

Jonathan Lis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traded barbs over the weekend. After Erdogan stated that "Netanyahu earned his place alongside Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin," the Israeli premier accused Turkey of denying the Armenian holocaust.

The back-and-forth marked a further deterioration in the tone in the diplomatic confrontation between the two countries and an exceptional step by the Israeli prime minister. Previous Israeli governments have been consistently careful not to assign responsibility to Turkey for the Armenian genocide in order not to harm mutual relations.

Nagorno-Karabakh's haunting parallels to the Nakba, and Israel's role
Celebrating Hamas, targeting Jews: In Turkey, the Gaza war is triggering a dangerous mood
Biden sends sharp message to Israel: Don't use Gaza aid as bargaining chip

On Saturday, Erdogan likened the Israeli leadership with Nazi Germany for the second time. "Netanyahu and his government are the Nazis of our time. What they have done in Gaza is akin to the actions of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin," he declared in a speech on Saturday. "We're committed to bring these 'murderers' to justice in accordance with international law. In the human conscience, they are already convicted."

Following Erdogan's remarks, Netanyahu's was quick to respond and stated that the Turkish president is a "denier of the Armenian holocaust." Netanyahu added that, "Israel, which adheres to the laws of war, will not receive moral lessons from Erdogan, who supports murderers and rapists of the terrorist group Hamas, denies the Armenian holocaust, butchered Kurds within his own country and make dissidents and journalists disappear."

Despite the verbal crossfire, Israeli officials are having a hard time determining whether diplomatic relations have reached a permanent dead-end or the rhetorical class is calculated and reparable. They think that Erdogan is interested in fulfilling a significant role in Gaza after the war ends. U.S. and Israeli officials do not rule out this possibility, and even see advantages in making Turkey a central player on the Gaza front.

A signal of the pragmatic Turkish line regarding Israel could be found on Saturday in the meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and his American counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Washington.

In his public statement, Fidan refrained from criticizing directly the Israeli military or the Israel's political leaders. Instead, he focused on calling for increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza. "The dire situation in Gaza requires our urgent attention as the international community to stop the suffering of the innocent people," Fidan said. Therefore, he added, "we need to work hard together to make sure that we have a cease-fire and we have unhindered humanitarian assistance inside Gaza."

On September 20, 2023, just two weeks before the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel, Netanyahu and Erdogan met for the first time. Conciliatory talks between Erdogan and Israeli President Isaac Herzog months earlier, laid the groundwork for the Erdogan-Netanyahu meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Netanyahu said that relations between the countries were strengthening, against the backdrop of joint efforts to thwart terror attacks in Istanbul. The two agreed to coordinate mutual visits within the coming months.

Fewer than six months after that well-documented handshake, relations are in a tailspin. Turkey has publicly backed Hamas since October 7 and Erdogan has repeatedly excoriated Israel and its motives in Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz was the first Israeli official to accuse Turkey of being responsible for genocide. Katz wrote on X that, "The president of Turkey, the country that perpetrated the Armenian genocide that thought that the world would shut up, is proud today to submit material to the court in The Hague."

The foreign minister added that, "We haven't forgotten the Armenian genocide and the murderous acts against the Kurds." He then tweeted: "You all are nation destroyers. We defend ourselves from your barbarous comrades."

Dr. Nimrod Goren, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington and head of the Mitvim Institute, said that the current confrontation is more bitter than previous ones and requires immediate diplomatic attention by Israel to bridge the differences.

"Netanyahu and Erdogan have a history of disparagement and conciliation, but there hasn't been a gap like the one between the smiled-filled meeting between them in New York in September and the increasing enmity since October," Goren told Haaretz.

"Escalatory rhetoric is not a policy and is not a substitute for one. Managing the crisis with Turkey and reducing the harm it is liable to cause to Israeli interests requires diplomatic skill. It's important to return to Ankara the Israeli diplomats who were recalled from there by Israel when the war erupted. The presence and work of professionals on the ground is more necessary now than ever."

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-10/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-publicly-accuses-turkey-of-denying-the-armenian-holocaust/0000018e-287a-d152-ad8e-29fa35a10000

 

[Yervant1]

I wish I had your optimism, Israel will not recognize AG. Turkey is not their only reason for nonrecognition, add to that Azerbaijan, Iran and others!

Israel - March 14 2024

A fitting Israeli reply to Erdogan: Recognize the Armenian Genocide

Opinion: As a nation founded on the principles of justice, human rights, and remembrance of historical injustices, Israel has a moral obligation to recognize the Armenian Genocide

Grigor Hovhannissian

Armenian ears perked up over the weekend when Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Turkey for not recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the Ottomans a century ago. After all, Israel itself has withheld recognition for reasons that frustrate Armenians, who see themselves as fellow travelers of the Jews. Is change afoot at last? Naïve as it may sound, I urge the answer be yes.

Of course, I understand the context, and the word for it is realpolitik: the subordination of ethics, ideals and principles to concrete interests and calculation of outcomes. Israel has not recognized the Armenian Genocide for fear of offending Turkey, a populous NATO member that has been a trade partner and a tourism destination.

Netanyahu seems to be pivoting because Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly supports Hamas. Not only has he no appreciation for the massacre Hamas perpetrated on Oct. 7, but he accuses Israel itself of genocide and on Saturday compared Netanyahu to Hitler.

“Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them,” Erdogan said on Saturday. “Netanyahu and his administration, with their crimes against humanity in Gaza, are writing their names next to Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, like today’s Nazis.”

Then came Netanyahu’s tweet: “Israel, which adheres to the laws of war, will not accept moral preaching from Erdogan, who supports murderers and rapists of the terrorist organization Hamas, denies the Armenian Holocaust, massacres Kurds in his own country and eliminates regime opponents and journalists.”

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Gaza War, the fact is that at the International Court of Justice at the Hague in January, Israel found itself accused of genocide in Gaza. Israel’s defense rested largely on one word: intent. Israel says its goal is to remove Hamas from power in Gaza, and not to kill Palestinian civilians. It argues that intent, and lack of it, is critical in determining whether an action is a genocide.

The 1951 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide, inter alia, as being killings and other acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

That convention was adopted primarily because of two major genocides that shocked the world in the first half of the 20th century. The first was the murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottomans during World War I. It was a campaign of death marches to the Syrian desert and into concentration camps, and a project to eradicate Armenians that featured confiscations and sexual violence and forced Islamization.

Our tragedy deeply affected the Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term genocide in 1944 – at the high of the Holocaust, the systematic murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis. Two years later the nascent United Nations recognized genocide as a crime under international law, and then came the convention.

Over 30 countries around the world have recognized the Armenian Genocide as such – but Israel is not one of them. Withholding that recognition has been a sore point in relations that should have been close – because Armenians have a history of standing up for Jews and seeking to protect them.

We are proud that at Yad Vashem, many Armenian names are listed among the righteous who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. No other nation in the wider Middle East comes even close. The Armenian church has a proud and long history in the Holy Land as well, and has always sought good relations.

Israel, meanwhile, has developed an alliance with Azerbaijan, Armenia’s hostile neighbor to the east. Israel sells Baku drones and other weapons (which have been used against us), buys oil from its despotic regime, and thus enjoys access to the Iranian border too.

Unfortunate though that alliance is from our perspective, Azerbaijan’s issue is not the genocide by Turkish cousins from a century ago; it has been more interested in perpetrating its own ethnic cleansing against 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh just last September.

The main impediment for Israeli recognition of our genocide has been Turkey, which vehemently denies the genocide, fearing that acknowledgment would lead to demands for reparations. Israel, seeking to maintain diplomatic ties and military cooperation with Turkey, has rather meekly complied. That figurative ship appears to have decisively sailed in recent months. Erdogan is a friend of Hamas and not of Israel.

We understand very well that Netanyahu is using the genocide issue as a cudgel against the increasingly belligerent Turkish leader. But there is a wider picture as well. Israel is rather isolated in the world right now. It doesn’t need more cynicism and scheming from its prime minister. Rather, now would be a great time to do the right thing.

There is a realpolitik argument for this, for those who need it. U.S. President Joe Biden, who recognized the genocide two years ago, would undoubtedly be pleased – which would help ease the rift with the US administration. Moreover, Turkey's influence in the region has waned in recent years, while Israel's relations with other regional actors, such as Greece and Cyprus, have strengthened.

But realpolitik, though often hailed as a pragmatic and realistic approach to international relations, has a dark side. It can involve excruciating moral compromise and result in alliances with oppressive regimes, turning a blind eye to human rights abuses. Such actions undermine the credibility of nations and tarnish their reputation. They start standing for cynicism and hypocrisy.

As a nation founded on the principles of justice, human rights, and remembrance of historical injustices, Israel has a moral obligation to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which is deemed by an overwhelming majority of scholars and experts as a historical fact. The denial of our genocide undermines the global fight against genocide denial and impunity.

By taking a principled stand and acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, Israel can demonstrate its commitment to universal values and strengthen its moral standing in the international community – at a time when that standing is being questioned.

So Netanyahu should do more than fire off a tweet. He should follow in Biden’s footsteps. The time for Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide is now. It would be a fitting reply to Erdogan.

• Grigor Hovhannissian is the former Armenian Ambassador to the United States and to Mexico, and the former Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bj1ebxjrp

 

[Yervant1]

Denialists Erdogan and Netanyahu Shamefully

Exploit the Term Genocide to Bash Each Other

By Harut Sassounian

TheCaliforniaCourier.com

For several decades, Israel and Turkey were in a honeymoon, supporting each other politically and economically.

However, over the years, their relationship soured due to their opposing positions on the Palestinian issues. On several occasions, Israel and Turkey withdrew their ambassadors from each other’s capitals due to such conflicts, only to reinstate them again. In other words, they kissed and made up repeatedly.

We all know the _expression_, “politics makes strange bedfellows.” Israel and Turkey are one of those political odd couples. Initially, there was some basis in their partnership, more aptly described as mutual exploitation. Israel, surrounded by a large number of hostile Arab nations, needed Turkey as its political and economic ally, an Islamic nation that had established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1949. Meanwhile, Turkey needed Israel for various reasons, including political support from the West, the purchase of advanced weapons and billions of dollars of trade.

The other aspect of this unholy union was that both countries denied the Armenian Genocide. Turkey used its relations with Israel to convince the powerful Jewish lobby in the United States to block the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. Congress. Turkey pressured Israel to block the International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide in Tel Aviv in 1982, prevent the broadcast of a documentary on the Armenian Genocide and its recognition by the Knesset. Turkey went as far as threatening its domestic Jewish community and demanded that the Chief Rabbi of Istanbul to lobby American Jewish organizations on behalf of Turkey.

In 2009, Erdogan told the Israeli President Shimon Peres during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in front of the assembled world leaders: “When it comes to killing you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you killed children on the beaches [of Gaza].”

Then the Mavi Marmara incident occurred in 2010, when the Israeli military attacked six Turkish civilian ships in the Mediterranean Sea trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, killing nine Turkish passengers. The raid seriously deteriorated Israeli-Turkish relations. Turkey recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv and expelled Israel’s ambassador from Ankara. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and offered $20 million in compensation for the raid.

Shortly before Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, Israeli customs officials intercepted 16 tons of explosive materials for making missiles hidden in a Turkish shipment of construction supplies for Gaza. Surprisingly, Israel took no action against Turkey. This was yet another example of Israel appeasing Turkey’s anti-Israeli actions. Rather than designating Turkey as a state sponsor of terrorism, Israeli leaders embraced Erdogan, encouraging him to continue his misdeeds.

Following the recent Hamas attack on Israel, Erdogan called Hamas “freedom fighters,” and likened Netanyahu to “Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, today’s Nazis.”

In January 2024, Israel’s Foreign Minister tweeted: “The President of Turkey Erdogan, from a country with the Armenian Genocide in its past, now boasts of targeting Israel with unfounded claims. We remember the Armenians, the Kurds. Your history speaks for itself. Israel stands in defense, not destruction, against your barbarian allies.”

Last week, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned the Turkish envoy, Shakir Ozkan Torunlar, to complain about Erdogan’s statement that he will “send Netanyahu to Allah to take care of him, make him miserable and curse him.” Katz replied on X/Twitter: “You [Erdogan] who support the burning of babies, murderers, rapists and the mutilation of corpses by Hamas criminals, [are] the last one who can speak about God. There is no God who will listen to those who support the atrocities and crimes against humanity committed by your barbaric Hamas friends.” Katz then admonished Erdogan: “Be quiet and shame on you!”

The Turkish foreign ministry replied to Katz: Israel has been built upon ‘occupied’ Palestinian land since its creation. “Since the first day they occupied Palestinian lands, the Israeli authorities have made a great effort to keep the serious crimes they committed against the Palestinians secret, and have tried to create an armor of immunity for themselves. They have targeted our President, who screams the truth.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry then accused Israel of committing ‘genocide,’ stating that the “entire world public opinion is eagerly awaiting the day when Israeli officials who committed crimes will be brought to justice.”

Earlier, Netanyahu, who himself does not recognize the Armenian Genocide, criticized Erdogan for denying the Genocide. Netanyahu tweeted: “Israel, which adheres to the laws of war, will not accept moral preaching from Erdogan, who supports murderers and rapists of the terrorist organization Hamas, denies the Armenian Holocaust, massacres Kurds in his own country and eliminates regime opponents and journalists.” However, Netanyahu keeps arming Turkey’s ally, Azerbaijan, with sophisticated weapons which were used to commit a new genocide against Armenians in Artsakh.

In conclusion, both Erdogan and Netanyahu should be ashamed of using the Armenian Genocide and Holocaust as a bargaining chip in their dispute.

Rather than using the term genocide as a cudgel to bash each other, both Israel and Turkey should have recognized the Armenian Genocide long ago, in order to be classified among the ranks of civilized nations!

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The Jewish Chronicle

April 4 2024

 

Why Israel must now recognise the Armenian genocide

Denial of the genocide is state policy in Turkey and Azerbaijan – but Israel does not officially acknowledge what went on either

In the first week of September last year, several aircraft took off from the Ovda military airbase in the Negev desert, destination Azerbaijan. Their cargo was the latest in Israeli weapons technology, including state-of-the-art military attack drones. A few days later, the Azerbaijan army conducted a devastating attack upon the ethnically Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, driving out the entire population and subsequently destroying its historic architecture in ways that have reminded some of Isis’ destruction of Palmyra. More than 100,000 refugees fled to Armenia.

Experts tracking arms sales have estimated that 70 per cent of the weapons employed by the Azerbaijani army had been sold to them by Israel. In the past, Armenia has even accused Israel of not just providing these weapons, but of operating them too.

Embarrassingly, among those who celebrated this Israeli-supported victory in Nagorno-Karabakh was Hamas: “We congratulate Azerbaijan for its victory in the battles and regaining the occupied territory” boasted a Hamas spokesman in 2020. Another to applaud was Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said last September: “We support the steps taken by Azerbaijan – with whom we act together with the motto of one nation, two states.”

Sandwiched between Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Armenian state is caught in a vice of pan-Turkism, the post-Soviet revived desire for the unification of all Turkic peoples. And if this wasn’t problem enough, the Russians are also angry with Armenia, which – looking for new and more reliable allies – is seeking a foreign policy pivot from Moscow to the European Union. Moscow could turn Armenia into the next Ukraine, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman recently hinted, darkly. Armenia is in desperate need of friends.

On the surface, Israel and Armenia have much in common. They are both little countries with ancient cultures surrounded by hostile neighbours. Both are shaped by the trauma of 20th-century genocide. And both have large and important global diasporas. One is Christian – in fact, the oldest Christian country in the world – one is Jewish, but both are under threat by radical Islam. It is not insignificant that Hamas thinks of Nagorno-Karabakh and Gaza as both “occupied territories” requiring liberation. So why has Israel been arming Azerbaijan and delighting Hamas and Erdogan?

Recently, Israeli doublethink on Armenia has got even crazier. On 9 March, Benjamin Netanyahu published a remarkable tweet: “Israel, that adheres to international law, rejects the absurd preachings about morality from Erdogan, who supports the mass murderers and rapists of Hamas, denies the Armenian genocide, massacres Kurds in his own country and vies for the world record in eliminating and jailing regime opponents and journalists.” Bibi was right, of course. The denial of the Armenian genocide – the first of the 20th century – is state policy in Turkey and in the ethnically Turkic state of Azerbaijan. The problem is that Israel does not officially acknowledge what went on either.

Christian Armenians had lived in what we now know as eastern Turkey for thousands of years. Yet, during the First World War, more than a million of them were systematically murdered by the Ottoman authorities Recent events in Nagorno-Karabakh have resurfaced much of this historic trauma.

Turkey’s line on all of this is that the death marches of the Armenian genocide were strategic resettlement, that they were putting down a potential rebellion at a time when the Ottoman Empire was especially vulnerable. But there was no rebellion to speak of. It was ethnic cleansing, pure and simple. On 22 August, 1939, just before the invasion of Poland, Hitler reportedly said that no one would care about his plan to create lebensraum (“living space”) in eastern Europe because: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Who, indeed.

The hypocrisy of Netanyahu’s statement is that he has been responsible for blocking Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide. “It is time to stop grovelling before Erdogan,” wrote Yair Lapid in 2018. “It is time to do the moral and right thing and recognise the genocide of the Armenian people”. Every year there is a call in the Knesset to debate this subject; every year it has been squashed by the government of the day. There are serious issues here: for some, recognition of the Armenian genocide could weaken the understanding of the Holocaust as a unique horror. The fact that the official remembrance day for the Armenian genocide, 24 April, falls right around Yom HaShoah only accentuates this concern. Israel has a lot of other things on its plate right now. But Lapid was right about the need to do the right thing by Armenia. The problem is that Israel gets about 40 per cent of its oil from Azerbaijan, and both are strategic allies against Iran. But, albeit indirectly, receiving the applause of Hamas must give Jerusalem serious cause to rethink Israeli foreign policy in the Caucasus.

Hopefully, Netanyahu’s tweet marks the beginning of a shift in attitude.

https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/why-israel-must-now-recognise-the-armenian-genocide-jvxgn8k7

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Don't hold your breath, It's not happening!

 

Quote

 

Jerusalem Post

June 28 2024

 

Israel must recognize the Armenian Genocide now more than ever - comment

The Broad Perspective: If Israel wants to be recognized on the international stage as a voice of sanity and of legitimate morality, it must put the ego aside and recognize the Armenian Genocide.

By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIJUNE 28, 2024 10:31




 

 

This week, Armenia unilaterally recognized Palestinian statehood, becoming the ninth country since April to do so as a direct response to the Israel-Hamas war.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said that “the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the ongoing military conflict are among the primary issues on the international political agenda that require settlement.”

The relationship between Israel and Armenia has been strained for quite some time now. Ultimately, it comes down to a handful of factors.

 

The first is the issue of Israel’s support for Azerbaijan via its defense systems amid the Nagorno-Karabakh armed conflict.

According to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released in 2021, Israel was the source of 69% percent of Azerbaijan’s arms imports in the five years leading up to the report being published.

 

According to Middle East Eye, Azerbaijan was also able to use an Israeli interceptor system to shoot down an Armenian Iskander ballistic missile.

Armenia’s ambassador to Israel, Arman Akopian, told The Jerusalem Post this past September—just one week before the October 7 massacre—that Azerbaijan has been using Israeli weapons to maintain its power over Nagorno-Karabakh, including against civilians.

 

He then told the Post that he believes Israel does not have Armenia “on its agenda.”

Did Israel forget about Armenia?

“We have seen a lot of military cooperation: Azerbaijan buying Israeli weapons worth billions of dollars, and there is cooperation on military defense and intelligence,” he said. “Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines is making frequent flights to Israel to import weapons. Before this last escalation, a flight went directly from Israel to the city of Ganja, situated just north of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said.

“Any country can sell and buy weapons. The issue is that these weapons end up on our borders and are fired at peaceful civilians.”

At the time, he said he believed the Israeli public was not anti-Armenia. He is correct, and that is the next point: the main one.

ISRAEL HAS not formally recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Lack of genocide recognition causes strain on ties

In the spring of 1982, before the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide, which took place in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Turkey demanded the cancellation of six sessions on the Armenian Genocide and the exclusion of Armenian speakers. They threatened to stop protecting Jews escaping from Iran and Syria if the Israeli government did not comply.

Turkey has not been an ally of Israel for quite some time. While the relationship has been fraught, making the subject a delicate one, Israel is a far cry from being a friend of Turkey right now, especially with the outlandish claims in support of Hamas that the successor state to the Ottoman Empire has made.

That being said, it means that avoiding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is no conflict of interest on the diplomatic front with Turkey.

 

As of 2023, some 34 countries around the world have recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Israel—a country made up of people who have experienced genocide, pogroms, and torment—has yet to do so.

Israeli lawmakers and activists have been fighting to bring about this recognition for years.

It is widely recognized that those responsible for the Armenian Genocide largely avoided punishment. Adolf Hitler believed he could commit his atrocities without consequence, citing the lack of action taken for the Armenians as justification.

It's time Israel joins the West 

With US recognition having come about at the hands of President Joe Biden a couple of years ago, Israel is slowly but surely becoming a minority among Western countries.

Pro-Azerbaijan authors frequently attempt to depict Armenia as responsible for atrocities against Azeris, generating multiple layers of genocide accusations. Both sides strive to persuade Israel and Israeli media to acknowledge their respective claims.

A reader reached out this week following our coverage of Palestinian statehood recognition this week and pointed out that it is “unconscionable that Israel continues to deny the Armenian Genocide and use the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians as a political cudgel for diplomacy and international relations.”

He certainly is not wrong. Recognition of a genocide—something clear as day to anyone with a basic definition of “genocide” and the clear data of the millions killed at the hands of the Ottoman Empire—should not coincide with diplomatic tiptoeing.

If Israel wants to be recognized on the international stage as a voice of sanity and of legitimate morality, it must do the moral thing. 

Put the ego aside. Recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The writer is deputy editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post.

 

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-808088

 

 

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Jerusalem Post

July 3 2024

 

Armenia’s recognition of Palestine was not anti-Israel - opinion

These are testing times for Armenian-Israeli relations, but we should navigate these rough waters to harness our many shared assets.

By GRIGOR HOVHANNISSIAN

 

Last week, Armenia became the 145th country to recognize the state of Palestine – even as Israel continues its difficult fight against Hamas in Gaza. Last year, Armenians suffered a terrible ethnic cleansing at the hands of Azerbaijan, which was armed to a significant degree by Israel. You’d think the two nations are at odds – and indeed a Jerusalem Post editorial presented things that way. But look beneath the surface and a different story appears.  

There is a deep sense of shared history, affinity, and like-mindedness between Armenia and Israel, which endures despite Israel’s military dealings with Azerbaijan and Turkey. There is no underlying antisemitism in Armenia, just as there is no inherent Armenophobia in Israel. Both nations have faced persecution and genocide, defining themselves not territorially but through a duality that exposes them to tough choices during international crises.

These are testing times for Armenian-Israeli relations, but we should navigate these rough waters to harness our many shared assets. Our global communities collaborate in combating extremism and in developing innovations, such as vaccines created at Moderna, a company with Armenian roots. The significant Israeli-Armenian community can serve as a bridge for mutual understanding and cooperation. There is also a growing Jewish community in Armenia, consisting of Russian and Ukrainian citizens who have fled hostility and military drafts. Many of them are contemplating settling down in welcoming Armenia and starting their new lives.

 

Strategically, Armenia is undergoing a dramatic geopolitical reorientation, moving closer to the United States and contemplating EU membership while joining regional integration and transport projects that will shape the future Eurasian trade. Israel should consider supporting US policies in this region to help Armenia strengthen its democratic institutions and contribute to reshaping its security strategies. This cooperation will enhance both countries' footprints in the region and beyond, including in India and the Gulf states.

So why did Armenia recognize Palestine?

This recognition came after decades of similar acknowledgments by former Soviet and Warsaw block countries, all of Armenia’s neighbors, and several EU member states. While this move may seem ill-timed, especially for those who have long advocated for closer ties with Israel, it is essential to understand the underlying principles guiding Armenia's decision.

Armenia emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Empire as an independent nation in a challenging and hostile neighborhood. Historically, Armenia has struggled to ensure its survival and preserve its distinct identity as a representative of Western civilization in the Middle East. Poor in resources and militarily outpowered by regional rivals, Armenia has heavily relied on international legitimacy - the right to self-determination, the prevention of genocide, and the non-use of force in disputes as cornerstones of its foreign policy.

Last September, Azerbaijan attacked and invaded the ethnic Armenian-populated enclave of Artsakh, ending the self-government which had been in place since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and indeed was in effect during the communist period and before. Heavily reliant on Israeli weaponry, the Azerbaijani forces compelled the exodus of the entire population of over 120,000 people.

 

But the tragic even is not, despite what Israelis might suspect, the reason for the recognition of Palestine.

Rather, this had to do with the country’s self-declared obligations regarding internationally recognized self-determination cases, including Palestine, and potentially Kosovo, South Sudan, and others in the future.

The timing of Armenia's recognition of Palestine has stirred controversy both at home and in Israel. Many perceive that the act during the Gaza conflict sends wrong signals to the belligerents. If this is the case, it is a regrettable externality not anticipated by Armenian policymakers. Armenia's decision might have been influenced by powerful regional actors, highlighting her increased susceptibility to pressures from invigorated neighbors like Turkey after the 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan war.

The reaction in Israel has been particularly vehement, with media backlash and stern warnings from the Israeli MFA about potential deterioration in bilateral relations. This reaction contrasts sharply with the responses to similar recognitions by Spain, Slovenia, and Belgium. It raises the question of why Armenia's recognition is perceived as less forgivable than that of the 144 other countries.

Similarly, our Israeli counterparts have often questioned why it is acceptable for other countries, such as Russia and Belarus, to sell weapons to Azerbaijan but not Israel. The answer lies in the expectations and belief that Armenia and Israel, as the only two non-Muslim and democratic countries in the greater Middle East, should not harm each other but work together for regional stability and prosperity.

Armenia’s recognition of Palestine aligns with its long-standing principles and should not be viewed as a detriment to future Armenian-Israeli relations. Instead, both nations to reaffirm their shared values and work towards a more stable and prosperous future together.

 

Grigor Hovhannissian is Armenia’s former Ambassador to the United States and Deputy Foreign Minister.

 

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-808813

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Times of Israel

Sept 12 2024

 

We Don’t Want Israel’s Recognition of the Turkish Genocide of the Armenians

Sep 12, 2024, 11:05 PM

 

 

David Davidian

We Don’t Want Israel’s Recognition of the Turkish Genocide of the Armenians

For decades, Armenians and their supporters in Israel have sought to convince the Israeli government to officially recognize the World War I Turkish genocide of the Armenians, while pro-Israel US lobbies, such as AIPAC, worked diligently to dissuade the United States from formally acknowledging this extermination of Armenians as genocide. Ironically, in 1951, the US Department of State cited the fate of these Armenians as an example of genocide in a written statement to the International Court of Justice, stating, “The Roman persecution of Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, and the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide.” The US officially recognized this genocide in 2020. For many reasons, Israel has not recognized the Armenian genocide. Israeli reticence has turned out fortuitous.

Given the current carnage that has befallen Gaza, West Bank Palestinians, and even Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter, Israel has lost the perception of having a moral high ground concerning issues of racist pogroms, massacres, and genocides. This loss is disappointing and will be an issue that will take Israel years to overcome, if ever. It is one thing for Israel to have historically solid ties with Turkey and maintain convenient relations with Azerbaijan, thus contributing to its disregard of the Armenian genocide. Yet, it is another matter entirely when Israel facilitated the Azerbaijani conquest of Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 through the sale of high-tech weaponry to Baku. With this victory, Azerbaijan gained control of an additional 140 km of border with Iran, which benefits those monitoring Iran and inciting separatist tensions in Azerbaijani-speaking regions of northwest Iran. It is not that the Israeli government or Israelis dislike Armenians in favor of Azerbaijanis, but supporting Azerbaijan aligns with Israel’s economic interests and regional political goals. Nonetheless, Israeli arms and technology contributed to the deaths of thousands of Armenians during the 2020 Karabakh War. Ironically, Hamas congratulated Azerbaijan on its conquest of Nagorno-Karabakh, a conquest which eventually led to the violent eviction of 120,000 Armenians, this month last year.

A similar situation occurred in the early twentieth century when both early Zionists and European imperialist powers were interested in fracturing the Ottoman Empire and creating colonial mandates by fostering nationalism among its various ethnic constituents. The aim was to create a parochial ethnic context into the pan-Islamic culture that existed across the empire, thereby facilitating internal strife during World War I and making its disintegration easier in the war’s aftermath. Although there was active debate during early Zionist Congresses about whether to support any despotic Turkish rule, particularly over Armenians, Zionist elements supported the 1908 Young Turk movement that ousted the Ottoman Sultanate. Many of these supporters, known as “Dönme” in Turkish, outwardly adhered to Islam while secretly maintaining their original faith. In 1913, a coup by a virulent nationalist faction of the Young Turks expedited the planning and eventual execution of this genocide.

The historical record is clear: in hastening the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, a fervent pan-Turanist (pan-Turkic) ideology came to dominate the Young Turk movement, actively encouraged by Germans, Austro-Hungarians, and other imperial powers. This crude nationalism had a devastating impact on the Armenians, who were dehumanized and equated with vermin, much like the way ‘supposed non-Aryans’ were characterized by the Nazis. Zionists certainly welcomed the dismemberment of the Ottoman state as it aligned with their goal of establishing a presence in Palestine.

Did these Zionists actively encourage the Young Turks to exterminate Armenians directly? It does not appear so, according to the Nili Network reports. However, as in the 2020 Karabakh War, with overwhelming strategic interests in the dynamic, Armenians became casualties.

It is not necessary to detail the scale of destruction and massive human suffering inflicted upon the Palestinians by the current Israeli government and argue for or against rationalizations offered by the Israeli state, political factions, its citizens, or its supporters who say that Hamas must be eliminated. Events in Gaza have reached genocidal proportions.

I do not speak for all, but this view is supported by many. Any effort to have the government of Israel, or any government capable of causing such extensive human and material devastation, recognize the Turkish extermination of the Armenians as genocide is beyond hypocritical, only to be surpassed Israeli recognition.

Yerevan, Armenia

About the Author

David Davidian is a lecturer at the American University of Armenia. He has spent over a decade in technical intelligence analysis at major high technology firms.

 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/we-dont-want-israels-recognition-of-the-turkish-genocide-of-the-armenians/ 

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Jerusalem Post

Sept 17 2024

Israel’s role in the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis: A troubling legacy - opinion

 

As the anniversary of Azerbaijan's attack on Nagorno-Karabakh approaches, the role of Israeli arms in the conflict raises critical questions.

By SHMUEL LEDERMAN

September 19 will mark the first anniversary of the Azerbaijani attack on the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which led to the destruction of its self-rule and compelled the exodus of its entire population of 120,000 ethnic Armenians, who are now refugees. This outrage, and continued aggression by Azerbaijan against Armenians and Armenia, is to a large degree enabled by Israeli drones and other weapons.

As an Israeli, and as a researcher of the history of genocide and antisemitism, this picture makes me deeply ashamed. That’s why I am scandalized by invectives against Armenia like Mordechai Kedar’s recent essay in The Jerusalem Post, which was based on a warped view of its relationship with Iran and falsehoods about alleged antisemitic incidents in the country.

Spreading such misinformation requires a special degree of chutzpah when one lives and works in Israel, which did much to enable the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh.

 

Consider the consensus in Israel about how Holocaust denial constitutes antisemitism. Well, Kedar is a citizen of a state that has consistently aided the deniers of the Armenian Genocide in multiple ways, by not recognizing it and by pressing for a long time the US Congress and presidents not to recognize it. Israel has been collaborating with such denial because of its political, economic, and military relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan as well as because of concerns that it would somehow undermine the claim for the uniqueness of the Holocaust.

 

One may argue that this is simply how politics and national anxieties work. Yet if we are consistent, we must nonetheless concede that this is a form of anti-Armenianism. And this anti-Armenianism has to do with the most tragic and devastating point in the history of the Armenian people and because it is state-run anti-Armenianism; imagine if the Armenian state was engaged in Holocaust denial or in supporting explicitly or implicitly Holocaust denial!

Instead of acknowledging Israeli anti-Armenianism, Kedar promotes it.

Even if one can be concerned about Armenia’s relations with Iran, they are primarily based on geographic and geopolitical necessities, and the reports of a massive weapons deal are lies. To suggest, as Kedar does, that Armenia has turned into an “Iranian proxy” is blatantly ridiculous and genuinely dangerous.

In Israeli and international discourse, the “Iranian proxies” are terrorist groups – Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas. The preposterous implication would be that Armenia is on its way to becoming another link in the Axis of Evil. What may be the outcome for Armenia if this kind of discourse is taken seriously – for example, by a Republican White House as impervious as Kedar is to nuances and any consideration that is not from the perspective of Israel’s security? 

 

One may argue that this is simply how politics and national anxieties work. Yet if we are consistent, we must nonetheless concede that this is a form of anti-Armenianism. And this anti-Armenianism has to do with the most tragic and devastating point in the history of the Armenian people and because it is state-run anti-Armenianism; imagine if the Armenian state was engaged in Holocaust denial or in supporting explicitly or implicitly Holocaust denial!

Instead of acknowledging Israeli anti-Armenianism, Kedar promotes it.

Even if one can be concerned about Armenia’s relations with Iran, they are primarily based on geographic and geopolitical necessities, and the reports of a massive weapons deal are lies. To suggest, as Kedar does, that Armenia has turned into an “Iranian proxy” is blatantly ridiculous and genuinely dangerous.

In Israeli and international discourse, the “Iranian proxies” are terrorist groups – Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas. The preposterous implication would be that Armenia is on its way to becoming another link in the Axis of Evil. What may be the outcome for Armenia if this kind of discourse is taken seriously – for example, by a Republican White House as impervious as Kedar is to nuances and any consideration that is not from the perspective of Israel’s security? 

 

Quite clearly, Kedar’s rage against Armenia has to do with more than its relations with Iran or the extent of alleged antisemitism within it. For a long time, Israel’s political establishment has held a grudge towards Armenia for showing support for the Palestinian struggle for liberation from the Israeli occupation, and more particularly for a Palestinian state. This grudge is quite evident in Kedar’s mentioning of Armenia’s recognition of “the nonexistent ‘Palestinian state’” and his remark that “anybody who knows the history of the Middle East remembers that Armenians have always supported Palestinian terrorist organizations.”

One can see that according to Kedar, Armenians have always supported terrorism, whether Palestinian or Iranian. If we turn this logic to Israel, we’d be forced to say that Israelis have always supported Turkish and Azeri state terrorism against the Armenians.

The truth is otherwise. There is a well-documented and ancient friendship between Jews and Armenians. The Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem is a cultural jewel that helps both peoples and must be preserved at all costs.

 

The Soviet experience

Throughout the Soviet experience, where Armenians and Jews stuck together in the face of Stalinism and Russian oppression. There were strong friendships forged in the Gulags, in Soviet academia, in writers’ and underground intellectual groups. There are large numbers of remarkable individuals of shared Armenian-Jewish ancestry: Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion; Levon Aronian, the chess grandmaster and two-time Olympic champion, Elena Bonner (Andrey Sakharov’s wife), and others.

Against this background, it is truly dispiriting to observe the lengths to which right-wingers in Israel go to disparage peoples and states – especially small and relatively weak ones – that dare to support the international consensus and international law: the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. These right-wingers believe that anyone who supports this must be antisemitic, a supporter of terrorism, an Iranian proxy, or simply blind, and no friend of Israel.

The Armenian government as well as Armenian intellectuals and civil society activists have repeatedly expressed their desire for better, genuinely friendly relations with Israel. They have done so while knowing full well the extent of Israel’s collaboration with the denial of the Armenian Genocide as well as Israeli relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, which have been quite devastating to Armenia. Israel has largely shunned these overtures. It barely disguises its cynicism: the young democracy in Armenia, it’s implied, has less to offer than Turkey and Azerbaijan.

 

In supporting a Palestinian state, Armenia has shown Israel friendship, not enmity. Who knows where we would have been today had Israel attempted to promote a peaceful resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians? Perhaps – no one can tell for sure, of course – October 7 would not have happened.

If one wants to offer some balance to Armenia’s relations with Iran and to help fight antisemitism within Armenia, one could do no better than to befriend Armenia. Israel should finally recognize the Armenian Genocide and should limit the kind of arms it sells to Turkey and Azerbaijan to make sure they are not used to further harm Armenia itself.

Since this is not something Israel is likely to do anytime soon, certainly not this government, Israelis should really be more humble and less hypocritical when talking about Armenia.

The writer, who specializes in genocide studies and political theory, teaches at the University of Haifa and serves as a research fellow at the Forum for Regional Thinking.

 

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-820411

 

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The Jewish Chronicle

Sept 18 2024

 

Armenia’s hidden Jewish cemetery tells a story of peaceful co-existence

Lost beneath vegetation for centuries, its restoration is revealing an unknown story

 

BY Gianluca Cecere

The warm wind blows steadily in August in Yerevan, Armenia, wrapping the city in a blanket of heat and dust that seems to suspend time. The road leading to the small village of Yeghegis, located in the mountainous region of Vayots’ Dzor, winds through hills and mountains, twisting through steep curves and over interrupted stretches of asphalt.

The landscape appears almost sculpted, made of rocks, grassy slopes and streams hidden among the trees. Travelling in Armenia often means facing rugged paths and this road is no exception.

Yeghegis is about 96 kilometres south of Yerevan, a region known for its rugged but picturesque landscapes, where every stone seems to tell a story. This small village, seemingly peaceful, carries the weight of a long history intertwined with the ancient caravan routes that connected East and West. Thanks to its proximity to the Ararat Valley and its relatively short distance from the Iranian border, Yeghegis was a cultural and commercial crossroads for centuries. In addition to merchants, religions, peoples and cultures all met and mingled here, creating a mosaic of human experiences and exchanges that shaped the character of this region.

 

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which broke out in the 1990s during the collapse of the Soviet Union, left deep scars in Yeghegis. The village, which until then had hosted a significant Azeri population, became a symbol of the ethnic violence that devastated the region. The Azeris were forced to abandon their homes, leaving behind a past of coexistence that seemed forever lost. This layer of recent history overlaps with the older one, giving Yeghegis an aura of intertwined memories, where the scars of war blend with those of time.

Yet among the silent hills surrounding Yeghegis lies an even more remote and surprising testimony: the Jewish cemetery, a place that tells a forgotten story of coexistence and mystery. Located on the outskirts of the village, this ancient cemetery is one of the few material proofs of the existence of a Jewish community in Armenia during the Middle Ages. Although some ancient sources mention the presence of Jews as early as the 2nd century BC, traces of these communities virtually disappeared in the following centuries. Thus the cemetery remained buried under vegetation for centuries, forgotten by travellers and scholars, until it was rediscovered by chance in 1996.

To reach this place visitors must leave the paved road and follow a cobblestone path winding between trees and shrubs.

Crossing a small bridge that spans the river of the same name, one is immersed in wild nature, almost symbolising the distance that separates the present from memory. At the end of a steep climb, one arrives at the cemetery, once buried under mounds of earth, stones and roots. It is difficult to imagine how this place could contain such a precious testimony of a lost community.

Bishop Mkrtchyan, together with his brother, discovered the site while preparing a camp for orphans of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The discovery of 64 gravestones, some of which bore inscriptions in Hebrew and Aramaic, shocked historians and the academic community. For centuries, nothing had been known about medieval Jews in Armenia, and suddenly this cemetery brought to light a long-buried history. The gravestones, decorated with symbols and inscriptions, date the site between 1266 and 1347, suggesting the existence of a prosperous Jewish community for at least 70 years.

Many questions remain. Where did these Jews come from? How did they arrive in this remote region of Armenia? And why did they disappear so suddenly, leaving no traces in written history? The cemetery, with its silent stones, remains mute on these matters, fuelling the mystery surrounding Yeghegis’s Jewish community.

Subsequent studies following the discovery, conducted by historians and archaeologists, such as Professor Michael Stone of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Dr Davit Amit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, revealed fascinating details.

The inscriptions on the gravestones show names and dates but do not explain the reason for the Jewish presence. Some suggest that the community might have been an isolated branch of larger Jewish communities in Iran or northern Caucasus.

Theories abound, but the Yeghegis cemetery remains an unsolved enigma, a place where history seems to have stopped.

Beyond its mystery, the cemetery also represents a symbol of peaceful coexistence. In an era when wars and persecutions were commonplace, it seems that the Jews of Yeghegis lived in harmony with the local Christian population.

It is moving to think that in this remote corner of the Caucasus, Jews and Armenians could share everyday life, even if only for a brief period.

The cemetery has been restored and is now surrounded by a fence with a gate bearing the Star of David. It has become a place of pilgrimage for historians, archaeologists and curious visitors seeking to uncover this forgotten piece of history. The ancient stones, worn by time and the elements, speak of a community that, despite isolation and hardships, sought to keep its traditions alive. Their disappearance remains a reminder of the fragility of human life and civilizations.

Jewish history in Armenia does not end with Yeghegis. Only between the 19th and 20th centuries, and particularly during the years of the Soviet Union, did a few hundred Jews move from Russia to Armenia. In the Caucasian state, discriminatory pressure was less intense, and they could share a life with the ancient Armenian people sufficiently distant from pogroms and, more generally, from repressive policies. However, it involved only a few hundred people, and even today, the Jewish community, mainly settled in Yerevan, remains small.

The allure of this place lies in the mystery that surrounds it, but also in the fact that every trace of shared life between the two peoples, Armenians and Jews, inspires and moves. It does so because the fate of both has been dramatic, especially in the 20th century. The massacre or genocide of the Armenians was completed exactly a century ago. The genocide of the Jews followed the example of the first. Two peoples who, in this region, probably supported each other and ultimately met a similar fate. The journey to Yerevan is filled with thoughts. The mountains seem more imposing, the landscape vaster.

The mystery of Yeghegis has not been solved, but this makes it even more fascinating. In an era where we seek quick and certain answers, Yeghegis teaches us the importance of accepting uncertainty, listening to the voices of the past, and respecting the silence that surrounds the mysteries of history.

Gianluca Cecere is a photographer

https://www.thejc.com/news/world/armenias-hidden-jewish-cemetery-tells-a-story-of-peaceful-co-existence-ynsmzkw0

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YNet, Israel

Oct 31 2024

 

 

Time for Israel to do what’s right: Recognize Armenian genocide, establish embassy in Yerevan

Opinion: By affirming shared history and values with Armenia, Israel has a key opportunity to support justice and historical memory without major risks to strategic alliances

Nadav Tamir

 

 

 

The High Holidays are a time for reflection on one’s actions, and a resolution to do the right thing in the coming year. That goes, or should go, for countries as well. In international relations, doing the right thing can often feel difficult, especially when strategic interests are at stake – but Israel finds itself at such a juncture, and it is one that has nothing to do with the war that currently consumes our thinking.

 

Israel’s close relationship with Azerbaijan, Armenia’s long-standing rival, is such a case. And yet Jerusalem should get over this and deliver a much-needed message of a value-driven foreign policy by recognizing the Armenian genocide and opening an embassy in Yerevan. 

Yes, Azerbaijan will be unhappy. Baku supplies Israel with significant oil reserves and purchases advanced weaponry, forming an essential part of Israel's defense strategy against regional threats, particularly Iran. But Azerbaijan will understand because the relations with Israel are a two-way street and Azerbaijan benefits from them as well.

Israel and Armenia share more commonalities than meet the eye. Both nations are non-Muslim civilizations on the periphery of a largely Muslim region. Both have endured immense historical tragedies and are survivors of near annihilation—Armenians during the genocide of 1915, and Jews during the Holocaust. Israel’s recognition of the Armenian genocide would, in many ways, be a moral affirmation of shared history, acknowledging the suffering of another people with whom it shares a deep affinity.

The political calculus behind Israel’s hesitation has long been rooted in its strategic ties with Turkey, not just Azerbaijan. Recognizing the genocide could have once jeopardized relations with Turkey, a NATO ally and key regional player.

 

But Turkey's position in Israel's foreign policy calculus has drastically shifted, especially under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government. His outrageous comments in recent years, including comparing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler and his unlimited support for Hamas, have led to a serious strain in relations. There is little reason left for Israel to fear Turkish retaliation for recognizing the Armenian genocide. In fact, taking such a step would send Ankara a much-needed message.

Israel’s military support to Azerbaijan alongside Turkey and Pakistan while all Western countries refrained from doing so—some of which contributed to the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023—has cast a shadow over Israel’s moral standing. A balanced move would be to open an embassy in Armenia and recognize the genocide, both of which can reaffirm Israel’s commitment to historical justice without jeopardizing strategic alliances.

Moreover, when Israel criticizes Armenia for recognizing a Palestinian state, it would do well to remember that Azerbaijan itself recognized Palestinian statehood back in 1992. Israel has managed its relations with Baku without making the Palestinian issue a point of contention, so it should not apply a double standard when it comes to Yerevan.

From a logistical and cost perspective, opening an embassy in Yerevan is a relatively low-investment decision and the symbolic importance of establishing formal diplomatic ties there far outweighs the costs. The move would also pave the way for stronger economic collaboration, particularly in Armenia’s growing high-tech sector, where Israel excels and can offer valuable support. As a young democracy, Armenia has much to learn from Israel’s experience in building a resilient, innovation-driven economy.

 

There is also an enduring historical connection between the two peoples. The Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City stands as a testament to the deep-rooted relationship between Armenians and Jews. Both peoples have weathered the storms of history, surviving existential threats and preserving their cultures and identities. Recognizing the Armenian genocide would be a profound gesture of solidarity between two ancient peoples who understand the horrors of persecution and displacement.

Ultimately, Israel has an opportunity to recalibrate its foreign policy in the South Caucasus. By recognizing the Armenian genocide and opening an embassy in Yerevan, Israel can demonstrate that it stands for justice, historical memory and the principles it was founded upon. Doing so would require little sacrifice in terms of realpolitik, while delivering a critical message to Turkey and reaffirming Israel’s moral leadership on the global stage.

Let’s do the right thing in 5785 —both for Israel itself and for the broader region.

• Nadav Tamir is a former Israeli diplomat and adviser to President Shimon Peres.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/skyjfsg111x