IT’S TIME TO ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
City on a Hill Press, CA
Oct 18 2007
America doesn’t recognize genocide, hides behind political fear of
confrontation with Turkey
Men, women and children were roped together by the edge of a river,
so that shooting the first person caused the rest to drown. Women
were routinely raped, killed and genitally mutilated. Some were
crucified. Two million Armenians were forced out of their homeland
and then murdered, exiled, tortured or starved.
During World War I, from 1915 to 1918 and 1920 to 1923, over 1.5
million Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
Since then, historians have debated as to whether this was a massive
genocide or the consequence of a war that cost the lives of many of
the world’s citizens.
Today, the debate has hit the White House and it is no longer up to
only historians to fit the pieces together. The United States and the
Bush administration must now take a stance and decide whether we as
a country believe these killings should be called "genocide."
California has already spoken up.
For years, the state has gone on record in condemning the barbaric
act. Two years ago, the legislature passed Senate Bill 424 by former
Senator Chuck Poochigian, to declare April 24 of each year as the
official day of remembrance in California for the Armenian genocide.
Now it’s time for the United States to join in these efforts to
recognize the atrocities that happened some 92 years ago.
Members of the House Foreign Relations Committee have approved House
Resolution 106, a human rights legislation authored by U.S. Rep. Adam
Schiff (D-CA), that will put U.S. government on record in recognizing
the mayhem committed by the Ottoman Turks following WWI as a mass
genocide against innocent people in an act of ethnic "cleansing." The
House of Representatives is then expected to review this bill in
November.
Gareth Jones of Reuters, an international news source, reports, "NATO
member Turkey has recalled its envoy to Washington for consultations
and has hinted it might halt logistical support to U.S. troops serving
in Iraq and Afghanistan if the bill passes. It may also deny U.S. firms
lucrative defense contracts."
Although one of America’s strongest allies, Turkey is known to take
the talk of genocide personally.
"Turkey suspended its military ties with France last year after the
French Parliament’s lower house adopted a bill that would have made
it a crime to deny that the Armenian killing constituted a genocide,"
National Public Radio reported last week.
Although most bills accurately describe that the genocide was in
fact not carried out by the Republic of Turkey-because it did not
yet exist-but was instead the responsibility of the ruling party of
the collapsing Ottoman regime, the Turkish government has made it
clear that "Armenians were simply unfortunate victims of a chaotic
civil war, that only 300,000 to 600,000 died, that Turks actually
died in greater numbers, and that the Armenians brought their fate
on themselves by collaborating with the Russians."
The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
and Crime of Genocide describes genocide as "acts committed with
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial
or religious group."
Clearly, that is what happened during World War I, and clearly the
United States should not take any threats as an excuse to not hold
an opinion on what happened.
If Congress passes the bill, the United States will be the 24th
country to declare the historical, barbaric event as a genocide,
joining countries such as France, Greece and Canada.
Let us not forget the atrocities that bear witness no more than a
decade ago in Rwanda, Africa. Rwanda’s genocide took place in 1994,
taking the lives of one million people at the hands of the Hutus, who
believed that getting rid of Tutsis would bring peace to their country.
The reoccurrence of genocide in the 20th century is a clear reason why
the United States needs to pass the HR 106 in November. Declaring the
atrocities that occurred in World War I to the people of Armenia as
genocide, takes our country one step to closer to setting an example
as the home of the free and the land of the brave.
If we say this is what we are, let’s mean it. It is up to the people
of this world, the survivors, the descendants, and anyone who agrees
with these words today to ensure that never again will innocent people
be persecuted because of their ethnic background, religion or race.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
