Assyrian International News Agency
Dec 15 2007
International Genocide Scholars Association Officially Recognizes
Assyrian, Greek Genocides
In a groundbreaking move, the International Association of Genocide
Scholars (IAGS) has voted overwhelmingly to recognize the genocides
inflicted on Assyrian and Greek populations of the Ottoman Empire
between 1914 and 1923.
The resolution passed with the support of fully 83 percent of IAGS
members who voted. The resolution (text below) declares that "it is
the conviction of the International Association of Genocide Scholars
that the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire
between 1914 and 1923 constituted a genocide against Armenians,
Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks." It "calls upon the
government of Turkey to acknowledge the genocides against these
populations, to issue a formal apology, and to take prompt and
meaningful steps toward restitution."
In 1997, the IAGS officially recognized the Armenian genocide. The
current resolution notes that while activist and scholarly efforts
have resulted in widespread acceptance of the Armenian genocide,
there has been "little recognition of the qualitatively similar
genocides against other Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire."
Assyrians, along with Pontian and Anatolian Greeks, were killed on a
scale equivalent in per capita terms to the catastrophe inflicted on
the Armenian population of the empire — and by much the same
methods, including mass executions, death marches, and starvation.
IAGS member Adam Jones drafted the resolution, and lobbied for it
along with fellow member Thea Halo, whose mother Sano survived the
Pontian Greek genocide. In an address to the membership at the IAGS
conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in July 2007, Jones paid tribute to
the efforts of "representatives of the Greek and Assyrian communities
… to publicize and call on the present Turkish government to
acknowledge the genocides inflicted on their populations," which had
made Asia Minor their home for millennia. The umbrella term
"Assyrians" includes Chaldeans, Nestorians, Syriacs, Aramaens,
Eastern Orthodox Syrians, and Jacobites.
"The overwhelming backing given to this resolution by the world’s
leading genocide scholars organization will help to raise
consciousness about the Assyrian and Greek genocides," Jones said on
December 15. "It will also act as a powerful counter to those,
especially in present-day Turkey, who still ignore or deny outright
the genocides of the Ottoman Christian minorities."
The resolution stated that "the denial of genocide is widely
recognized as the final stage of genocide, enshrining impunity for
the perpetrators of genocide, and demonstrably paving the way for
future genocides." The Assyrian population of Iraq, for example,
remains highly vulnerable to genocidal attack. Since 2003, Iraqi
Assyrians have been exposed to severe persecution and "ethnic
cleansing"; it is believed that up to half the Assyrian population
has fled the country.
Extensive supporting documentation for the Assyrian and Greek
genocides was circulated to IAGS members in the months prior to the
vote, and is available at
porting_documentation.htm.
IAGS President Gregory Stanton may be contacted at
[email protected].
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Full Text Of The Iags Resolution:
WHEREAS the denial of genocide is widely recognized as the final
stage of genocide, enshrining impunity for the perpetrators of
genocide, and demonstrably paving the way for future genocides;
WHEREAS the Ottoman genocide against minority populations during and
following the First World War is usually depicted as a genocide
against Armenians alone, with little recognition of the qualitatively
similar genocides against other Christian minorities of the Ottoman
Empire;
BE IT RESOLVED that it is the conviction of the International
Association of Genocide Scholars that the Ottoman campaign against
Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted
a genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian
Greeks.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Association calls upon the government
of Turkey to acknowledge the genocides against these populations, to
issue a formal apology, and to take prompt and meaningful steps
toward restitution.
By Adam Jones, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Political Science
University of British Columbia Okanagan
December 15, 2007