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GENOCIDE SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED
By Dr. Nicole Vartanian
Metro, NY
http://ny.metro.us/metro/blog/my_view/entry/Gen ocide_should_be_recognized/10466.html
Oct 25 2007
Recently, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a non-binding
resolution labeling as genocide the killing of 1.5 million Armenians
by Turkish forces of the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1915. In
response, the Republic of Turkey threatened to withdraw its support
for U.S. efforts in the Iraq war, thereby inciting calls for the
resolution to be blocked from a full House vote.
The next day Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show" crack writers noted
the apparent quid pro quo available for historical revisionism in
exchange for participation in the war coalition. They hit their mark
by conjecturing that if Germany would have joined the war on terror,
the U.S. "could have turned the Holocaust into a 'Half-a-caust.'"
Stewart distilled the debate's precise premise: If our politicians
concede to Turkey's hyperbolic reactions toward our legislative
process, we will be complicit in selling history.
We even know what that price is. An article in last week's New York
Times detailed the Turkish government's vast payouts to Washington
lobbying firms - and the ex-Congressmen they employ - to fund genocide
denial, including contributions to members of Congress.
Guided by these tallies, we could prepare invoices for other
governments seeking a means of obfuscating their past transgressions.
In the face of this denial, 22 countries and 40 U.S. states have
officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. Still, some people
question the "relevance" of acknowledging the event as genocide
92 years later. To illustrate the significance, I would ask us to
fast forward 24 years and imagine if Jews were still fighting for
acknowledgement of the Holocaust.
Then, imagine the Republic of Germany funneling millions of dollars
into Washington to propagate this denial, imperiling access to U.S.
bases and threatening diplomatic relations. And please further imagine
our administration begging Congress not to set the historical record
straight. That is a world in which I most certainly would not want
to live.
However, this is the worldview we would endorse if we concede to those
who wish to prevent recognition of the Armenian Genocide. At stake are
both the sanctity of history and the sovereignty of our democracy -
two sacred principles whose value should exceed any offers made by
the highest bidder.
Dr. Vartanian is on the board of the Genocide Education Project,
a not-for-profit organization supporting the teaching of genocide
in schools.
By Dr. Nicole Vartanian
Metro, NY
http://ny.metro.us/metro/blog/my_view/entry/Gen ocide_should_be_recognized/10466.html
Oct 25 2007
Recently, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a non-binding
resolution labeling as genocide the killing of 1.5 million Armenians
by Turkish forces of the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1915. In
response, the Republic of Turkey threatened to withdraw its support
for U.S. efforts in the Iraq war, thereby inciting calls for the
resolution to be blocked from a full House vote.
The next day Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show" crack writers noted
the apparent quid pro quo available for historical revisionism in
exchange for participation in the war coalition. They hit their mark
by conjecturing that if Germany would have joined the war on terror,
the U.S. "could have turned the Holocaust into a 'Half-a-caust.'"
Stewart distilled the debate's precise premise: If our politicians
concede to Turkey's hyperbolic reactions toward our legislative
process, we will be complicit in selling history.
We even know what that price is. An article in last week's New York
Times detailed the Turkish government's vast payouts to Washington
lobbying firms - and the ex-Congressmen they employ - to fund genocide
denial, including contributions to members of Congress.
Guided by these tallies, we could prepare invoices for other
governments seeking a means of obfuscating their past transgressions.
In the face of this denial, 22 countries and 40 U.S. states have
officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. Still, some people
question the "relevance" of acknowledging the event as genocide
92 years later. To illustrate the significance, I would ask us to
fast forward 24 years and imagine if Jews were still fighting for
acknowledgement of the Holocaust.
Then, imagine the Republic of Germany funneling millions of dollars
into Washington to propagate this denial, imperiling access to U.S.
bases and threatening diplomatic relations. And please further imagine
our administration begging Congress not to set the historical record
straight. That is a world in which I most certainly would not want
to live.
However, this is the worldview we would endorse if we concede to those
who wish to prevent recognition of the Armenian Genocide. At stake are
both the sanctity of history and the sovereignty of our democracy -
two sacred principles whose value should exceed any offers made by
the highest bidder.
Dr. Vartanian is on the board of the Genocide Education Project,
a not-for-profit organization supporting the teaching of genocide
in schools.