Tweet
Time Has Come To Get Beyond Recognition
By MassisPost
Updated: April 27, 2014
Dr. Harry Sarafian, Social Democrat Hunchakian Party Central Committee
Secretary, took part in commemorating the 99th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide in Pasadena California. The following is his speech
in its entirety:
As Armenians across the globe commemorate the 99th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, I am sure each and every one of us has their sights
set on April 24, 2015, the centennial of the first Genocide of the
20th century. Confidentially, that date also represents the 50th
anniversary of the day when the Armenian nation refused to continue to
be the sorrowful and grief-stricken group of people who simply mourned
the victims of the genocide and instead embarked upon the quest for
worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide and restoration of
justice.
Indeed, the past five decades have been a mixture of achievements and
disappointments. To date, 21 countries have formally recognized the
Armenian Genocide and here in the US, 43 states have passed
resolutions or issued proclamations in reference to the Genocide.
Unfortunately, year after year, facing immense pressure and relenting
to threats made by the Turkish government, every president since
Ronald Reagan in 1981 when issuing a statement on April 24th has
danced around the word genocide by using every available euphemism in
the English dictionary. This year was no exception and as citizens of
this great country of ours we are disappointed that our own government
cannot muster the courage to do the right thing and once and for all
recognize the Armenian genocide.
As we look ahead to the centennial anniversary and beyond, we realize
that there is much work left to be done. While we have succeeded in
making the Armenian Genocide an internationally accepted fact,
successive Turkish governments have not only steadfastly denied the
genocide but also have led a shameful campaign of distortion,
obfuscation and outright lies cleansing their history books of any
reference to the darkest passages of their recent history or turning
the facts upside down by making the victim into a villain. In the past
decade, any brave soul who dared to question the official version of
events, most prominently our beloved Hrant Dink, was charged with the
infamous article 301 of the Turkish penal code for `insulting
Turkishness'.
More recently, the Turkish government seems to have adopted a new
approach regarding the genocide issue. During his visit to Yerevan in
December of last year, the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu
called the deportation of the Armenians in 1915 as inhumane. Had he
stopped there, it would have been considered a tiny step forward.
Unfortunately he went on to say that Armenians in their `collective
consciousness' had mischaracterized the deportations as genocide, thus
rendering his whole statement meaningless.
Yesterday, the prime minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a
statement offering condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians who,
in his words, lost their lives `in the context of the early twentieth
century' implying that Armenians were not systematically massacred but
were just casualties of WW I just like other citizens of the Ottoman
Empire. This woefully inadequate and misleading statement once again
shows that the Turkish government is far from being ready to honestly
confront its own history and is nothing more than a reaffirmation of
the Turkish policy of denial presented in a more nuanced way. Their
calls for reconciliation and dialogue sound hollow when they have
unilaterally sealed their border with Armenia and continue to deny the
Genocide.
Neither Mr. Erdogan nor Mr. Davutoglu seem to realize that the time
for half truths and distorted facts has passed. It is indeed a shame
that instead of using both occasions to make meaningful and
constructive statements, they chose to engage in pure demagoguery.
As we approach the centennial, we need to be mindful of the challenges
that lie ahead.
In our pursuit of Genocide recognition we have spent enormous amount
of time and resources and yet have done little toward establishing the
legal framework upon which our demands for compensation and reparation
will be based. Recognition by Turkey without reparation will be
meaningless. The Turkish government is well aware of this and that is
why it is doing everything in its power to keep us stuck at the
recognition phase. I believe the time has come to get beyond
recognition and start work on the next phase, which will require far
more extensive resources and expertise.
Also, it is imperative that there be a better coordination and
cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the Diaspora. The
priorities and the roles have to be clearly defined so that we do not
find ourselves in the same quandary as we did in 2009 when the
protocols were negotiated and signed without any input from the
Diaspora.
Although our task in enormous and the challenge is great we remain
optimistic and resolute, because despite the passage of time, the
fading memories and only a handful of Genocide survivors remaining,
the struggle for the Armenian Cause has been ingrained in our nation's
DNA and is seamlessly passing from one generation to the other, thus
giving us hope to believe that our future generations will carry on
with the fight until justice prevails.
http://massispost.com/2014/04/the-time-has-come-to-get-beyond-recognition/
By MassisPost
Updated: April 27, 2014
Dr. Harry Sarafian, Social Democrat Hunchakian Party Central Committee
Secretary, took part in commemorating the 99th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide in Pasadena California. The following is his speech
in its entirety:
As Armenians across the globe commemorate the 99th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, I am sure each and every one of us has their sights
set on April 24, 2015, the centennial of the first Genocide of the
20th century. Confidentially, that date also represents the 50th
anniversary of the day when the Armenian nation refused to continue to
be the sorrowful and grief-stricken group of people who simply mourned
the victims of the genocide and instead embarked upon the quest for
worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide and restoration of
justice.
Indeed, the past five decades have been a mixture of achievements and
disappointments. To date, 21 countries have formally recognized the
Armenian Genocide and here in the US, 43 states have passed
resolutions or issued proclamations in reference to the Genocide.
Unfortunately, year after year, facing immense pressure and relenting
to threats made by the Turkish government, every president since
Ronald Reagan in 1981 when issuing a statement on April 24th has
danced around the word genocide by using every available euphemism in
the English dictionary. This year was no exception and as citizens of
this great country of ours we are disappointed that our own government
cannot muster the courage to do the right thing and once and for all
recognize the Armenian genocide.
As we look ahead to the centennial anniversary and beyond, we realize
that there is much work left to be done. While we have succeeded in
making the Armenian Genocide an internationally accepted fact,
successive Turkish governments have not only steadfastly denied the
genocide but also have led a shameful campaign of distortion,
obfuscation and outright lies cleansing their history books of any
reference to the darkest passages of their recent history or turning
the facts upside down by making the victim into a villain. In the past
decade, any brave soul who dared to question the official version of
events, most prominently our beloved Hrant Dink, was charged with the
infamous article 301 of the Turkish penal code for `insulting
Turkishness'.
More recently, the Turkish government seems to have adopted a new
approach regarding the genocide issue. During his visit to Yerevan in
December of last year, the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu
called the deportation of the Armenians in 1915 as inhumane. Had he
stopped there, it would have been considered a tiny step forward.
Unfortunately he went on to say that Armenians in their `collective
consciousness' had mischaracterized the deportations as genocide, thus
rendering his whole statement meaningless.
Yesterday, the prime minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a
statement offering condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians who,
in his words, lost their lives `in the context of the early twentieth
century' implying that Armenians were not systematically massacred but
were just casualties of WW I just like other citizens of the Ottoman
Empire. This woefully inadequate and misleading statement once again
shows that the Turkish government is far from being ready to honestly
confront its own history and is nothing more than a reaffirmation of
the Turkish policy of denial presented in a more nuanced way. Their
calls for reconciliation and dialogue sound hollow when they have
unilaterally sealed their border with Armenia and continue to deny the
Genocide.
Neither Mr. Erdogan nor Mr. Davutoglu seem to realize that the time
for half truths and distorted facts has passed. It is indeed a shame
that instead of using both occasions to make meaningful and
constructive statements, they chose to engage in pure demagoguery.
As we approach the centennial, we need to be mindful of the challenges
that lie ahead.
In our pursuit of Genocide recognition we have spent enormous amount
of time and resources and yet have done little toward establishing the
legal framework upon which our demands for compensation and reparation
will be based. Recognition by Turkey without reparation will be
meaningless. The Turkish government is well aware of this and that is
why it is doing everything in its power to keep us stuck at the
recognition phase. I believe the time has come to get beyond
recognition and start work on the next phase, which will require far
more extensive resources and expertise.
Also, it is imperative that there be a better coordination and
cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the Diaspora. The
priorities and the roles have to be clearly defined so that we do not
find ourselves in the same quandary as we did in 2009 when the
protocols were negotiated and signed without any input from the
Diaspora.
Although our task in enormous and the challenge is great we remain
optimistic and resolute, because despite the passage of time, the
fading memories and only a handful of Genocide survivors remaining,
the struggle for the Armenian Cause has been ingrained in our nation's
DNA and is seamlessly passing from one generation to the other, thus
giving us hope to believe that our future generations will carry on
with the fight until justice prevails.
http://massispost.com/2014/04/the-time-has-come-to-get-beyond-recognition/