Opinion
World Jewry Cannot Become a Tool in the Hands of Anti-Armenian Propagators
By Rimma Varzhapetyan-Feller
On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, when the civilized world stands together with Armenia and the Armenian people to honor the memory of one and a half million innocent victims killed in the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish-Azerbaijani propaganda machine has become agitated. Pursuing a goal to distract the attention of the international community and attract support from different Jewish community structures, targeted efforts have been exerted
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“Maxime Gauin, who presents Armenia as an anti-Semitic country, himself publicly supports the ultra-right party of Turkey, the Nationalist Movement Party. Apart from its stated position supporting the denial of the Armenian Genocide, that party is known for propagating anti-Semitism and xenophobia. Yet, Gauin turns a blind eye to this.”
Rimma Varzhapetyan-Feller, thank you for giving some background on this guy. I’ve debated with him on occasion on internet forums such as AW before. You could just feel his anti-Armenian bias. However, I did not know he supported the ultra-right parties in Turkey. It fits in with the intentions in his writings.
He jumped on the “anti-semitism in Armenian as a great threat” bandwagon, but has turned, as you say, a blind eye to anti-semitsm in Turkey where a synagogue has been bombed three times. He turns into an apologist when the light is shone on racism in Turkey.
Very nice article. Hopefully, it will be published soon in Haaretz, jns.org, and thehill.com.
Kudos to Ms. Varzhapetyan-Feller for this excellent expose of the filthy denialists.
Great job naming names and debunking the false narratives these paid Anti-Armenian shills have been shamelessly peddling all these years.
In particular, it is quite satisfying to see Ms. Varzhapetyan-Feller cut down to size the Turkophile Jewish-French denialist Maxime Gauin.
He is very active in the blogosphere with his denialist, Anti-Armenian, pro-Turkish, pro-Turkbaijani disinformation campaign.
(he was very active @AW for a while also: couldn’t stand the heat, so left to spew his denialist bile at other sites).
Denialist Gauine is very fond of painting Armenians as alleged supporters of Nazis, which he injects in almost all of his posts: Kudos, again, to Jewish-Armenian Ms. Varzhapetyan-Feller for forcefully shutting down that monstrous, vile lie as well: “…- to save the POWs from physical extermination and afford them an opportunity to escape and rejoin the Soviet Army. Numerous soldiers of the Soviet Army were saved this very way: Armenians, Yazidis, Greeks, Assyrians, Russians, and Jews among them.”
btw: Maxime Gauin is a researcher at USAK (Uluslararası Stratejik Araştırmalar Kurumu) in Ankara.
This is the country this Jewish man is working for and living in, while accusing Armenians:
[Mouradian: ‘Missing Hitler’s Spirit’: The Problematic Post-Flotilla Discourse in Turkey]
http://armenianweekly.com/2010/06/07/hitler-turkey/
Yep, Turks gathered under the Nazi Swastika flag with the added writing on the flag congratulating Nazis: “Ellerinize Saglik”.
And Armenian history cannot be allowed to become a tool for Zionists to make political propaganda against opponents of Israel’s policies or a stick to prod Turkey back into its former “you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” alliance with Israel. History is not there not be abused for short-term political goals. Jewish organisations who for years willingly acted as proxy genocide deniers on behalf of Ankara cannot be allowed to conveniently (for them) now become proxy activists for Armenians and for truth. If they are allowed to, both Armenia and truth will suffer from being associated with such organisations.
Ms Varzhapetyan-Feller is correct in pointing out that these articles are intended to, and indeed do, have an insidious impact on Jewish-Armenian relations. A couple of weeks ago long-standing Jewish friends of mine from Sydney (themselves intimately acquainted with both Armenian and Jewish history) sent me the link to Arye Gut’s article in jns.org, expressing concerns about the article’s contents.
Driving a wedge between Jews and Armenians – either by casting Armenians as unapologetic, rabid antisemites or by reaffirming the historical factuality of the Holocaust while dismissing the Armenian “tragedy” – is a long-standing strategy used by deniers of the Armenian genocide and other Armenophobes to influence what they see as a key stakeholder group, namely Israel and the wider Jewish diaspora.
As an Armenian, I wish I could say that being a member of a historically presecuted minority accords immunity against racism and antisemitism. It doesn’t. There are Armenian racists and antisemites out there – both in Armenia and in our diaspora. And they should be condemned by right-thinking Armenians.
But those kooks needn’t, and don’t, define Armenians’ relationship with Jews. As a former student of Holocaust and genocide studies, and as an Armenian, I cannot but help feel gratitude to the many Jewish scholars and human rights advocates (think James Russell, Michael Stone, Yehuda Bauer, Israel Charny, Yair Auron, Yossi Sarid and Colin Tatz, and many more) who’ve been at the forefront of getting the Armenian genocide accepted as historical fact worldwide.
There wasn’t much self-interest for them in doing so – it was right and they did it. And they honoured the spirit of the Henry Morgenthaus, Franz Werfels and Raphael Lemkins that came before them.
The people pursuing the anti-Armenian agenda identified by Ms Varzhapetyan-Feller will not undo this work, nor render irrelevant the drastic similarities that exist in the histories of these two ancient peoples.
{“There are Armenian racists and antisemites out there – both in Armenia and in our diaspora.”}
Indeed there are.
It would be completely illogical to expect otherwise: nobody claims the Armenian Nation is composed entirely of angels.
At the same time, there are many Jewish Anti-Christians and Anti-Armenians, both in Israel and here in US.
In Israel, Armenian priests are regularly spat on and harassed by local Jewish religious nuts.
The difference between Armenian anti-Semites and Jewish Anti-Christian/Anti-Armenians is that Armenian anti-Semites are shunned and marginalized by Armenians at large.
I am not aware of any Armenian scholars or intellectuals who have a platform to openly spew anti-Semitism.
Yet we have countless Jewish scholars, intellectuals, politicians and NGOs who are openly and actively Anti-Armenian and Anti-Christian.
Yes, actively participating in the Denial of the Armenian Genocide is Anti-Armenian and Anti-Christian.
Armenians have no need to apologize to anyone.
It’s the other way around: Denialists need to apologize to Armenians, and start actively working _against_ AG denial and for its universal recognition.
Merely apologizing does not erase the damage caused by years of active denial activity.
Jewish people are well aware of the anti Israel policies by Turkey and the dirty tricks and lies perpetrated by Azeris to muddy the water for their own political ends and not out of love for Israel or the Jewish people. Armenians and Jewish people have had a similar historical experience and have always had a friendly and tolerant coexistance. I feel certain that both nations will see the Azeri lies for what they are.