This April, Turkey’s leaders succeeded in preventing President Barack Obama from honoring his promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide on the false premise that Ankara would normalize its relations with Armenia, but only if the U.S. president broke this high-profile human rights pledge.
A classic example of bait and switch.
First the bait: In the weeks leading up to April 24, Turkey lured the Obama Administration with the prospect of a win-win Armenia-Turkey “road map” that would, without preconditions, lead quickly to the opening of the last closed border in Europe. Ankara’s price tag for ending its illegal blockade: the president’s refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Once the hook was set, Turkey kept the U.S. government on the line long enough to accomplish its main aim of securing the complicity of yet another U.S. administration in their longstanding campaign of genocide denial.
The State Department publicly welcomed Turkey’s stated willingness to normalize its bilateral relations with Armenia without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe.
On April 24, as has been widely reported, the president broke his pledge.
Then came the switch: Within hours after April 24, Turkey, having dodged the most serious threat it had faced of U.S. recognition in years, moved the goalposts down the field, claiming that the normalization of ties with Armenia, which it once held out as being only days away, now required Azerbaijan’s approval and the resolution of the longstanding Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.
Today, more than a month and a half after April 24, it’s painfully clear that Turkey’s preconditions are just a pretext for maintaining the status quo, and equally obvious that Ankara has no intention of honoring its commitments, now or in the near future.
The facts bear this out, at the cost, sadly, of U.S. credibility:
Despite the repeatedly stated U.S. position of no preconditions, Ankara has, very publicly, set preconditions—namely a third country’s approval and the settlement of a longstanding regional conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabagh.
Despite the U.S. position that Turkey should move within a reasonable timeframe to normalize relations and lifts its blockade of Armenia, Ankara has yet to take even a single meaningful step in this direction.
Let’s look at the balance sheet.
For Turkey
Turkey’s leaders, through clever manipulations of U.S. expectations, accomplished their primary goal of blocking American recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and, in the process, fostered the artificial appearance of flexibility without, in reality, having made any concessions at all.
It’s a win as well for Turkey’s Washington, D.C.-based lobbyists, who make millions by delaying, derailing, and defeating U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
For the United States
President Obama, at the expense of his reputation and America’s moral standing, broke his crystal-clear public pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The State Department, at the cost of American diplomatic credibility, supported Armenia-Turkey normalization without preconditions and within a reasonable time frame, only to have Turkey set preconditions and entirely ignore the urgent need for timely action.
For Armenia
Armenia’s leaders banked on Turkey’s sincerity in seeking normalized ties and the lifting of Ankara’s blockade, only to have the diplomatic tables turned by Ankara against Armenian Genocide recognition efforts and the prospect of a durable resolution of the Karabagh conflict.
For Armenian Americans
Armenian Americans worked hard as citizens to help elect Barack Obama based, in large part, on his clearly stated and oft-repeated pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide, only to have him, under pressure from a foreign government, break this solemn pledge as president.
***
This April, Turkey clearly succeeded in manipulating U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide. Its leaders have made no secret of the success of their bait and switch diplomacy, even boasting to their electorate about having used this clever tactic to once again block American recognition.
Turkey has made its choice; now as Americans we must make ours.
Get America back on the right side of this human rights issue. Join with the ANCA in urging President Obama to restore American credibility as the leader of the genocide-prevention movement by:
1) Immediately honoring his solemn pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and
2) Actively supporting legislation before Congress to properly condemn and commemorate this crime against humanity.
Aram Hamparian
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ANCA, being off the mark on this one, is in danger of being marginalized, and drag our issues down with this negative stance.
Garbis, please explain. ANCA ” off the mark”? How, why? “in danger of being marginalized”? By whom? “negative stance”? As opposed to “positive” stance? What would your stance be? Perhaps
I may agree with you if you could flesh out your comments with substantive, logical and persuasive
arguments.
I wonder who exactly counted on Obama to use the G word? Naive Armenians who also counted on VP Biden, and SOS Hillary Clinton to come thru, and they didn’t. Not to mention our alleged “friend,” Samantha Power.
The naivete of it all.
And what are the prospects now for the genocide resolution? About 10%, I would say.
And that leaves us (I use the word “us” very loosely) up the creek without a paddle.
What is Plan B? It looks to me like there isn’t any.
Mr Hamparian should have another demand – actually the first demand on his list, namely demand the resignation of Samantha Power as the intermidiary who lured and deceived the Armenian voters and supporters worldwide. If she was sincere and was not deceiving the Armenians, for example in her famous You Tube message solemnly promisisng Obama will recognise the Armenian Genocide, and really beleived what she was saying then it follows that, as a matter of principle and her political integrity, she must resign. In any case she has not delivered and must therefore answer for her failure. She must be held accountable and the Armenians are the ones who should isist on this accountability. For Armenians to do otherwise would be to go along with corrupt power (pun intended)! ANCA must make this its number one demand: Samantha Power Must Resign!
Well, short of writing an essay about the subject; I can summarize it by saying: President Obama has never changed his mind about our Armenian Genocide history; while retaining his right to label Genocide Genocide, he is strongly nudging Turkey to seize the hostility towards Armenia and also face their history, in a timely manner.I feel ANCA is playing Monday morning quarterback in this process, and that is not conducive to a healthy outlook.That can turn around and bite us (in our public opinion and general perception).
Since this would not have been the only time a sitting presidentwould have uttered the word Genocide, and Turkeys attitude not changing just because of it, makes me wonder how affective it would be again?
I think we should try a different approach .Speaking softly and carrying a big stick like our president is doing sounds like a better option at this time to me.
Obama’s broken promise was a heartbreaking blow but we must not stop fighting as Americans for justice. We cannot surrender and stop fighting for justice. This is a push for us to step up our game and start really doing more than before, by supporting the ANCA and especially the Gateway program and try to get Armenians jobs within the adminsitration and the state department. Clearly we can’t depend on anyone else, to get our back so it’s up to us to make justice a reality for the Armenian diaspora. If we throw in the towel now, how long will it be before we end up like the Assyrians, a practically dead culture?
What i don’t understand are the following:
1. Why did anyone believe that Obama will be any different from his predecessors in what concerns the Genocide? He as a person might be new, fresh, but the political practices and techniques of getting votes/support from unsuspecting naive dumbs (sorry!) are rather old, and rotten. And Obama is just a politician…
2. We stand much worse than i thought if Armenia’s leaders relied on and took as guarantees only “Turkey’s sincerity in seeking normalized ties and the lifting of Ankara’s blockade”…
Turks/Turkey/Turkish government/Turkish leadership has never been honest or fair with us, not a 1000years ago when turks first came here, not in the 18th century, not in the 19th century, not at the beginning of the 20th and NEVER SINCE. What will it take as a wake up call for Armenia’s leaders to see that?! :(
Aram, I think you give Turkey’s leaders and the Turkish lobby too much credit for the Obama deception. I don’t think any “bait and switch” occurred. Instead, the US State Dept. is and has always been since the start of the Cold War pro-Turkey. The state department’s warped view of Turkey as a necessary ally and strategic asset against any future … Read MoreRussian resurgence is at fault. I claim that the same outcome would have occurred had there been no lobbyist activity on the part of Turkey and/or its leaders.
Armenia is not a US ally. Armenia is allied with Russia, which continues to be viewed by the American people and state department as a hostile potential future threat with undemocratic political institutions. Turkey, on the other hand, is a US ally.
The challenge is not to elect presidents that make the most grandiose promises for genocide recognition. The challenge is to seek a reversal in the state dept.’s Cold War era warped mentality. This begins with warmer US-Russia relations.
Garbis: “Speak softly and carry a big stick”?? The biggest stick the Armo-American community had was canvassing work and campaign contributions. Now that he’s Prez though, and those campaign contributions are nonrefundable, he doesn’t need us anymore. (Which, by the way, would have been the same strategy for Clinton) Obama doesn’t need a big stick in terms of the genocide, because, frankly, recognition or lack thereof really doesn’t make a difference to him at the end of the day. Who cares about human rights when you have record approval ratings.
And in terms of Armenians, care to explain what *our* big stick is?
Gordon: What would Plan B have been otherwise? Trust Clinton or McCain to recognition for heaven’s sake??
Bernard: Resignation of SP, really? How do you know she lied about those promises? Maybe she actually believed Obama would recognize the genocide! Maybe his refusal to do so is just as much a shock to her as it is to Armo-Americans (although I doubt it). In any case, now she’ll have a lifelong memory of Obambi’s great betrayal: She had her first child on April 24, 2009.
AK: Armenia is absolutely an ally to the US…just not a very important one. We don’t have oil, or pipelines, or even access to a waterway. It’s not like Armenia has a ton of US bases, all of those are in Turkey! The US couldn’t care less about how close Hayastan is to Russia, because (let’s face it) Hayastan is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Although frankly, when the PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA tells OUR PRESIDENT NOT TO RECOGNIZE THE GENOCIDE, maybe we should focus less on who’s allied with whom, and more on who the hell got elected to the top-post in the fatherland, non?
Where is our “Strategic Depth?”
Who/where does the thinking about the “Strategic Depth?”
I have to agree that calling for the resignation of Samatha Power is the stupidest thing I ever heard. She is not calling the shots, so she can’t be held responsible for anything. Unfortunately we need to learn the lesson, which is be careful what you ask for, because Samantha Power very much is a friend of the Armenian Community and any change would most definitely be for the worst.
Let’s say for instance Obama used the “G” word, would the birds all of a sudden start to chirp in Armenia? What exactly would that change? While aid to Azerbaijain grows and Armenia’s drops in record proportions, the true threat to Armenia is unfolding before our eyes and here we are like a bunch of ignorant blind and deaf fools talking about the “G” word. Wake up!
It’s very difficult to “counter” Turkey’s bait and switch considering we did everything right and played our cards quite well…I’m the first person to condone blind nationalism and embrace a progressive approach to Turkish-Armenian relations and EVEN I COULD SEE how this was nothing more than a TRICK.
The real question is…how do we counter the incompetence of the Armenian government?
I just finished reading all the comments people had written – and I see my sentiments have already been expressed. Thank you to all of you!
Senator Barack Obama already stated that the Armenian Genocide is a fact. President Reagan stated it as President. 42 US states have recognized it. It is not necessary to cajole President Obama to state it again. Harut Sassounian has emphasized this numerous times. Diaspora Armenians should immediately proceed to file a case with the International Court in The Hague. We do not need the Turkish lap dogs Sarkissian and Nalbandian to initiate this. We can start with the confiscation of Armenian Church, Armenian Catholic Church and Armenian Evangelical Church properties since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Then proceed to litigate the confiscations of personal property under both the Turkish Republic and the Young Turk regime. Turks are being elected to high political office in many countries in Europe,while Armenians and other Christians in Turkey do not even have basic property rights.
Hi Aram,
Obama “thinks” he can handle the Turks. The Turks’ deceitful tactics are genetic.., what bothered me THE MOST was that we, the “Armenian government” with all the gruesome experience and knowledge that we have of the Turkish character, fell ONCE MORE in their trap. This was the part that was inexcusable for me. WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER THAN THIS, and refused to have taken part in this “road map” bait deal, of all things right before Obama was in a bind to follow a campaign promise that the American Armenian community had worked so hard for. It breaks my heart to say this, the Armenian side decided to be the “weakest link” in this… yet again. We needed to show constraint. We needed to play hard ball. I felt that we had the upper hand, and then… catastrophe… We are supposed to learn from our mistakes. We know we can never trust Turkey. And as far as the American stance goes, I recommend that every American Armenian read the book “Vahan Cardashian, Advocate Extraordinaire for the Armenian Cause”, to understand what America’s historical stance has been vis a vis the Armenian cause. Ten years after the Genocide and WWI, the U.S. government bartered the Turkish Armenian lands for oil revenues, and assigned the post of Turkish Amabassador to a war criminal who was involved in the Armenian massacres. So who can we trust more? Ideally, we should ONLY TRUST OURSELVES.
One needs to be smart to be deceitful and the other one must be naive to be deceived. These are the rules of the game. The fact is president of the USA was not deceived. Turkey experienced enough to see the consequences of not being sided with the USA during Iraq invasion. However, it is another topic whether these consequences can be undertaken or not. During Iraq invasion, Turkey undertook the consequences.
I, as a Turkish citizen, do not believe that President Obama was deceived by Turkish authorities. Is there anyone who thinks this was the game plan since the beginning of the approval of the road map? I believe that president Obama was sincere to recognize the ‘Armenian Genocide’ claims while he was running for the presidency. However, he might have changed his plans when he figured out that his plans in Middle East can not be achieved without the support of Turkey. One needs to understand what is being planned in Middle East in order to comprehend Turkish-American relations. These relations do not evolve around Armenia whereas Armenian Genocide issue have been used as a stick against Turkey by US.
Secondly, it must be asked by Armenians whether is it of the US interests to make a Russian ally country happy at the expense of creating deep problems with a US ally. The fact is actions of the USA for so long have not been simply a seek for justice and peace over the globe.
One thing I never fully understood, why we are so motivated and attached to the idea of United States recognition of Armenian Genocide?. With Jewish and Turkish lobbies working so hard against us we have to do lots of catching ups ahead of us if we are so motivated by US recognition of Armenian genocide. I guess we have to remember particularly this is America and money talks much louder than anything else.
Obama’s refusal to recognize the Genocide today reflects US foreign policy more than just the issue of Genocide recognition. US foreign policy has almost never been about human rights and righting history’s wrongs. It’s been about protecting “US interests” which almost always means protecting the military industrial complex and corporate interests. Look at our history of foreign invasion in Central America especially. We’ve overthrown or have aided in the overthrow of many democratically elected adminstrations that lean towards the left and have aided right wing adminstrations that had a habit of killing many people. While I believe we’re closer than we’ve ever been in getting recognition with Obama in office, the realization that we have much higher mountains to climb was made very evident by Obama’s actions. It is a rather sobering lesson.
George: I disagree about taking Turkey to court over the genocide. Not because they shouldn’t be convicted of it, but because they would get acquitted over some technicality (which often happens in horrendous cases where the better attorneys are working for the bad guy). The acquittal wouldn’t prove whether there was or wasn’t a genocide, but YOU KNOW the Turkish govt would spin it to their advantage and further brainwash their people.
I still say that the blame lies on Serge Sarkisian and Edvard Nalbandian for signing that “Road Map” agreement. All they’re doing is trying to appease the foreign powers, even at the expense of Armenia’s national security. If ANYONE has to resign, it’s THEM. I agree with Katia and Frenchie that the incompetence of the Armenian government is to blame. Obama would’ve looked foolish for recognizing the genocide after that “Road Map” agreement was signed. Had Sarkisian not done that “football diplomacy”, have secret meetings with Turkish officials (and keep the Armenian public in the dark), and signed that ‘Road Map’ agreement, everything would’ve played out VERY differently.
Tro: You’re right. People are so busy voicing their frustration at Obama they forget that Armenia’s own government foolishly fell for Turkey’s tricks.
Let’s remember, however, that the POTUS is accountable to the AMERICAN PEOPLE, who vote in American elections, and NOT to foreign governments, whether it be Turkey or Armenia. We must resist the urge to decrease our participation in the American civic process just because of this, albeit significant, drawback. We must stay active in US politics and make sure neither Obama, his administration, nor the American people forget or deny what happened to the world’s first Christian nation!!
No matter what happens with respect to Armenia and its own foreign policy, let’s keep reminding President Obama that he is accountable to us AMERICANS first and foremost.
I would have assumed Samantha Power would resign on her own. Personally, I don’t think it’s our place to ask her too resign. I wonder what her new book cover is going to read; “A problem from hell, a look behind closed doors”. I hope we dont end up buying them off the bookshelves and distribute them to Congress Members? Maybe if Powers can justify herself working for the Administration, in the end it would have been worth it. We’ll see.
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I think it is hypocritical of the current US policy to have somewhat of a hands off approach to leave the matter between Turkey and Armenia. The US most offen calls on various governments in a cooperative inclusive approach on issues of it’s concern.
Had Sarkisian not done that “football diplomacy”, have secret meetings with Turkish officials (and keep the Armenian public in the dark), and signed that ‘Road Map’ agreement, everything would’ve played out VERY differently. =>I heard that nowadays in Yerevan there is a touristic campaign for/about Turkey, with advertisement on TV channels and banners on the streets… just to add to Tro’s list, i think… :@
Frenchie, What technicality is there that could be utilized by Turkey? The Turkish actions are as clear as water from a glacier. A precedent was recently set with the Court’s decision on the Syriac monastery in Mardin. We are talking apples and orange here. The issues of confiscation are separate from the killings.
i think that our underlying motivations of morality and human rights are genuine reasons to push for recognition of the genocide, but I think that it might do us better to stick to a harder line and adhere to greater self-interest. So, having said that, i think it’d be best to not only start pushing for genocide recognition on its own, we should start creating a far broader approach, immediately, to how we advocate: reparations, legitimacy at least as private citizens to regain lands lost, rights to Turkish citizens’ rights, push for land, renaming of cities and whatever else to what they were previously.
This is a hard line to push and would probably be regarded by a good number of armenian constituents as too unreal, but it might speak more true to what we really want and what we must get in order to legitimize who we are, where we’re from and our link to what should exist for us.
A good question is how do we educate more effectively our community and change the culture so as to realize that this is what we must expect? I never needed a camp or workshop, but I think that a more intense advocacy program that informs its constituents what it expects to get for them philosophically, politically, economically would help. Perhaps it would be nice to set up investment funds to purchase land in Turkish cities and build markets and infrastructure to build a base of income would be good. That would even help build a legitimacy to the land. Armenians from the diaspora could rebuild Kars and profit from doing so. The “West-Armenia Company”! How about funding schools and other infrastructure. This could give us an easier way to influence what happens with our land. This is a different perspective to remaking that land ours.
I’d like to hear what others think about this idea of legitimizing what we want by creating real links with the places where we want to identify ourselves with more.
Armenian Genocide is not a “political soccer ball” Turkey should come up with a sober understanding, and admit that “crime” committed against their Armenians subject between 1915 and 1923.
I wish to add one more point that is linked to the confiscations. The issue of cultural genocide. The Armenian history of the cities of the Armenian provinces in present-day Turkey has been obliterated. It is as if the Armenians never existed. This issue is also separate from the killings.
It is disheartening to hear that yet again we have fallen under such conditions. However, in spreading the message that this is happening and constantly working toward such a honorable cause will just show how dedication runs through the veins of the Armenian people. Unfortunately, with political agenda’s such as these come lies and trickery. None of it, however, is justifiable. We must all, each and every Armenian, show that dedication by being involved in community or national organizations that fight everyday for our cause. It will take all our efforts to make our voices heard and there is something powerful to be said in having strength in numbers. Flood your local organizations with innovative ideas, take on the responsibility of following through with those ideas, and remember that no one voice will go unheard amongst us.
I have no doubt that this was a bait and switch on Turkey’s part. Why, how, and if the Obama administration fell for it is a different series of questions.
What this speaks to is the tremendous necessity for Armenians to pursue careers in government and the media. The latter to help mold public opion on our issues and the former to advocate the right policies for the U.S.
This means deep and broad involvement in the daily life of our communities and elections. That’s what’ll build individuals’ credibility and resume (not to mention experience), enabling what I suggest in the previous paragraph.
Also, in the bait & switch discussion, we should not forget Sarkissian’s political weakness, ergo susceptibility to outside pressure, as a factor in his foolhardy move, i.e. the “roadmap”, and the timing of its announcement.
Armenians have known for years the Turks will do everything and anything to deny the Genocide. As Armenians we must never give up or give in to them. Aram keep up the great work!
To think Obama went to the concentration camps last week and said
“To this day, there are those who insist the Holocaust never happened,”
Obama said. “This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts, a
reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our
history.” He added: “I have no patience for people who
would deny history.”
Shame on him.
These events should encourage all Armenians to push President Obama and his administration to (1)realize that they were duped (yet again) by Turkey this year, (2) recognize that no significant steps will be taken towards normalization in 2009, and (3) “punish” Turkey for deceiving the US and not normalizing its relations with Armenia by recognizing the Armenian Genocide on April 24th, 2010. The patience and fortitude required to deal with sensitive political issues such as this astounds me and I applaud the ANCA for spearheading Armenian-Americans efforts towards our ultimate victory in this battle.
It’s now painfully clear that Turkey has neither been fair nor honest in its dealings with Armenia and the United States. We should draw an important lesson from this difficult experience about the value of standing strong and relying upon our own energies – not the good will of those who have, time and again, proven that they bear only ill-will toward the Armenian nation.
This was war. We Jews know what ethnic cleansing is. Probably more so than many other ethnic groups do. What happened to the Armenians was a horrific massacre and loss of life. Was every massacre throughout history motivated by ethnic cleansing? Certainly not. What Hitler tried to accomplish is a far cry from any Armenian so-called genocide. You cannot deny that many Armenians lost their lives as they were looking for a land of their own, however, what is not recognized is that the Armenians themselves inflicted as much damage as others in the hostilities of that time for their own selfish objectives. The Turks’ only policy was the removal of Armenians from the front line with Russia, where they were collaborating with the Ottoman Empire’s enemies. They were a threat to security. This is called war.
Regarding persecution, the Ottomans had one of the most tolerant policies toward non-Turks of any empire of its day. The three communities of Jews, Greeks and Armenians were virtually autonomous within the empire. It cannot be denied that throughout history the Ottoman Empire unlike any other empire of its time allowed Jews to practice their own religion as well as many freedoms of their time. When the Ottoman Empire had taken over Jerusalem, had they tried to annihilate the strong presence of the Armenians who had their own quarter? Never. Could you say that the Russians committed genocide against the Circassians and Adyghes? If you could, then the Armenians slaughtered 200,000 people including Turks and Kurds and Jews in Eastern Anatolia during Turkey’s Independence War while the Turks were fighting against the imperial powers of Europe on five fronts. Armenians took advantage of the Turks’ weak position and waged a war against them by opening a new front. But, this was war.
Aram and ANC:
There is a saying: “Change the results by changing your strategy.”
Heed these words.
John, Sadly, a Genocide is a Genocide is a Genocide. Whose was greater, whose was longer, matters not….. If all those we lost to Genocides, could speak, I am certain they would agree. A Genocide is a Genocide is a Genocide. Today, ask the Darfurians. Even more: Who/When, the next Genocide? Manooshag
“…what is not recognized is that the Armenians themselves inflicted as much damage as others in the hostilities of that time for their own selfish objectives.”
John, do have any idea how many people say the same thing about the Jews in Germany? Just substitute the word Jews where you wrote Armenians. How dare you? Go read the Turk press. Stay away from the Armenians.
Dear John, Turkey and her allies will do anything to neutralize the truth of Armenian Genocide…unfortunately there are some countries where “Armenian Genocide” become a tools and they use when ever required to be used for their own selfish political needs.
Dear John,
Yes it was war, but were we given the luxury as Turkish citizens to be called into arms? Indirectly we were, we were killed as Turkish soldiers. Do you think that Americans would kill other Americans that drifted to the enemies lines? You can’t give me any solid reason that in WWI the Armenians were the agressors in the war with the Ottoman Empire. The fact of the matter is: The Young Turks were behind the uprising, and when you isolate the leaders of all these instigators they were just like you. A politician on both sides of the fence member of British-Israel. I don’t buy your garbage!
Sincerely,
A Conscerned Armenian Compatriot
While you Armenians are so focused on G word and American foreign policy nobody talks about what is yet to come for Armenia and Armenians. How could a nation be so blinded by these nonsense issues while Azerbaijan quadrupled its GDP last 10 years and armed themselves up to yank. How about 45 fully Turkish trained Azerbaijani F-16 Pilots and 35 newly upgraded F-16 delivery from Turkey which was recently upgraded by Israel. How about unaccounted number of heavy arms delivery took place recently. Nobody is asking why all of a sudden international community wants Nagorno-Karabakh issue settled more than ever. While you people are bad mouthing your people in charge of Armenia, what you guys don’t know is they are running out of options. If you think Russia is going to back you this time, think again. Trade between Turkey and Russia has reached $38 Billion a year while Armenia is costing Russia a couple billion dollars a year. You can now assume the outcome of Nagorno-Karabakh issue as well. Keep sleeping people….
Hye, and President Obama shall not/ will not await April 24, 2010…. I believe he is fully aware of the Turkish leaderships ‘use’ of a President of the United States of America. I believe President Obama will step up, morally, without fear of intimidation , to speak the words to acknowledge the Genocide of the Armenian nation by the Ottoman Turks together with their subsequent Turkish leaderships for their years of their dishonest denials of the Armenian Genocide (based upon the American archives in Washington D.C.). the United States of America (including 42 of its 50 states) 20 civilized nations of the world, the International Genocide organizations, as well as all the archives of many nations – world over – recognized a Genocide where 2,000,000 ethnic citizens of a nation is terrorized, slaughtered, burned, drowned, raped, to be survivors fleeing their homelands of nearly 4,000 years – unquestionably, a Genocide. A word, which encompasses the loss of millions of innocent lives within a century, Darfur, still, today. Who/where, next?
Yet the use of the word Genocide is forbidden by the Turkish leaders. THEY have spoken…
Taking into consideration of the treatment of their own citizens, i.e. writers, journalists, religious clerics slain, Hrant Dink, Armenians, Jews, and more treated as non-citizens, the Turkish governments of today, supposedly democracies, have yet to prove their moral strengths to lead their own Turkish citizens away from the mode of their Ottoman history. Speaking of history, the Turks have not any history other than the fact that they were warriors – hordes – who came down out of the Asian mountains to prey upon cultured societies, taking the civilized Christian Armenians nation to become the Turkish nation, taking the Armenian civilized culture and naming all as Turkish; whether foods, arts/craft, architecture and more, claiming these as Turkish. Evidently, they had not such culture of their own. Sadly, Armenian Christian churches became stables. Still showed their Armenianess in many ways.
Yet, when a Turkey has named Israel and China guilty of Genocide… Manooshag
Who is this “John” again? “This was war?” Indeed, if one chooses to look at it from that angle, which fortunately for John I and most Armenians certainly do not, then there is a problem.
You are essentially reselling the Turkish version of the “Mein Kampf,” the justification for killing Armenians on “grounds of treachery.” First, it is ridiculous to assume that “Armenian lived in luxury” because there were musicians and “pashas” in Court at Constantinople. The utter ignorance of that remark prompts me to first of all remind all of these “Armenians” who are being overly polite the fact that the vast majority of Armenians were subjected to utter cruelty and barbarism which is indescribable from day one the “oh, so kind Ottoman Empire” took over. The vast majority of Armenians were peasants and townsfolk constantly subjected to subhuman conditions and inhuman barbarity. If one only mentions the crippling tax system imposed on these poor ancestors of ours, one will see a picture that John Mein Kampf above seems to avoid. One need only to consult 3 chroniclers, but my favorite is Arakel Davrizhetsi and his painfully detailed description of the horrors that Armenians had to endure on a daily basis on “Paradiso Ottomaniaca.”
Long story short, Armenians were not “ottomans” but conquered subjects by an aggressive occupier on their own land, cruelly treated, in murderously cruel fashion, and debased to such inhuman level that, with all due respect, Jews did simply did not endure even during the Nazi era. I have read the entire gamut from Elie Wiesel to Primo Levy, and the worst I could find was not even close! Quite frankly, Armenian captives from the Soviet Army in Germany prisons were more cruelly treated and died in droves due to such mistreatment.
If you choose to employ the Turko-fascistic Mein Kampf, then, Hitler’s Mein Kampf says it was war as well. After all, don’t we know from reading Hitler the “Jews were to blame for all societal ills, the bad economy” and so on, the standard Hitlerian trash? “The Jews were traitors who were waging war on the purity of the Aryan race and causing the impoverishment of Germany,” so it was war! Do you blame the Nazis? How can you, based on your standards, blame the Nazis? Of course they “had to kill and massacre. They were war, attacked by the Jews.”
Shall we stop there?
I don’t think this “John” is a Jew. Turks have this habit of using the Jewish front for their petty propaganda efforts.
Dear John,
Please look at the map (Google will do) and answer yourself the question what is the distance (in km) between the Russo-Turkish frontline in 1915 and places like Sivas and Sebinkarahisar (I am writing the Turkish names so that you can identify easier). If you do not know the extent of extermination of the entire Armenian population there I can offer you some help too. Then please answer yourself the second question: is this “removal from the frontline”? For the third question, please look again at the map: do you think that Der el Zor is towards the rear of the “frontline” or just in the opposite direction? It is very indicative that hollow arguments related to “acts or war” do not hold water when scrutinised – this was not taken seriously by TARC, with 4 Turks sitting on it, when announcing that what happened was indeed Genocide (with the retrospectivity caveat, but that is a separate issue).
To your anticipated argument involving the “Armenian uprising”, the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto rightfully does not challenge the veracity of the Genocide of the Jews (and this has nothing to do with whether I believe you that you are Jewish or not).