For a detailed article on how the Turkish government is using former members of Congress [e.g. Gephardt, Livingston, and Solarz] to further its attacks on the historicity of the Armenian genocide see Michael Crowley's article in the New Republic, K Street Cashes in on the Armenian Genocide.
Turkey is engaged in a full court press to try to stop a resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. I was sad to read that Jewish organizations seem to have backed down from taking a stand. I assume that they are sensitive to the fact that Turkey is the only Muslim nation with such close relations with Israel.
They are also strongly aware of the presence in Turkey of a Jewish community which could well be endangered should the government not protect it.
Nonetheless, it does not feel good to see this genocide become a political football...... I wonder what Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, who was responsible for bringing this to the world's and certainly America's attention would say now???
On this matter Hitler may actually have been right [I never thought I would write that] when he said: Who today remembers [or speaks of] the annihilation of the Armenians?
Maybe if more people had spoken of it then, subsequent histories would have been different.
And, who knows, if the Turks are successful in denying this genocide, who knows what other denial efforts will yet be successful....
Now there's a scary thought...
And who said history was not relevant?
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4 comments:
Hitler was wrong: the Armenian genocide was never forgotten, and could have never been forgotten. Beginning with Franz Werfel and ending with every classical scholar dealing with the Hellenistic period, the massacre was remembered and talked about, and the unexpected scarcity of Armenians in an area that was not such a long time ago called the Greater Armenia will never allow us to forget that.
Hitler might have been right in the sense that nobody was sued, tried and punished. Still, I believe that a "truth and reconciliation commission" would be much more effective than a "truth and reckoning commission".
Dear Deborah,
I am a huge fan of your work and have cited your publications on more than one occassion. I am involved in Armenian genocide and Holocaust education projects and feel your work has truly added to my understanding of genocide personally and professionally.
Your comments are so true. Armenians and a few scholars may remember but remembrance really counts with affirmation.
The refusal of the U.S. to affirm this genocide is equivalent to forgetting. I am bot h Jewish and Armenian and am embarassed by the lack of support from Jewish political orgamizations in this country. Sometimes I want to just scream because groups like AJC seem to have forgotten that their founders were the upstanders for the Armenians. Stephen Wise and Henry Morgenthau would be horrified today.
Thank you for continuing to speak out for the Armenians. Your voice matters.
Sara
ps Your comment last year about Ahmadinejad being clever like a fox was right on target.
>>> ps Your comment last year about Ahmadinejad being clever like a fox was right on target
true.
it is sad that pariah countries, with little right to remain sovereign, succeed in electing cunning leaders like Amuddynejad, while righteous nations like the US, France, Israel and the UK have to make do with with dull, stright-as-an-arrow type politicos steeped in a moral tradition dating back centuries -- hardly the sort required to tackle the kind of evil promulgated by the likes of Iran.
Dear Pr. Lipstadt,
No doubt you are aware of the recent controversy with the ADL's Abe Foxman and his "ignorance" (read denial) about the Armenian Genocide. I think this story first broke out on Jewcy.com. Do you have any comments on this? Don't you think that Abe Foxman is doing a disservice not just to the Armenian community but also to the Jewish community?
Dany Beylerian
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