Final Post

Throughout the year 2005 RESEAUNATE.90 has tried to document and comment on news concerning the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

In the past year, some important progress has been made towards an international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In many parts of the world we have succeeded in raising the awareness for this still denied great crime against humanity.

Turkey reacted by trying out new variants of well known denial tactics and presumably it will continue to do so in 2006. These tactics being destructive and self-destructive at the same time is one reason why a small but growing number of progressive thinking Turks starts to understand the necessity of facing the historical truth.

Together with other people, Armenians must continue to fight the ideas promoting genocide and genocide denial. It is therefore also necessary that genocide denial is not only silenced on the surface, but tackled at the core. There is a long way to go but the aim must be to root out hate. Curing the symptoms is a necessary first step but it is not enough.

This blog will not be updated anymore. Some other blogs have been covering similar issues frequently and I encourage them to continue to do so. More people including international bloggers should join the efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide and counter its continued denial.

YESSEM

Some News

There has been a lot of news during the past few weeks that would have deserved coverage on this blog, including:

- Peter Balakian's and George H. Stanton's response to Turkish efforts to deny the Armenian Genocide in Massachusetts: Massachusetts and genocide

- Which Turkey does the EU want, in what Europe?

- Pamuk and Turkey's unfinished modernization

- The destruction of the Nakhichevan Armenian cemetary by the Azerbaijani army

- Turkey Brings Another Case Against an Ethnic Armenian

- Countering deniers a problem in Armenian and Jewish genocides

The Armenian Genocide remembered in NY

By Artyom:

Today's New York Sun has an article discussing the special program held at the Museum Jewish Heritage dedicated to the 90-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire which claimed some 1.5 mln. Armenian lives. As the Sun reports the focus of the evening was Henry Morgenthau, who was the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian Genocide and who played an extraordinary role in publicizing the atrocities and rescuing countless Armenians from certain death. The featured speaker was Ara Sarafian, the director of the Gomidas Institute who has authored and edited a number of titles dealing with the Armenian Genocide and Henry Morgenthau.

And of course our Turkish friends did not miss the chance to once again politicize the event and even made some disturbing veiled threats:

Those who are unaware of the ongoing, passionate, and politicized debate about this nine-decade sold history will be surprised, no doubt, that the program we hold this evening has been the object of an attempt to pressure and influence the museum." He said that the museum's chairman, Robert Morgenthau, and he had received letters from the consul general of Turkey in New York earlier in the month, expressing disappointment that the museum planned to hold an event that, as the consul described it, would be "defamatory to Turkey and likely to impede efforts to promote reconciliation between Turks and Armenians."

One of the organizer's of the evening David Marwell had this to say to the Turkish consul's threat"

Let me be clear. I understand why the consul general wrote to me. It is an indication of how real and raw this history is, and I mean no offense to the Turkish government in raising this issue this evening. He continued, "It may not need to be said, but let me say it anyway: At its root, history is not a matter of opinion. To be sure, our libraries are full of books that interpret history differently, that offer wide-ranging explanations for the causes, and differing accounts for the effects of historical events. In many ways, these differences can be defining. But it is the job of the historian and the well-informed citizen to try to understand what happened - the how it happened and why it happened can be argued and debated. But what happened needs to be become part of a common currency - a shared vocabulary. What happened is not a matter of opinion.

According to the Sun report in attendance were a number of high profile Armenian and Jewish community leaders. It is noteworthy to see that a growing number of influential leaders of the US Jewish community after years of stonewalling the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in every possible political and non- venue in the US, are coming to the realization that there are number of important parallels and similarities between the experiences of our two peoples, especially when it comes to the denial of our experiences. To ignore these similarities plays into the hands of deniers and hired pens. While the opposite will ensure that the experiences of our peoples will be etched into the conscience of the world, helping us to understand the horrors of communal victimization and prevent such acts in the future.

The taboo over the Armenian Genocide lifting in Turkey?

Artyom is Guest-Blogging on RESEAUNATE.90. This post can also be found on his own blog The Artyom Reader:

Today's NY Times has an article by Stephen Kinzer, one of the most beloved defenders of the Turkish establishment in the Western media, talking about the lifting of the taboo of the Armenian Genocide, or as he calls the massacres, (which they certainly were but they also went beyond just sporadic violence strewn across the Anatolian plains, in Turkey). Although this may be true in some respects, Kinzer's account would have the uninformed reader believe that all is well in the Eastern front. Kinzer proceeds to demonstrate that "the times they are a-changin," to quote immortal Dylan, by bringing the example of the Turkish restoration of the Akhtamar cathedral, which by all accounts is yet another PR blitz on the part of Ankara who are so willing to get into the EU that they are willing to go to great lengths to blow dust into the eyes of the European beholder. Then Kinzer repeats Erdogan's and Gul's favorite line regarding the "conservatism" of the judiciary and the military, as if Erdogan and Gul are liberal. Of course we all know that to change the fez with a baseball cap does not make one into a liberal. You can access the article here.

Cities Recognizing The Armenian Genocide

On November 17th, the City of Edinburgh Council recognized the Armenian Genocide. This decision was followed by the ritualized protests from Turkish organizations and the Turkish press.

At first glance, decisions by city councils may seem to be tiny steps and of minor improtance. But once you put them into context, things look different. These decisions are mostly made in countries where the Armenian Genocide is still unrecognized on a higher parliamentary level. In fact a decision like the City of Edinburgh Council's is an important first step, one that can give momentum to the Armenian cause in the UK.

The adoption of a resolution recognizing the genocide by the Brazilian city of Sao Paolo can be seen in the same context. Other examples from this year include the Texan cities San Antonio, Austin.

Silverglate And The Freedom Of Genocide Denial

In a recently published piece for the Boston Globe ("Censoring History"), lawyer Harvey A. Silverglate (together with Norman S. Zalkind, see both on the image) tries to make a case for including the official Turkish view on the Armenian Genocide into Massachusetts schoolbooks. Here's a short excerpt that shows how the authors relativize the historical facticity of the Armenian Genocide in order to legitimize its denial:

The historical dispute involves interpreting what happened to the Armenian population of eastern Anatolia during and after World War I in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. Though historians have documented death and deportation of large numbers of Armenians (as well as the deaths of many Turks), they disagree over whether what happened constitutes ''genocide," a term defined by international law as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group. While many historians argue that it was the intent of the Turks to exterminate the Armenians as a people, others counter that such intent has not been firmly established and that the events more closely resemble a civil war than a genocidal campaign.

This is a clear attempt to legitimize a well-known scheme summarized in my post "Patterns of Genocide Denial I" on a UCLA panel on "The People Who Cover Up Genocide". It is a scheme applied by the Turkish government within the framework of its campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide.

Artyom has written a post on this article which is really worth reading:

The piece needless to say looks more like a propaganda piece straight out of Ankara rather than a principled explanation of one's true beliefs regarding the subject. I wonder what Mr. Silverglate has to say if some Nazi sympathizers decide to bring a lawsuit against the state of Massachusetts for not teaching in a "fair and balanced" way the Holocaust without giving adequate treatment to the other side of the story.
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In his blog Media Nation, Dan Kennedy is critical of Silverglate's involvement in this case and refers to the above mentioned quote from the Boston Globe article:

The question, then, is whether the historians on the it-wasn't-genocide wing of the dispute are conscientious scholars or a bunch of David Irvings.
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Conscientious scholars? Definitely not. What these remote-controlled historians do is present lies, put facts out of context and attempt to sound scholarly (remember the Heath Lowry affair?). Here's Artyom again:

The credible historians that Silverglate means to cite are historians who have never done serious research on the subject but have been either instrumental in formulating the official Turkish propaganda line on the subject or have been rather eager to join the bandwagon by repeating that line parrot fashion, meanwhile leaving their brains and conscience out on the doormat. Needless to say beside putting out pamphlets and booklets these so called impartial historians have not produced a single credible work that has survived the grill of their peers in the worldwide academia, but have gained popular following in nowhere else but Turkey where they are showered by praise and just plain showered.
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Why is Harvey Silverglate providing legal and (un)moral assistance to a state-sponsored campaign to deny a genocide? For now, his words speak for themselves.

The article suggests that Massachusett's Department of Education is currently "censoring history". But this case is not about the "censoring" or "uncensoring" of history. What is being attempted here is to include into American schoolbooks the voice of Turkey, a state that denies the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by its legal predecessor and censors those who speak freely about it.

To sum up, when Silverglate demands the "uncensoring" of history, what he really argues for is a step-by-step legitimization of the censoring of the historical truth. Or as Derek put it: He is twisting the first amendment.

Tags: Armenian Genocide, Genocide Denial, Silverglate, Turkey

Reactions To Israeli Chief Rabbi's Visit To Armenia

The Israeli Ashkenazi chief rabbi's visit to Armenia did not go unnoticed internationally. Here is an article from the European Jewish Press that describes some reactions to rabbi Yona Metzger's recognition of the Armenian Genocide:

Deniz Saporta, the press officer for Turkey’s chief rabbi Itzak Haleva, told EJP that Turkey’s Jewish community did not want to interfere on the national debate of the genocide.

"We only heard about it today, and we are a little shocked," Saporta said. "Let the historians do their job and then we will se," she added. No official statement form the rabbinate was released so far.

"It is rather a surprise, I my personal opinion, to see a Jewish religious leader accepting Armenian allegations of genocide," Selcuk Gultasli, Zaman publications Brussels Representative, told EJP.

"The Chief Rabbi should have read one of the most respected Ottoman history scholars, American professor of Jewish origin Bernard Lewis who calls the claims unfounded."

"It is ironical that it was the Ottoman Empire that saved Spanish Jews from another genocide in Spain in the 1492 by shipping them to Turkey," Gultasli concluded.

The Armenian Diaspora in Europe could not be contacted by EJP on Thursday.

Denying genocide

Marc Knobel, a charge d’affaire for the CRIF Jewish umbrella organization in France stressed that there was not a single view on the debate in Israel; some scholars and politicians to not believe it was a genocide, but many in Israel disagreed.

"The declarations of the Israeli Chief rabbi are honorable. It is totally respectuous of the Armenian tragedy to qualify these events as a genocide," he stressed.

Ara Toranian, Director of the of the New Armenia review, pointed out that the Jewish state’s position on the matter did not reflect the Jewish people position. "Israel has to endorse a ’real politik’ strategy vis-a-vis Turkey," he said. "I am very glad of these declarations from the chief rabbi especially because such a voice is authoritative," he added.

"The CRIF has a moderate and reasonable view on the matter," Knobel added, alluding to the organization engaged dialogue with Armenian groups. "Without comparing and equalizing each genocide, we can say that the mass extermination of Armenians, Jews Cambodians and Tutsis in Rwanda are genocides," he said. "without omitting the specificity of the Shoah."

"It is just shameful that many people, and among them Jews, deny the Armenian genocide for despicable reasons," Knobel concluded.
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Tags:Armenia, Armenian Genocide, Israel

UK: No Need To Reconsider The Blue Book

Turkey's continuing attempts to falsify history are being rejected on all fronts.

Now, responding to a Turkish request, the British ambassador to Turkey has delivered his Ministry of Foreign Affairs' refusal to reconsider Lord Bryce and Arnold Toynbee's "Blue Book" which contains evidence on the Armenian Genocide.

Tags: Armenian Genocide, Genocide Denial, Turkey, UK

"Nobody Can Feel The Pain Of The Armenians More Deeply Than We Jews"

While many Israelis have spoken out against the denial of the Armenian Genocide this year, the state of Israel's refusal to officially recognize the historical facts because of short-term political interests remains disturbing. (see previous posts: In The Long Run, The Blackest Page Of History, The Desecration Of Memory)

The following news does not necessarily indicate an official change of policy which is long overdue. But against the background of the Israeli government's complicity in Turkey's campaign of denial, Rabbi Yona Metzger's visit to Armenia can be considered an important gesture.

Via RFE/RL's Armenian service:

Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger referred to the 1915-1918 massacres of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide and prayed for its estimated 1.5 million victims at the end of a two-day visit to Armenia on Tuesday.

Metzger, the first Israeli religious leader to set foot on Armenian soil, spoke of deep emotion and pain as he visited the genocide memorial complex in Yerevan together with Garegin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Standing by its eternal fire, Metzger said a prayer in remembrance of the dead.

“I would definitely use the term genocide,” he told reporters at the Tsitsernakabert memorial. “The photographs and documents that we saw at the Genocide Museum say it all. And the tears that we barely held back as walked through the museum were not contrived.”

“Nobody can feel the pain of the Armenians more deeply than we Jews,” he added.
[...]
Metzger stressed at Tsitsernakabert that religion is strictly separated from the state in Israel, implying that his view on the Armenian genocide should not be associated with the Israeli government’s position on the subject. The Jewish state refuses to recognize the 1915 mass killings as genocide, anxious not to alienate Turkey with which it maintains close political and security ties.
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Tags:Armenia, Armenian Genocide, Israel

Belgian Blogs On Emir Kir

This is a follow up to my last post. Some Belgian blogs have written (in French) about Emir Kir, too:

• Humeur allochtone: " La justice a tranché : Emir Kir est bien un négationniste, un menteur et un délinquant"
  
• Prométhée: "Il était fois une les marches du palais...."
• Mateusz Kukulka: " La démission pour Emir Kir ?"
• SFo's Blog: "Champagne!"
  
• Climax: "Emir Kir et le mensonge"

Tags:Armenian Genocide, Genocide Denial, Europe, Belgium