The Armenian Genocide

[ForestsBeatBushes]

In 1915 the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire proceeded with plans to exterminate the Armenians. By 1918 it had succeeded in destroying most of the Armenian communities in the empire. By 1923 when the Nationalist Turks founded the Republic of Turkey to replace the Ottoman state, for all intents and purposes Armenian society has ceased to exist in Asia Minor.

How did this happen? Why were the Armenians selected for annihilation? Why did a whole nation succumb to such a fate? Why did the Turkish state resort to such a policy? Why has the world remained silent about the first genocide of the twentieth century? These are some of the questions that have been asked and which must be answered in order to understand the enduring legacy of a tragedy that has come to define the modern identity of an ancient people.

Another important question has been asked since 1991. The great burden of the memory of the genocide was carried by the survivors and their descendants for most of the century. Now a Republic of Armenia, in whose existence Armenians pinned their hopes of survival as a nation, has emerged as an independent and sovereign entity: and everywhere the question is posed, how is the memory of the genocide to be understood in light of the rebirth of Armenian independence? In view of the fact that Armenians think of the genocide as the central event of their history, the responsibility for studying, examining, and investigating it has become all the weightier. The commemorations of April 24 annually renew the memory of the death and suffering endured during those terrible years. Gaining an understanding of the genocide remains, however, the greater challenge.


http://www.genocide.am/index0.htm

[ForestsBeatBushes]

1. U.S. Representatives call for Congressional recognition

of the Armenian Genocide during speeches on House Floor

<snip>

(Jewish) Congressman, Adam Schiff (D-CA), who was in Montebello, California today at a community-wide Armenian Genocide commemoration, said the following: "It is high time we honored the memory of the 1.5 million men, women, and children with affirmation as well as prayer, and recognize their loss and ours for what it truly was, genocide. Just as we cannot condone denial, we cannot remain passive in the face of euphemistic, watered-down terminology used by apologists for the deniers."


http://www.atour.com/~aahgn/news/20010426f.html

[ForestsBeatBushes]

3. The Armenian Genocide: Denial

<snip>

There have also been attempts by the Turkish government to disrupt academic conferences and public discussions of the Genocide. A notable example was the attempt by Turkish officials to force cancellation of a conference in Tel Aviv in 1982 if the Armenian Genocide were to be discussed, demands backed up with threats to the safety of Jews in Turkey. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council reported similar threats over plans to include references to the Armenian Genocide within the interpretive framework of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. At the same time, Turkey has sought to make an absolute distinction between the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, defining the latter as "alleged" or "so-called." The documents we have, however, show that, in private, such labeling drops off.

<snip>


http://www.ancsf.org/armenian-genocide/denial.htm

[Lefty48197]

2. Very important topic

and the traged is pretty much ignored too. Thanks for putting it back into the forefront.

[ForestsBeatBushes]

4. You are certainly welcome.

We must never forget and, what with all that goes on in the world today, sometimes it's all to easy too do so.


NEVER AGAIN.

[durutti]

5. Elie Weisel & the Armenian Holocaust

In 1982, a conference on genocide was held in Israel. Elie Weisel was made chairman. Many genocides were covered, but one was conspicuously absent -- the Armenian holocaust.

The Israeli government pressured Weisel to drop the Armenian genocide from the agenda. He complied. They wanted (and still want) a monopoly on the holocaust image. And besides, Turkey was one of the rare Muslim allies of Israel.