Armenian genocide labeled fact
09/16/2005 12:00:00 AM
Daily News
By Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - In a victory for Southern California's sizable Armenian communities, a House panel voted overwhelmingly Thursday to declare the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire a genocide.
It was the first time in five years that the House International Relations Committee took up the internationally controversial issue, approving separate resolutions by Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, and George Radanovich, R-Fresno.
The resolutions still face several hurdles, including fierce opposition from the State Department and House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Diplomats and Hastert have argued that such a declaration will rupture U.S.-Turkish relations.
[...]
The committee's votes came after more than three hours of tense debate in which lawmakers invoked the Holocaust, slavery, Darfur and American Indians.
Armenians estimate more than 1.5 million died and hundreds of thousands of others were displaced in a planned genocide campaign between 1915 and 1923.
They say the U.S. and Turkey are covering up a historical wrong and sending an immoral message by not acknowledging it as a genocide.
[...]
[...] Los Angeles County's estimated 400,000 Armenians[...].
Every Californian on the committee voted in favor of the resolutions.[...].
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Daily News
By Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - In a victory for Southern California's sizable Armenian communities, a House panel voted overwhelmingly Thursday to declare the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire a genocide.
It was the first time in five years that the House International Relations Committee took up the internationally controversial issue, approving separate resolutions by Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, and George Radanovich, R-Fresno.
The resolutions still face several hurdles, including fierce opposition from the State Department and House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Diplomats and Hastert have argued that such a declaration will rupture U.S.-Turkish relations.
[...]
The committee's votes came after more than three hours of tense debate in which lawmakers invoked the Holocaust, slavery, Darfur and American Indians.
Armenians estimate more than 1.5 million died and hundreds of thousands of others were displaced in a planned genocide campaign between 1915 and 1923.
They say the U.S. and Turkey are covering up a historical wrong and sending an immoral message by not acknowledging it as a genocide.
[...]
[...] Los Angeles County's estimated 400,000 Armenians[...].
Every Californian on the committee voted in favor of the resolutions.[...].
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:34 AM
4 Comments:
Here's another "fact": Nobody cares! The events of 90 years ago were ghastly and hideeous, nobody doubts this, but WHAT benefit is gleaned by influencing people to recognize a so-called "genocide"? Okay let's say the whole world, including Turkey admits it was a genocide. THEN what? Will Armenians finally shut the fuck up? As I said, nobody truly cares except for Armenians, the same way that nobody truly cares about Turks being killed by PKK terrorists, except for Turks. Get over it.
Dear Murat,
Your attitude is more telling of you than what Armenians are doing or not doing.
If you know any better this is an attitude which is harming you more than it does harm Armenians.
The fact of the matter is that people care because we are living in a global society. Wake up and smell the coffee!
We have to prevent future genocides by acknowledging our past mistakes!
The events of 90 years ago, regardless of the descriptive words chosen to define them, are not my burden to bear, or the burden of any living citizen of Turkey. This apathy does not make them any more likely to commit genocide in the future, just as their admission won't make them any less likely to, either. Look at Africa and tell me if your campaign is meeting it's objective of "repeating past mistakes".
Yes Murat whether you want to bear the burden or not is your choice. However understand that apathy is the root cause of many problems. True there are problems in Africa but the solution to those is not apathy. The best defence against future such occurrences is sensitizing the public everywhere for them to be on guard for the precursors of genocide.
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