On April 24, the world must remember victims of Armenian genocide
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Timesunion.com
As all Armenian-Americans are aware, April 24 will mark the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian genocide that was perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks on April 24, 1915.
To this day, the Turkish government continues to deny that a genocide ever took place, and has taken great steps to threaten any body of people who would dare assert otherwise.
As a matter of fact, within the past two weeks, the United Nations was forced to dismantle an exhibit on the Rwandan genocide and postponed its scheduled opening by Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, after the Turkish mission objected to references to the Armenian genocide in Turkey at the time of World War I.
Even after Armen Martirosyan, the Armenian ambassador, agreed to allow the words "in Turkey" to be deleted, the Turkish government was adamant in its position.
The Turkish government, and the world in general, need to be reminded that in the years 1919-1920, the Turks themselves initiated a series of court-martials in Constantinople, aimed at bringing the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide to justice.
According to noted Armenian historian Peter Balakian, "The trials represent a milestone in the history of war-crimes tribunals." Although they were truncated in the end by political pressures, and directed by Turkey's domestic laws rather than an international tribunal, the Constantinople trials were an antecedent to the Nuremberg Trials following World War II.
The leaders of the Armenian genocide -- Mehmet Talaat, Ismail Enver, and Ahmed Jemal -- were found guilty of first-degree murder by the court and sentenced to death in absentia, since they had fled the country.
Hopefully, one day in the near future, the Turkish government will confess to the crimes against humanity that were perpetrated by the Ottoman leaders on April 24, 1915, leading to the massacres of 1 1/2 million Armenians. Those massacres left my parents' generation a generation of orphans, and my generation one without grandparents.
Hopefully, the European Union will remain steadfast in its position that acceptance of Turkey into that body must be preceded by a public admission that a genocide did, in fact, take place.
In the meantime, the Armenian genocide, which Balakian referred to as the "template" for future genocides of the 20th century, must never be forgotten.
RALPH ENOKIAN
Albany
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.
Timesunion.com
As all Armenian-Americans are aware, April 24 will mark the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian genocide that was perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks on April 24, 1915.
To this day, the Turkish government continues to deny that a genocide ever took place, and has taken great steps to threaten any body of people who would dare assert otherwise.
As a matter of fact, within the past two weeks, the United Nations was forced to dismantle an exhibit on the Rwandan genocide and postponed its scheduled opening by Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, after the Turkish mission objected to references to the Armenian genocide in Turkey at the time of World War I.
Even after Armen Martirosyan, the Armenian ambassador, agreed to allow the words "in Turkey" to be deleted, the Turkish government was adamant in its position.
The Turkish government, and the world in general, need to be reminded that in the years 1919-1920, the Turks themselves initiated a series of court-martials in Constantinople, aimed at bringing the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide to justice.
According to noted Armenian historian Peter Balakian, "The trials represent a milestone in the history of war-crimes tribunals." Although they were truncated in the end by political pressures, and directed by Turkey's domestic laws rather than an international tribunal, the Constantinople trials were an antecedent to the Nuremberg Trials following World War II.
The leaders of the Armenian genocide -- Mehmet Talaat, Ismail Enver, and Ahmed Jemal -- were found guilty of first-degree murder by the court and sentenced to death in absentia, since they had fled the country.
Hopefully, one day in the near future, the Turkish government will confess to the crimes against humanity that were perpetrated by the Ottoman leaders on April 24, 1915, leading to the massacres of 1 1/2 million Armenians. Those massacres left my parents' generation a generation of orphans, and my generation one without grandparents.
Hopefully, the European Union will remain steadfast in its position that acceptance of Turkey into that body must be preceded by a public admission that a genocide did, in fact, take place.
In the meantime, the Armenian genocide, which Balakian referred to as the "template" for future genocides of the 20th century, must never be forgotten.
RALPH ENOKIAN
Albany
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.
Labels: Armenian Genocide Remembrance
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