Thursday, 4/24/97 Genocide’s facts lost in political
alliance-making U.S. ignores denial of Armenian massacre due to
political, military influence
By Pedro Zarokian The systematic and deliberated massacres of
the Armenian people by the Ottoman Turkish government between 1915
and 1923 represent the first genocide of the 20th century. Each
April, Armenian Americans and all people of good conscience that
are aware of the Armenian genocide pause to remember the 1.5
million victims of this crime against humanity. The Republic of
Turkey, however, in spite of the overwhelming evidence documenting
the Armenian genocide, continues to pursue a campaign to deny and
ultimately rewrite this chapter in its history. Even more
disappointing is the failure of the U.S. government to abide by its
own standards of commitment to human rights when dealing with
Turkey. One of Turkey’s efforts to hide the facts of the Armenian
genocide was recently highlighted by a few major American
newspapers. Specifically, on May 22 and Dec. 9 of 1996, the New
York Times reported that scholars fear Turkey is using its
endowment of a chair in Turkish studies at Princeton University to
"whitewash its role in the massacre of a million Armenians in World
War I." By providing a $750,000 endowment, Turkey was able to
influence Princeton University into hiring a former Turkish
government employee who is a confirmed genocide revisionist and who
was accused of creating a "center for propaganda about Turkey’s
role in the massacre of a million Armenians" (N.Y. Times, May 22).
Turkish influence has also played a major role in the United States
foreign policy. For those of you that are not aware, Turkey has
been an important strategic ally of the United States and the west
since the 1920s. Unfortunately, the military and political
importance of Turkey has far outweighed human-rights considerations
given by the U.S. In the years following the improving relations,
the U.S. government has taken a noncommittal stand on the genocide
and has not affirmed the genocide supported by its own archives.
This fact was again revealed when President Clinton failed to honor
his 1992 campaign promise to openly and unequivocally commemorate
the Armenian genocide. By not condemning Turkey for its role in the
Armenian genocide, the U.S. has indirectly encouraged the
continuous human rights violations by Turkey. According to the Jan.
30 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report, Turkey has forcibly
evacuated between 330,000 and 2 million Kurdish people from their
homes located in southeast Turkey. Turkey continues its occupation
of Cyprus and blockade of U.S. humanitarian aid to Armenia.
Moreover, according to the Honorary Consul General of Cyprus
Anastassios K. Simonidis, "For the last 75 years there has been a
steady decline in the size of the Greek, Armenian and Jewish
minorities (in Turkey) and a denial of their cultural identities."
Dear friends, some have argued that genocide is the greatest crime
on this planet. On the other hand, some have argued that the
greatest crime is to deny genocide’s occurrence and hide from the
shameful act. I, however, believe that the greatest crime would be
to allow another genocide to occur. The only way that we can
prevent another genocide is to learn from history and to condemn
the perpetrators of such an act, so that never again will any
ethnic or religious group be put on the verge of elimination.
Zarokian is a fourth-year business-economics student.