The G-Word

    This year, April 24^th will be the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. A horrific campaign of systemic extermination and ethnic cleansing, the genocide claimed the lives of approximately 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children. 

    Armenians were forced off lands they had inhabited for thousands of years. This year will be 104 years since the first genocide of the 20^th century, an event from which the word itself was coined.

This event has played a seminal role in the shaping of the modern conscience of the Armenian people. It remains a prominent if painful part of the identity of the Armenian people. There is no Armenian who has not participated in the commemoration of this event. 

    For Armenians, the genocide is a symbol of the strength and the resilience of the Armenian people, who were not extinguished by this atrocity. The Genocide also reverberated throughout the world, eliciting reactions of outrage. Many hoped that the Armenian Genocide would be the last such episode, that never again would any people have to contend with such a terrible fate.

    This sad date in human history reignites a divisive but critical question. Why hasn’t the United States recognized the Armenian Genocide?

    Like virtually all genocides, many have tried to obscure and deny that the Armenian Genocide ever happened. Under the Soviets, Armenia wasn’t allowed to build a memorial to the genocide until 1966. Those guilty of this atrocity have tried feverishly to deny the Genocide. 

    Turkey, the principle orchestrator of the atrocity, wholly denies it. They have actively conspired to prevent scholars from studying the issue and have flexed their considerable lobbying muscle in countries such as the United States to prevent politicians from supporting recognition efforts. Shockingly, even Israeli lobbyists and lobbyists of the Anti-Defamation League have in the past worked against recognition efforts. Unfortunately, they have been quite successful.

President Obama, who promised to recognize the genocide, failed to do so. Moves in congress to recognize the genocide have repeatedly failed. Time and time again, recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the United States has been condemned to the back burner. 

    Apparently, recognizing such a blatant and well documented atrocity isn’t politically expedient.

    As an Armenian, I cannot tell you how discouraging this is. My greatest frustration is that this should never be morally acceptable, and yet for all intents and purposes, it is. 

    If your congressman, or your local representative, or your local ADL branch declared tomorrow that Holocaust recognition is “politically inconvenient”, you would rightfully be outraged. And yet, it is still acceptable for someone to basically ignore this moral lapse for the Armenian Genocide.

    It is even acceptable in America to name a left-wing activist group “The Young Turks” (a group whose founder publicly denied the Armenian Genocide), even though this name pays homage to a group some of history’s most evil men.

Everyday we decide that it is ok to compromise on recognition of any genocide for the sake of political expediency, we are complicit in the white-washing and denialism of history. Our silence on this issue puts us on the side of those guilty of this atrocity, and at odds with much of the world.  

    Canada, Brazil, France, Russia, and 25 other nations have recognized this event as genocide. However, there has been some progress in America as well. In fact, 48 states, including Tennessee have recognized the Armenian genocide. 

    Only Mississippi and Alabama have not. The ADL has reversed their stance in recent years, and now claims to be working for genocide recognition.

As is often said, what is done in darkness will eventually come to light. 

    I have no doubt that one day the world will embrace truth on this issue. It is my enduring hope that one day, we will be able through moral fortitude to confront dark episodes of our past, and to attain reconciliation and foresight from them. 

    Perhaps one day, the world can be free of genocide and the hatred that spurs it onward. 

    But for us to achieve this, we need to be consistent in our moral standards. We also need to be active citizens, not afraid to confront those who decide to be on the wrong side of history.

    As an Armenian, I dream that one day the land of my origin can have a peaceful and amiable relationship with its neighbors. I do not hate the Turks for the crimes of their ancestors. 

    I am willing to forgive, though never to forget. I still hope that one day our large neighbor can come to terms with the skeletons of its past and return to the light of moral rectitude. 

    The journey of reconciliation, diplomatic normalization and economic cooperation is still possible.  

But the road is so very long…


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