Today persons of Armenian descent worldwide, along with their families and friends, commemorate the genocide that began on this date in 1915. In the face of overwhelming evidence, the government of Turkey, and its friends in high places, continue to deny that a conscious, government-directed genocide occurred. Last week PBS ran a documentary on the Armenian genocide in which Turkish citizens spoke about the events of that time as genocide, which was a brave thing, considering what happens to Turks who veer from the government line.
My brother-in-law Nick wrote an excellent essay that appeared today as an op-ed in the Racine Journal Times. He notes the passing of Grandma Vartenie, Racine’s last survivor from the 1915 Armenian genocide, and points out that it’s not a historical footnote for academics to quibble about:
History’s lessons are learned by facing the past honestly. The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and the one raging today in the Darfur region of Africa demonstrate that the world community has failed learning its lessons.
The U.S., along with the other nations of the world, must set a new course by ensuring that history is not rewritten. This is the ultimate hope of those who gather each April 24.
