Thomas Nephew has done such a fine job demolishing the insipid op-ed by Jackson Diehl in the Washington Post on H.R. 106 (the Armenian Genocide Resolution) that it seems almost sufficient to merely point to his blog entries (here and here).
Every year around this time, as the April 24 anniversary approaches and Congress bestirs itself on the issue, the Post sends someone out to swat at Armenian Americans. This year Diehl was the designated hitter. In the process of simultaneously arguing that the nonbinding resolution is pointless, since it’s nonbinding, and extremely harmful, because it hurts Turkey’s feelings and Turkey is an important ally (that’s what they say, anyway), Diehl mentions that “American Jewish organizations” have locked arms with the Turkish government in applying pressure to get it defeated. Yes, American Jews are trying hard to quash a bill that recognizes a genocide that predated the Holocaust and may have helped pave the way for it.
“Turkey’s Chutzpah”—that’s what the The Jewish Press called it. Although there seems to be plenty of chutzpah to go around, the editorial board at The Jewish Press seems to hold their fellow citizens blameless. Be that as it may, the editorial is worth quoting at length:
We are certainly not insensitive to the significance of Turkey’s support of Israel. But the Turkish government’s attempt to capitalize on that support by pressing the American Jewish community to oppose a Congressional resolution that condemns as “genocide” Turkey’s murder of a million and a half Armenians during World War I strikes us as being the height of chutzpah.
As The New York Sun reported, on February 5 the Turkish foreign minister met with representatives of several major Jewish groups and “made a hard sell” against House Resolution 106, which now has 176 co-sponsors. The Turkish official reportedly appealed to the participants by noting—outrageously, we think—the uniqueness of the German genocide against the Jews.
The Turks do not deny that between 1915 and 1917 they conducted a devastating military campaign against the Armenians and that thousands of Armenians were killed on forced marches. They claim, however, that the hapless Armenians were a fifth column, often armed and working on behalf of the Russian army in World War I.
But the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time, Henry Morgenthau, wrote in his memoir, “I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this.” The orders for the deportations of the Armenian families in 1915 “were merely giving a death warrant to a whole race,” he wrote.
Anyone who seriously and objectively considers those events cannot but conclude that there was a calculated and purposeful effort to exterminate the Armenians. After all, approximately 1.5 million perished.
That said, we understand that opposition to House Resolution 106 does not necessarily signify lack of sympathy with the victims, or, indeed, sentiment against the concept itself. Not buying into an initiative on someone else’s schedule is not always an indicator of nefarious motives at play.
We also have no doubt that some would argue the Jewish community should oppose the resolution if only to preserve the aura of uniqueness surrounding the destruction of European Jewry in the Holocaust. And this, perhaps, was the point the Turkish foreign minister was trying to make in his presentation to Jewish leaders.
But acknowledging as genocide the systematic murder of a million and a half human beings of a particular ethnic heritage in no way detracts from recognition of the Holocaust as a uniquely monumental evil in the blood-soaked annals of human history.
Okay, it was so impressive, I quoted the piece in its entirety.
For those unfamiliar with The Jewish Press, this New York newspaper champions, in its own words, “Torah values and ideals from a centrist or Modern Orthodox perspective.” It is also a “tireless advocate on behalf of the State of Israel.” Not exactly a raving left-wing rag.
Also, the first sentence in the editorial alludes to something that may not be widely understood or appreciated. Among other things, Israel and Turkey are deeply engaged together on energy projects and, perhaps more significantly, on water pipelines. (See also “Triple Alliance: The US, Turkey, Israel, and the War on Lebanon” for more on the strategic partnership of Israel and Turkey.)
In short, this is the context of Jackson Diehl’s op-ed. Big power machinations. Control over natural resources. If you want to play this game, you can just leave your snivelling little moral issues at home. History isn’t about people. 1,500,000 is just a number. Memories don’t weigh anything. “Get real,” Diehl and the Washington Post say. “Get real.” Realpolitik.
Great post, WWW (and thanks for the links). I guess after the initial warm glow of “hey! they didn’t completely sell out the Armenians!” I realized that all they were saying was “uniqueness of the Holocaust isn’t a winning or seemly argument.”
Which leaves the editorial door wide open to other notions like “someone else’s schedule” (=”you don’t mean right now, do you?”) and the Turkey-Israel cooperation you point out.
But credit where due; it was a decent editorial.
…especially in that it “acknowledg[es] as genocide the systematic murder of a million and a half [Armenians].” Under the circumstances, I think that counts as a mitzvah.
I’m glad you came around to seeing the positive parts of the editorial. I agree it wasn’t perfect—but it wasn’t my editorial!
Thanks for exposing me to the secondary definition of mitvah. And for giving me the opportunity to mention that, for symmetry with the preceding Libbyphilia, I perhaps should have titled this entry Armenomisia, but I couldn’t think of, and didn’t take the time to find, the Greek suffix for “hatred, disgust, revulsion.” But since fear is certainly an admixture here, I’ll let it stand.
You want to know the true article about the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenians, a proud peoples with a rich culture & heritage of architecture, art, and literature
On April 24, 1915, the most important figures of the Armenian community in Constantinople – newspaper editors, writers, churchmen, Armenian intellectual leaders and even parliamentarians, were taken from their homes and hanged in public. All were never heard of again. Armenian society in the Ottoman Empire had just been decapitated.
The Armenian Genocide, the first genocide of the 20th Century, occurred when two million Armenians living in Turkey were eliminated from their historic homeland through forced deportations and massacres. For four thousand years, a thriving Armenian community had existed inside the vast region of the Middle East bordered by the Black, Mediterranean and Caspian Seas. The area, known as Asia Minor, stands at the crossroads of three continents; Europe, Asia and Africa. Great powers rose and fell over the many centuries and the Armenian homeland was at various times ruled by Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and Mongols.
[Read more]
Also, the only reason why the American Government did not recognize the genocide was because of politics and money. Too long of a story i don’t feel like explaining. If your intelligent then you would understand
Arthur: thanks for commenting. I replaced a large portion of your comment with a link to where it can be read (in its entirety, as far as I can tell) at another site.
At the turn of the Century (around 1895) the Sultan murdered tens of thousands of Armenians, but the British said, “Now is not a good time” and hid the events.
In WWI, Turkey was strategic to Germany, and the German government watched, and excused, the Young Turks when they ravaged the Armenian communities. What could they do, after all, “Now was not a good time”.
At the founding of the Leage of Nations, President Wilson strove to bring some Justice to the Armenian people, but the grand assembly said, “Now is not a good time” and avoided any penalties for the crimes Turkey committed.
When Ataturk deposed of the small remaining remnant of Armenians in Turkey during his reign of terror, Western Democracies again turned a blind eye, after all, “Now was not a good time”.
From the 1930’s until this date, there have been a variety of reasons to deny the Armenian people any justice. First it was NATO alliances which made recognition of the atroticites perpetrated on the Armenian people to be constantly denied. And the steady drumb beat of denial continues to this day.
HR 106 and its companion, SR 106, has made the rounds, with President Bush strongly advocating its never reaching the house floor for a vote, after all, the War on Terror is the new excuse, and well . . .”Its not a good time”.
And we know, the Israeli government, with their abundance of Jusice for the WWII crimes against the Jews, thinks it is “never a good time” to recognize the genocide of others. They claim we should take a “historical view” of what took place. Imagine if the world denied the Jewish Genocide of WWII with such a claim . . . “lets look at both sides”, “lets take an historical view”, or my favorite “its up to Jews and Germans to decide” – all of which has been said about the Armenian/Turkey issue coming out of Israel.
The Jewish component of the Turkish Denial of Genocide is repulsive. The more the public discovers what large, powerful, Jewish groups have done in participating in Genocide Denial, the more they will open themselves up for the denial of their own plight. Even now, in Turkey, there are extremist groups who claim the Young Turks were Jews and the Armenian Genocide was planned by the Jewish Community. The Jewish communities constant denial makes these accusations seem plausible. In the end, it might not be in the best interest of the Jewish Community to continue supporting Turkey in this denial. People will start looking at the history of these two people for themselves. The strong link is indisputable and suspicious to this writer!