So today I read an article from the BBC that talked about how American lawmakers were going to support some kind of "description" that the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks after 1915 was considered to be genocide. Currently, Turkey aknowledges that there was mass killings between 1915 and 1917, but does not call it genocide. President Bush is not in favor of US support in this decision because it would harm our relations in Turkey and our access to military bases needed in the war. The article also discussed the well organized groups of Armenian Americans who have brought this issue to natinal attention, considering there are only 1.5 million Armenians in the 300 million strong population of the United States. Although most government officials are supportive of declaring this historical event as genocide, they claim that this is simply bad timing and it is not worth our country's national security now to make this kind of statement. A resolution is expected to be met by November 16th.
I though that this article was very interesting in that the US government has taken upon itself to write history. I also tended to agree with those officials who claimed that even though this may be a worthwile cause and bring some kind of justice to the Armenian people effected by this event, this is simply bad timing. If putting a label on an event that happened 92 years ago will have such a negative event on the war that we are fighting now, I think it can be put off for a little while longer, as long as the people know that the United States is indeed supportive and aware of the issue.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7040344.stm
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4 comments:
I completely agree with you and the author of the article. While it is a valid and pressing issue, deaming it a genocide is just poor timing because it will eventually end up spoiling the United States' relationship with Turkey. Aside from this fact, I do not see the significance of declaring it a genocide. While my condolences go out to anyone who suffered during these mass killings, I don't understand how giving it a formal name is going to help at all. As a matter of fact, it will probably jus make things much worse. After all, Calling it a genocide will not bring back the victims or erase the grief that these mass murders brought with them.
FINALLY! i've finally found someone who covered this topic who brings up the same point! in case you didn't catch my oh so subtle hint, i blogged about this topic, too. I think it's pretty clear to most people that this was indeed genocide. It's been 90 years...so why bring it up now when turkey's support is crucial to our success/presence in iraq? While i feel that this statement should have been made a long time ago (hmmm, like when it was happening), i don't feel that this is such a pressing matter that it should jeopardize our standings over-seas. it's clear that this announcement wasn't going to please the Turkish government, why rub the kitty the wrong way when we need the kitty. wow, that was really bad. Anyways, declaring this resolution will do produce any concrete healing for the armenian population, so why is this so important to announce now?
Samantha, I wrote my blog on the same topic and certainly agree with you. Although the Armenian killings by Turkey should be recognized by the United States, I certianly agree that now is not the time. We can not reverse this horrible situation that happened to the Armenians but we can prevent many more innocent people from being killed by putting this issue to rest for a while. If we jepoardize our position in Iraq we will be putting our own troops in harms way. I know it would be right to give the Armenians closure it is just too sensitive of a situation for the time being.
~Kimberly
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