In 1948, the United Nations defined genocide as an action intended “to destroy in whole, or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.” Nobody disputes that the Nazi attempt to exterminate all Jews, or the 1994 Hutu butchery of Tutsis in Rwanda, were acts of genocide. But defining some other acts as genocide can be controversial.
Choosing Sides in World War I
In 1915, Armenia was part of the crumbling Ottoman Empire of Turkey. It was then, and still is today, a small nation to the east of Turkey, with many ethnic Armenians spilling over the border into eastern Turkey.
The First World War was raging and Russian forces were advancing on Turkey. The Armenians threw in their lot with Russia. Muslim Turkey suspected that the Christian Armenians were some sort of fifth column that would rise up against the government. To forestall any attempted rebellion hundreds of thousands of Armenians were rounded up.
Death March into Syria
The Armenians were then marched into Syria and Iraq and left there in a desert without resources. Along the way, thousands were robbed, raped, tortured, and killed.
Grigoris Balakian, who survived the mass killings, gave an eyewitness account of the harrowing experience in his book Armenian Golgotha; a translation of which was published by his great nephew Peter in 2009.
60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon visited (February 28, 2010) a place in northern Syria with Peter Balakian and found the bones of thousands of victims of the massacre lying just below the surface of a hill.
Simon reports that, “450,000 Armenians died in this spot in the desert. ‘In this region called Deir Zor, it is the greatest graveyard of the Armenian Genocide,’ [Balakian] explained.
“Deir Zor is to Armenians what Auschwitz is to Jews.”
Turkey Denies the Armenian Massacre was Genocide
Turkey admits to the tragic events taking place but says it was not genocide. The official Turkish version is that terrible things often happen in wars and the deaths of the Armenians is one such sad episode among many.
Armenians around the world have campaigned to have the affair officially recognized as genocide. Turkey, with equal vigor, exerts pressure to stop the genocide definition from being made. So far, most historians and many national governments have sided with the Armenians.
United States Defines Armenian Deaths as Genocide
On March 4, 2010, by a vote of 23 to 22, the House Foreign Affairs Committee defined the mass killings as genocide despite a plea from President Barack Obama to not hold a vote. The Committee decision is non-binding and may never come to the House floor for a vote.
However, the condemnation was enough to draw a scolding for the Turkish government. (March 5, 2010) quotes a Turkish government statement as saying, “We condemn this resolution which accuses the Turkish nation of a crime it has not committed.” Further evidence of Turkey’s irritation over the issue was the recalling of its ambassador to Washington.
Upsetting Diplomatic Efforts at Rapprochement
The Obama administration has been trying to smooth relations between Turkey and Armenia, as had the previous Bush White House. The committee vote throws sand into the diplomatic gears.
Writing in the New York Times (March 4, 2010), Brian Knowlton comments: “Committee members were clearly torn between what they said was a moral obligation to condemn one of the darkest periods of the last century and the need to protect a relationship with Turkey, a NATO partner vital to American regional and security interests.”
Sources
“Turkey and Armenia’s Battle over History.” CBS 60 Minutes, February 28, 2010.
“House Panel Says Armenian Deaths Were Genocide.” Brian Knowlton, New York Times, March 4, 2010.
“Denial.” Canada and the World Backgrounder, September 2008.
“Turkey Condemns U.S. Genocide Vote.” Al Jazeera, March 5, 2010.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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