So called Armenian genocide

Nice close reading. I have the suspicion that Armenia, Turkey and Europe are juggling a number of issues and that discussion of the Armenian genocide of WWI is not exactly at the top of any of the parties’ lists. Makes a good political football though.

Yes. Yes. Yes: about 7000.

The July 1995 massacre just happened to piss off Presidential candidate Bob Dole. He pushed legislation to lift the arms embargo on Bosnian; 15 days after the massacre, the Senate passed his resolution. On Aug 1, the House followed suit. Smelling the coffee, Clinton pushed his Western counterparts to make a public commitment to bomb the Serbs if they attacked the Gorazde safe area. Later, the US would intervene in Kosovo.

Up to that point, this conflict prompted the most aggressive military steps the US ever took to stop ethnic cleansing or genocide. The US military and diplomatic response in the former Yugoslavia contrasts sharply with its stance towards earlier cases of genocidal behavior, be it in Rwanda, Cambodia, Iraq, Germany -or the former Ottoman Empire.

And actually, we do have an example of Muslims murdering Christians (and Muslims). Consider the contemporary case of Darfur and Sudan.

If you think the situation is hopelessly stuck, try this scenario:

First a bit more backfill:

From my last post perhaps we can conclude that (1) Kocharian made a statement that effectively stopped the dialogue between the two countries on the issue, and (2) Turkey has apparently concluded that the whole thing needs to be put on hold until there is different leadership in Armenia. This is not unlike the American decision to no longer talk with Arafat.


Ok, now if Kocharian truly wants progress, watch this:

(1). Imagine the French ambassador to the United States having a small dinner party, and inviting the ambassadors from Turkey and Armenia. They attend, the Turkish ambassador having gotten permission, the Armenian ambassador having gotten marching orders to set the whole thing up.

(2). At that function the following Armenian position is posed, which has two parts:

Part One:
(1). Armenia will for now stop all political movement towards international recognition of the genocide.
(2). Armenia will support Turkey’s EU bid.
(3). Armenia intends to create a workable peace offer on Nagorno-Karabakh to try and defuse that situation and requests Turkish assistance in crafting such an offer. If an offer can be created Armenia also requests Turkish assistance in presenting the offer to Azerbaijan.
(4). Armenia will accept the Turkish offer of the “mother of all commissions”. However, Turkey must realize that the Armenian position on the genocide is not a public relations stunt but a very real feeling about the actions in the eastern section of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s. Furthermore, Turkey must realize that it is the primary function of a government to protect its citizens, and that a government that forces a relocation of an ethnic tribe where such action results in a massive mortality should be held accountable for such actions. Armenia intends to present as a starting point for such a commission the reports of the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission.

Part Two:
However, these things cannot and will not be done without reciprocity. Armenia requests the Turkish government to craft a series of steps that they will make concurrent with the Armenian steps that will result in open borders and diplomatic relations between the two countries by the date the commission starts.

(3). France (in this example I picked them because they are a country keen on expanding their influence in the area) at a certain stage in the process (possibly when diplomatic relations between the two countries are established) will step in with some sort of verbal support for the Turkish position on Cyprus.


It is a dream that will never happen, it takes too much courage.
All I want is the Truth, whereever it is.
Regards,
Michael

Posted from America or Belgium, not France (for many reasons) or Switzerland.

I believe we should arrest and shoot the people who ordered the Armenian Genocide then let bygones be bygones. Holding a grudge forever is hard on ones system.

I contend that we shouldn’t have to depend upon diplomats and politicians to arrive at the truth. The hard work conducted by organizations such as TARC should be sufficient IMHO.

Under that civil society scenario, the next step might be for an Ottoman sympathizer to write a paper commenting on TARC’s conclusions. It might start with the observation that the legal definition of genocide is perhaps somewhat broader than the popular understanding of that word. (A discussion of 19th century wars in the region would also be appropriate.)

Srebrenica is back in the news. Two days before official commemorations marking the 10th anniversary of the atrocities, police found 75 pounds of explosives at the site. Is that completely nutso or what? Let’s see what contemporary Serbs think about this:

There were tragedies on all sides of the Bosnian War, although I daresay that the majority of war crimes were committed by one particular grouping.

Ok, but what is the way forward? War atrocities are a recurring theme in human history; technology extends the possibilities for horror. So, how can we partially inoculate ourselves against this sort of behavior?

I contend that we should identify exceptionally brutal behavior (taking due account of the historic context), denounce the guilty and recognize steps taken by courageous humanitarians on all sides of the conflict.

What seems singularly unhelpful is the sort of intransigence exhibited by Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc. In a letter to German Parliament Speaker Wolfgang Thierse regarding the German Parliament’s commemoration of the Armenian genocide he writes, “In the resolution it was said that Turks don’t face their history. Turkey is always ready to face its history and there is no shameful page in our history.” Emphasis added.

There is not a single shameful chapter in Turkish history: not even a page! IMHO, most countries with a modicum of military power have compiled whole volumes of unfortunate incidents: in the US, ethnic cleansing by President Jackson and racial relations in the antebellum and post-bellum South come to mind. Following dropzone, I’d rather not dwell on these matters indefinitely; I have no problem, however, acknowledging them.

I suspect that mgauss’s free subscription has expired, but I wanted to follow up with this.

Above, I showed the discrepancy between the embassy’s estimate of 2.5 million Anatolian Muslim fatalities and mainstream historical sources. It is possible that the figures could be reconciled, but I would need a more precise claim from the embassy.

I wrote them on July 4th. As of today, I have not received a reply. I confess that I am not dismayed by this: diplomats are in the advocacy business, and they probably don’t want to formulate an official position for every Joe who sends them an email.

FTR, here is my email:

( Bad link in previous post: Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC))