Remembering Genocides

This article was originally published in the December 7th issue of the Tiger Town Observer.

When it comes to genocides, it seems likely only the Germans are ever willing to admit it.

If you missed the news last month, Turkey decided to suspend military relations with France because France is trying to pass a legislation that would criminalize denial about the genocide of Armenians in Turkey (then known as the Ottoman Empire) during World War One. I know what you’re thinking right now: France still has a military? As hard as it is to believe, the answer is actually yes. But seriously, I think it’s absolutely horrific that to this day the Turkish Government still refuses to acknowledge this dark period in their national history.

For those needing a history refresher—actually this will be all new material for almost everyone reading this since the Armenian Genocide is rarely discussed in American classrooms—the Ottoman Turks joined the Germany and Austria Hungary in an alliance called the Central Powers shortly after the outbreak of World War I in an effort to expand their declining empire. Armenia was still part of the Ottoman Empire back then and the ethnic Armenians were Christians as opposed to the majority of Arabs in Turkey who were Muslim. This difference of religion, along with the Armenian’s former homeland being in the way of the Ottoman’s eastward expansion plans, lead to the systematic murders of an estimated 1.5 Armenians from 1915-1918, made easy because the rest of the world was engaged in warfare.

But Turkey continues to insist that there was no genocide, that Armenian deaths were due mostly to interethnic violence, and that the number of deaths were inflated. Now, I looked up the meaning of genocide according to the United Nations Genocide Convention and it defines it under Article II as:

“any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Let’s see: killing members of an ethnic group? Check. Causing serious bodily harm? Check. Deliberately trying to destroy an entire group? Check. Imposing measures intended to prevent births in the group? Well, I’m not sure about that one but I assume mass murder of people within the group would go a long ways toward preventing birth within that group. Forcibly transferring Children of the group to another group? Check--the Ottoman Turks forced the Armenian Children they didn’t kill to convert to Islam. Congratulations Turkey: it seems you met every criterion for successfully committing genocide.

As for the claim that the numbers of deaths were exaggerated, Turkey has a point there. The 1.5 million Armenians estimated to have perished from 1915-1918 is just that: an estimate. It might only be 1.2 million casualties or maybe even 1.1 million. When you put those numbers into perspective it looks a lot better, doesn’t it? Oh I forgot to address the Turkish claim that the majority of Armenians died in World War I as a result of interethnic violence. I find it hard to fathom how 1.5 million ethnic Armenians managed to die in “interethnic violence” in a three-year period while less than 1 million Turkish soldiers suffered casualties for the entirety of the First World War.

To be fair Turkey isn’t the only nation in the world that likes to engage in genocide denial. Japan has been a master at this for years, refusing to fully acknowledge the 300,000 Chinese civilians they murdered in the Nanjing Massacre and going so far as to completely leave out that incident along with numerous other acts of war crimes committed during World War II in the textbooks their students learn from. Japanese scholars continue to insist the death toll from the Nanjing Massacre was more around the area of 100,000-200,000 (because that is just so much better) and while Japan does recognize to a certain extent that the massacre occurred, their apology has been shallow at best as evidenced by their Prime Minister’s continuing to pray at the war shrines where Japanese War Criminals are buried. If actions speak louder than words, then the Japanese Government might as well ask O.J. Simpson’s publisher about writing a book called “If We Did It, Here’s How We Might Have Committed All Of Our World War II Atrocities.” And if anybody is wondering why I even brought Japan into the issue, it’s because as a Chinese native, I’m actually quite mad about Japan’s historical revisionism and want to show how I completely empathize with the Armenian plight.

Another point that really galls me about this Turkish genocide denial issue is that the United States is taking a stance against the French bill because they fear it would “get in the way of reconciling the Turks and Armenians.” Somehow, the U.S. has come to the conclusion that reconciliation is best achieved by pretending something never happened, even if that “something” was an utter violation of human rights. Of course this shouldn’t be really that surprising since the U.S. hardly takes any interest in Japan’s textbook problems, did next to nothing in trying to alleviate the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, and is acting as passively as possible over the Darfur Genocide currently going on in Western Sudan. As a World Superpower, it is imperative the U.S. takes a more active approach to handling genocide other than pumping out more Holocaust movies.

Finally, I would like to ask every reader a favor and please spread the message about the French bill. I think if everyone starts taking this issue to heart, that perhaps we will have a strong enough voice to get the U.S. Government to finally care about nations like Turkey who refuse to accept responsibility for their past actions. We are often taught in history classes that we must learn from history so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. Genocide is about as big a mistake as anybody can make and yet countries who commit it are repeatedly getting away with denial over the facts merely because we let it happen. And as long as we continue to let it happen, countries will feel no fear engaging in systematic killings of ethnic groups they consider expendable or inferior.

In 1939, while planning to overtake Poland, Adolf Hitler told his generals: "Thus for the time being I have sent to the East only my 'Death's Head Units' with the orders to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish race or language. Only in such a way will we win the vital space that we need. Who still talks nowadays about the Armenians?”

Who still talks nowadays about the Armenians?” Almost a century later, we’re still trying to answer that question. And somewhere in hell, Hitler is clapping his hands.