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Photo: ashnag
This photo of skulls and bones from victims of the Armenian Genocide should inject a little reality into the debate.
As you may have heard, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide. From a factual perspective, the resolution is completely uncontroversial. The genocide of the Armenians during the Ottoman Empire is well established by historians.
However, facts seldom stop politicians from behaving in completely reprehensible manners. Turkey's Islamic fundamentalist government has recalled its ambassador to the US, and religious extremists are having hate rallies there denouncing the resolution.
I would have hoped that President Obama was at least different enough from Bush to support the resolution. Instead, he is pressuring Nancy Pelosi to keep the resolution from reaching the full House floor. Barack Bush strikes again.
If you think that is disgusting enough, wait until you read the unforgivable comments by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Guardian 3/5/10):
"We do not believe that the full Congress will, or should, act upon that resolution, and we have made that clear to all the parties involved."
...
"I do not think it is for any other country to determine how two countries resolve matters between them, to the extent that actions that the United States might take could disrupt this process," she said.
Ms. Clinton was referring to an effort to improve relations between Armenia and Turkey. As Secretary of State, Ms. Clinton should have been aware of the fact that parliaments in both countries have completely rejected the initial steps. Maybe she was and was just lying through her teeth, as usual. There really can be no improvement in relations between Armenia and Turkey until Turkey acknowledges the genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire.
It also is physically impossible to oppose the House resolution against the Armenian Genocide without deliberately endorsing that act of genocide. There simply are no legitimate arguments against the resolution.
Some of the claims against the resolution are identical to those of Holocaust deniers. Statements that the Armenian Genocide hasn't been historically proven are as malicious as they are fraudulent.
The main excuse used to block the resolution is particularly despicable. Turkey provides staging and logistical support for the War on Iraq and has threatened to withhold that support if the House passes the resolution.
Never mind the fact that the Iraq War is illegal, racist, and violates everything America is supposed to stand for. The Bush Regime should never have started that war, and the Obama Administration should have gotten all the troops and all the mercenaries out of Iraq by now. Yet, the Obama administration is so obsessed with continuing that murderous war that they are willing to openly and brazenly endorse genocide.
I am a gay men. Queers have been the targets of genocide for centuries. There is no way I can condone politicians that endorse genocide so brazenly by opposing the House resolution. This is a truly heinous betrayal by Barack Obama. I would have expected something as monstrous from a notoriously racist Republican like George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton, but I never thought President Obama would sink this incredibly low.
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I can't think of any valid reason to not endorse the House resolution either. This country spearheaded the Nuremburg trials, but since then has backed off from calling a genocide a genocide in nearly every instance, particularly while they were occurring (Rwanda is a good modern example). To give it the label officially imparts a duty to do something about the genocide occurring. However, the Armenian genocide was nearly a 100 years ago. Perhaps it is time for Turkey to finally acknowledge it's own history, and learn a little something from it, rather than to continue to deny it ever happened. A House resolution might force that hand, to some small extent. Turkey is just as dependent on us as we are on them, so I doubt the panties-in-a-wad syndrome would last all that long.
By the way, Libhomo, thanks for your visits to my site recently. I'm adding you to my blogroll (hope you don't mind), I'm just sorry it took me so long to come over and visit your digs:)
What about the right to due process a country has to defend herself? The Nazis had Nuremberg trials, but Turkey never had that opportunity, did she?
Armenian genocide proponents take the route of the LEGISLATIVE processes in all parliments as opposed to undertaking one JUDICIARY process (international court).
Do you know why? Because they know they cannot prove their claims in an actual court. In fact, there was a similar court prepared by the British at the time, with no outcome because evidence was not found, and number of dead have greatly been exaggerated over the years.
What Turkey was doing was defending herself against allied powers and their Armenian conspirators. The story is very similar to the Western invasion of Iraq today, for the same oil reasons, the only difference is that Turkey successfully defended herself against Western rape. It was under invasion from all fronts and massive Muslims Turks were also killed in the same war.
Of course, Westerners don't care about genocide committed against Turks because of age old racism. That this site pretends to be liberal and against prejudice while at the same time promoting hate mongering against Muslim Turks is ironic, though not surprising.
The author is so sure that Turks are guilty, that he has not thought for a second that Turks deserve a chance in court to be HEARD. Let me remind you that that's how justice system is supposed to work. Every one has right to defense - not just whites, Christians, or people of European ancestry.
Instead, the author chooses to perpetuate the same old anti-Turkish hatred propaganda and get a kick off of bashing Clinton or Obama for actually caring about American relations with a Muslim country in the Middle East.
So that's how liberalism works? If this is liberals are thinking, I'm not having any of it. Congrats on perpetuating hate-mongering against Turks and Western (and Christian) superiority over the Middle East and Muslim world in general. While I don't get how that suits a "liberal" agenda, I wish you the best of luck.
By the way, this site pretends to be against terrorism, which is ironic because Armenian revolutionaries were also engaging in terrorist activities against the Ottoman Empire while cooperating with Western powers during the First World War. What Ottoman Empire did was a counter terrorism initiative while fighting against all fronts with many Western powers.
I hope the author has respect for free speech and this comment will not be deleted. The reason why Turkish narrative never gets heard is because it gets censored in the Western press and in blogs as well, and I fear this is no exception.
Thanks for putting up a site with this name that is not a hate site! It makes my morning a little bit better. I think it is amazing that people out there deny the genocide against Armenians in 1915. It's like saying to a meteorologist, hey you, how dare you say that the sky is blue today, you must be taking Armenia's side! Of course Turkey has been the subject of negative propaganda in the past, but that issue is totally separate from the fact that intentional and organized atrocities occurred against the Armenians. If you can acknowledge that these deportations and killings were intentional and organized, which you must because there is ample non-biased documentation, then by the definition of genocide, a genocide did occur. Doesn't Turkey want to admit that the past existed so as to move forward as a whole and healthy country as opposed to a nation built on lies and therefore lacking a truly solid foundation? I support the House Resolution not because it dredges up the past but because it can put the past at peace.