Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?
– Adolf Hitler
Tomorrow, 24th April, marks the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. A genocide that the Turkish government continues to deny. It was in response the Armenian genocide that familiar phrases such as “crimes against humanity” and “holocaust” were first coined.
Tom Frame, writes in the most recent issue of Quardant that Turkey, and nations generally, do not need to apologise for past wrongs. But it seems that Frame confuses acknowledgment/recognition for apology. While Turkey may not have to apologise or compensate victims, it cannot be allowed to continue to actively deny the past. Would Europe tolerate a Germany that denied the Jewish Holocaust?
It has been proposed that Turkey will enter the European Union in 2015, if this is to go ahead, sadly it will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in which more than 1.5 million Armenian Christians were butchered. But if Turkey has its way, which it has so far, the Armenian genocide will remain unacknowledged and denied. And those who choose to acknowledge it in Turkey will do so at their own peril.
Info: Armenian National Institute or The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response
A Disorder of Things 
How long, indeed!
I feel ashamed that I knew so little about it.
(Great picture, btw).
I have only recently started reading about Armenia. So much about the genocide is horrifying and very depressing. The reaction of Europe was appalling. The politics that surrounds Turkey is astounding. The powers of Europe in the 1890’s to the the 1930’s were so frightened (except the Russians) of Turkey that they did nothing, and the US today is so frightened by Turkey that the US Government will not officially recognise the genocide.I want to write something more substantial on this issue, because I think that it really highlights that people/communities/countries cannot depend on other countries for justice. Politics gets in the way, always. The Israelis realised this and hence their desire to protect themselves in their own state.The Armenians thought that they could depend on the Christian grace and willingness of ‘Christian’ nations, but instead they met the judge who the old woman in Jesus’ parable had to harangue day and night to get justice. And still they wait and harangue.Paul Ricoeur addresses the question as to why we remember the Jewish Holocaust but forget the Armenian Genocide in < HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Memory-History-Forgetting-Paul-Ricoeur/dp/product-description/0226713415" REL="nofollow">Memory, History, Forgetting<> I haven’t read it but I would like to.