Recognising the "Armenian Genocide"*

Is the US risking its relations with Turkey by the House Committee’s recognition of the “Armenian Genocide”?

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das writes from Minneapolis, USA

The United States House Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on 4 March, 2010 adopted a resolution with a narrow margin votes of 23-22 which acknowledged the 1915 mass killing of the ethnic Armenian as “genocide” by the then Ottoman Empire.

Turkey, who is the successor of the Empire, has taken the development painfully and has recalled its Ambassador to the United States Namik Tan to Ankara for consultation regarding follow-up measures. However, this signifies an immediate reaction and diplomatic protest from Turkey.

According to the New York Times (March 5), the US Congress “refused to take any measure” as a follow-up of the resolution. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reportedly assured Turkey that they (the US) are not moving further on the resolution considering backlash in diplomatic relations between the two countries.

According to the survivors of the “genocide” and/or their successors, an estimated 1.5 million people had to die due to the “disintegration policy” of the Ottoman Empire.

However, successor Turkey has been denying any genocide and claims that the number of deaths was not more than 300,000 and that also happened due to the “civil war” and “amid the chaos and unrest surrounding World War I.”

However, the Armenian Diaspora has been successful in advocating their cause and supporting research and publications on the issue.

A group of renowned international scholars and jurists, who reportedly unveiled the public documents of that period, term the mass-killing of the Armenians 95 years ago as “genocide.” In the US, so far 42 States have passed bills or resolutions acknowledging the mass killing as “genocide”.

Referring to the “Armenian genocide,” Nicholas Kristof wrote in the New York Times on March 5 “…the evidence is clear that genocide is the right word for what happened...”

According to this writer, “It's also true that Turkey has a problem acknowledging its brutality toward both Armenians and Kurds, although it has also gotten much better about this in the last decade.”

In a similar move, a bill was passed in 2007 by the US Congress. However, the then Bush administration did not take any further action fearing backlash in the relations with Turkey which is a NATO member country and strategic partner.

Given this backdrop, I interviewed (through e-mail and in person) three practitioners and experts on the respective areas to look into the potential impact and consequences of the resolution.

Edmon Marukyan
Human Rights Lawyer from Armenia

For Mr. Edmon Marukyan who is a human rights lawyer from Armenia and is currently at the University of Minnesota Law School as a Humphrey Fellow, the resolution is the “recognition and acknowledgment” of the “Armenian Genocide.” It is a moral issue for the Armenians.

He observes that over 95 years have passed since the “Armenian genocide” that drove Armenians to spread all over the world. According to him, the Armenians have been advocating for recognition of the “Armenian Genocide” and claiming for justice, if not in the legal sphere, on moral grounds.

Turkey, as the successor of the Ottoman Empire, should look at history honestly and recognize the “Armenian Genocide” as Germany did in case of the Holocaust, the human rights advocate comments.

Ziya Meral
PhD candidate for Political Science,
University of Cambridge, UK

Mr. Zia Meral is originally from Turkey and now has been perusing his doctoral research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He is considered as an expert on European-Turkey relations. I met him in Minneapolis while he was attending an international conference in February, 2010.

Mr. Meral observes that the resolution passed in the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs might provide a sense of vindication for Turkey. “It comes with a heavy price,” referring to Turkey-US relations he tells me in an e-mail interview.

According to him, in the short term, the Turkey-US relations will be damaged when the US needs close Turkish support for its exit strategies from Afghanistan and Iraq. The same also goes for a possible US sanction against Iran.

Mr. Meral points out that this move by the US House Committee has a detrimental outcome. “The resolution also will harm the ongoing and volatile Armenian and Turkish relations,” he says.

It will give more legitimacy to the nationalist voices in Turkey and Azerbaijan to halt talks. This will have a negative outcome for the Armenia-Azerbaijan-Turkey triangle, as well as for broader stability in the Caucasus, he predicts.

In the long term, this development will block the Turks to hear Armenian voices and paying attention to their suffering, Mr. Meral observes.

According to this Turkish researcher, it plays out the paranoid that what the world cares is to destroy Turkey and accuse it anyway they can. So, although some Armenians might see this as a success, this actually harms exactly what they want; a genuine Turkish acknowledgement of the suffering of Armenians.

“It is simply not enough to enshrine the past, or gain small battles in cornering Turkey. How we pursue the ultimate end we want is as important as remembering the past,” he says.

However, as a Turk he strongly believes that Turkey has to rectify the suffering of Armenians. But “I am saddened by this resolution,” he concludes.


Dr. Ellen J. Kennedy
Professor and Interim Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota

Dr. Ellen J Kennedy has been active in educating people on the devastations and human casualties and sufferings of the holocaust and genocides. According to her, it is the moral obligation of the US to acknowledge “Armenian genocide.” However, she acknowledges that the resolution passed in the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs may negatively impact US-Turkey relations. Following is the excerpts from her e-mail interview.

"Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Howard Berman and other supporters of the resolution have said it well: that the United States has a moral obligation to speak out against genocide, to prevent it happening again. The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) has labeled this tragedy as genocide.' The U.S. has not done so because of political relationships with Turkey. The Turkish government denies that this was genocide, saying that the numbers of deaths are both over-stated and are a consequence of civil war, not genocide.

"Turkish and Armenian government officials have been negotiating for an improvement of relations between their two countries, including an opening of borders. This resolution may result in Turkey's withdrawal from these negotiations and in a significant decline in relations. For the three million people in Armenia and the eight million Armenians in the Diaspora, who are the world's most scattered people, it represents a welcome acknowledgment of the tragedy that has become almost invisible. Hitler reputedly said, on the eve of efforts to exterminate Europe's Jews, Who speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?

"The Foreign Affairs Committee approved a similar resolution in 2007 but it didn't come to a full vote after pressure from then-President George W. Bush.

"Many human rights groups, the Armenian community, and scholars such as IAGS, noted above, have long advocated for this action.

"In 2006, France's national assembly outlawed denial of the Armenian genocide. Armenian activists in Europe have tried to block Turkey's pending application for membership in the European Union based on this issue."

It is difficult to say what the impact might be. During his campaign for the presidency, Obama pledged to recognize the 1.5 million Armenian deaths as genocide but the administration has now reversed its position. Current relations between Turkey and Armenia can be affected very negatively. Clearly President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton feel that there will be negative repercussions on US-Turkey relations. The US is pushing for new sanctions against Iran to be approved by the UN Security Council; Turkey holds a seat on the council and could withhold approval. In addition, Turkey is a crucial staging ground for US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das is an Advocate (Attorney) in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and specializes on human rights and migration issues. He is presently affiliated with the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, U.S.A as a Humphrey Fellow (Fulbright Scholar). E-Mail: udas1971@yahoo.com.

*Originally appeared in the PROBE News Magazine (Dhaka, Bangladesh), March 12-18, 2010; link: http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=5897.