Forgetting Armenia
by Jonathan Linder

April is disconcertingly full of remembrance. In April, the world gathered to remember the Holocaust. With less fanfare, the 87th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian genocide, during which the Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people, passed on April 24. April also marks the eighth anniversary of the worst genocide of the last half century — the systematic execution of 800,000 Tutsis and 1,000 moderate Hutus in Rwanda.

Before he began the slaughter of European Jews and other peoples who did not fit his master race, Adolf Hitler infamously asked, "Who remembers the Armenians now?" The continued existence of acts of systematic extermination — be they genocide, politicide or other such massacres — are painful reminders that the world still does not remember the Armenians. The organization Prevent Genocide International maintains a table devoted to the tracking of genocides, politicides and other political murders since World War II. It counted 19 countries in the "extermination" stage of the eight stages of genocide as 2002 began. More disturbing is the multitude of nations that fall in the planning stages of such awful acts, including Lebanon, Laos and Uzbekistan (here planning means that mass killings have yet to occur, but that conditions exist to make them possible). In this context, cries of "never again" ring hollow. While the reminders are tragic, they should not be taken as a sign that nothing can be done, that genocide is somehow a permanent facet of humanity's existence.

In places like the former Yugoslavia, international intervention worked to slow and eventually halt genocidal massacres. But even there, the international community did not act until the horrible events were already well underway. A pre-emptive diplomatic and humanitarian intervention — in such burgeoning conflict zones as Cambodia, Tibet and Venezuela — could save far more lives and go further toward creating a lasting peace.

The first step may be to recognize and learn from the plight of the Armenians. In 1915, the Ottomans began a precision execution of Armenians within Ottoman territory that was frighteningly similar to the Nazis' systematic annihilation 25 years later. As Russian forces began a World War I progression into the Ottoman Empire, the Turks, fearing disloyalty, decided to disarm the Armenian soldiers among their troops and place them in labor camps — before murdering them.

Next, Armenian intellectuals and religious leaders were rounded up and killed, followed by house-by-house searches and forced death marches through the desert. Armenians who were not massacred were deported in droves — about 1 million were sent to Syria, where many died from starvation. In 1918, Ottoman forces moved through East Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Russian Caucasus, massacring Armenians along the way.

The genocide continued after World War I concluded, and, according to the Armenian National Institute, "by 1923 the entire landmass of Asia Minor and historic West Armenia had been expunged of its Armenian population. The destruction of the Armenian communities in this part of the world was total."

Yet neither the Ottoman Turks, nor the Turkish Republic that Ataturk founded in 1923, has ever acknowledged the slaughter. The nation's official line to this day is that any Armenians who died were assisting the Russians and were killed in self defense — to call it genocide is considered insidious propaganda.

Turkey's strategic position and stature as a member of NATO has allowed this self-imposed amnesia to go unchecked, and Turkey has aggresively countered any move to recognize the tragedy. Last year, French President Jacques Chirac signed a bill qualifying the Turkish massacre of the Armenians as genocide. According to The Economist, Turkey countered by recalling its ambassador and canceling a $205 million deal with a French company to modernize 80 military aircraft. Turkey's foreign minister, Ismail Cem, called the French declaration "postmodern fascism, anti-Muslim and anti-Turkish." In the 54 years since the United Nations defined the act of genocide, the only US president who has ever called Ottoman’s actions against the Armenians genocide is Ronald Reagan, though every president since Jimmy Carter has acknowledged the massacre. A measure similar to the French bill nearly made it through the House of Representatives in October 2000, but President Bill Clinton, fearful of upsetting his NATO ally, coerced the House into backing down.

Incidents of communal violence throughout the world make the grim yearly rememberances of the Holocaust, the Armenian and Rwandan genocides all the more difficult to bear. In the Indian province of Gujarat, communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in recent months has claimed more than 800 lives. According to the BBC, the British government has stated publicly that it believes the violence has been sanctioned by the state and that it constitutes genocidal acts. From Muslim-Christian violence on Indonesia's Molucca Islands, to the plight of the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey, to the continuation of inter-ethnic massacres in the Great Lakes region of Africa — the world continues to suffer from the blight of genocide.

Perhaps someday the anniversaries of the Holocaust and the Armenian and Rwandan genocides can be a historical memory of what will truly never happen again, instead of a reminder of what has been and what still is.

E-mail Jonathan Linder at jglinder at yahoo dot com.