Turkey, Canada, and the Armenian Genocide

By Jasmeet Sidhu

The first thing I immediately noticed when I arrived in Turkey, was the price to get into the country. While British and American VISAs were only about $20, Canadians had to pay a whopping $60 for a VISA to enter the country. I never really thought about why, until we met with members of the Turkish foreign ministry in Ankara, Turkey.

Meeting at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara, Turkey.

Here in Turkey with my Peace and Conflict studies class to learn more about this dynamic and culturally rich country in the face of today's changing geopolitics, one topic that inevitably came up time and time again in our various meetings with Turkish officials was the Armenian genocide. And the discussions certainly took a more interesting turn when we revealed to people that we were Canadian.

Thus far, Canada's parliament is the only one in the world that has formally recognized the killing of Armenians in Turkey during the First World War as genocide.
At the time in 2004, the Turkish foreign ministry released a statement, declaring "Some narrow-minded Canadian politicians were not able to understand that such decisions based on ... prejudiced information, will awaken feelings of hatred among people of different [ethnic] roots and disturb social harmony."

So when we met with members of the Turkish foreign ministry in the capital, Ankara, we weren't sure what to expect. Though we hadn't told them that this was a topic that we specifically wanted to discuss, as if reading our minds, an Armenian historian who had once worked in Canada joined our meetings, and the discussion inevitably went towards the Armenian genocide for the majority of the meeting. It was a fairly amicable and pleasant meeting, however, with an obvious agenda on their side to get their story across to Canadian students who would inevitably be discussing their thoughts with other Canadians (like I am right now).

The narrative that the foreign ministry put forward was emphasizing a lack of intent, and relying on the legal definition of the genocide to put into question "the events of 1915" as they were referred to in the meeting. Indeed, "genocide" was not even a legal term back in 1915 and the convention on genocide did not exist until 1948, so how can one declare a genocide to have happened?

Also, genocide needs intent to eliminate an entire groups of people. This, one member of the Turkish foreign ministry declared, did not exist. As well, they argued, Turkey has always been open about this issue and has argued for a joint historical investigation with Armenia to discover what really happened in 1915, but Turkey claims that Armenia are not open to the process or willing to open its private records on the event. Probably the most fascinating part of the discussion was when the foreign ministry urged us to be "Canadian" and live up to "Canadian values" by having an open mind and listening to both sides of the story. They argued that they were being accused of the most heinous crime and urged a proper historical investigation before parliaments pass judgments on controversial aspects of history, for which they have no role.

I walked away from the meeting not necessarily sure what to believe, but feeling compelled to read and research more about this dark aspect of Turkish history. And I suppose that was the real purpose of this meeting, whether we had just heard propaganda or the "memory record of another people" as it was called -- to not depend on simply just one side of the story, and to be your own critic of events and issues by doing the research yourself and coming to the best possible conclusion you can.

Jasmeet Sidhu is a graduate of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto. She worked for the Star in the radio room last summer, and writes a blog for the Star on climate change, where she covered the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen. In mid-June she will join the Star's summer intern program. Follow Jasmeet on Twitter.

Comments

[Berge Jololian]

Jurist Dr. Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer of Polish-Jewish descent, and Holocaust survivor coined the word "genocide" in 1933 specifically to describe the destruction of Armenians and the barbarity that befell upon them at the hands of the Turkish State.

Prior to coining the word genocide, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and world leaders referred to the race extermination of Armenians as "the Armenian holocaust".

Genocide denial is not just the simple negation of an act; it is much more the consequent continuation of the very act itself. Genocide should not only physically destroy a community; it should likewise dictate the prerogative of interpretation in regard to history, culture, territory and memory. As the victims, Armenians never existed.

Now more than ever the denial of the Armenian genocide must be responded to, for denial is intrinsic to the methodology of genocide. Genocide is denied even as it is practiced - as in Darfur.

From the beginning, the perpetrator seeks pretexts and justifications to conceal the real intentions. Thus, the extermination is referred to as 'transporting,' as 'deportation' or 'resettlement' - 'moving to secure places' or even as the 'final solution.' A verbal code is used to camouflage and thus deny the annihilation, even as it is being committed. Genocide without simultaneous denial is unthinkable - yes, even impossible.

The Turkish have not only murdered humans , destroyed an ancient culture and civilization, and rewritten history, but they continue to legitimize the act as well as the racist ideology that led to the act. This includes the legitimization of any and all stereotyping of the Armenian people as a dangerous enemy, as a deadly bogeyman in the closet. Denial is the final step in the completion of a mass extermination - and the first step towards the next genocide.

If genocide is committed in Ruanda or Sudan, it is done with the knowledge that the rest of the world will only watch and then forget. They look to Turkey and think themselves safe in the assumption that their actions will likewise remain unpunished!

The accountable powers-that-be rhetorically ask - as Hitler did just before invading Poland - 'Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?'

Engraved on a the wall at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hitler_Armenian_Quote.JPG

The Turkish state must be held accountable for its crimes of genocide - the UN convention on prevention and punishment for the crime of genocide (which references the Armenian genocide) fully applies on Turkey.

The Armenian genocide like the Jewish genocide both occurred before the 1948 UN Convention (which references the Armenian genocide).

[David Kojah-Oghlanian]

Contrarily to what members of the Turkish foreign ministry were saying in that meeting, the Armenian genocide was indeed a premeditated and calculated act carried out by the Turkish government at that time.

Armenians from all over Anatolia, from Constantinople (Istanbul) to the most isolated Armenian village in historic Armenia, were taken to the desert and were killed in some of the most brutal ways possible, or were starved to death. 1.5 million Armenians out of a pre-war population of 2 million were systematically massacred in 1915... The intent was indeed there, such a considerable population cannot be eliminated simply "by accident".

This greatly inspired Hitler, who rallied his colleagues towards his genocidal cause by saying "who today remembers the annihilation of the Armenians"? Thankfully, Canada is among the many countries that do remember.

[Ari]

Dear Jasmeet Sidhu,

Canada is not the only nation in the world recognized the genocide.. There are over 20 nations, including the EU and many other trade unions.. not to mention over 40 US states.. and countless number of genocide scholars.. Stating otherwise that a genocide has never occurred is going against the years of research and work done by these scholars who have without any bias or political motives concluded that it was a genocide against Armenians.

Intent of genocide is widely documented, evidence can be found in archives, newspapers, eye-witness accounts, pictures, videos, including skulls and bones. There is no arguing about that.

Just because the term genocide didn’t exist at the time, doesn’t mean something like a genocide couldn’t of happen. In fact, back in September 10, 1895 before Armenian Genocide memorial day of April 24, 1915, the New York Times published an article calling the events against the Armenians, not a genocide, but rather a Holocaust, and this is exactly 50 years before WW2.. This archived article is free for the public download..

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D05E5DD113DE433A25753C1A96F9C94649ED7CF

[Arin Gharakhanian]

I would suggest that you read The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East, by Robert Fisk. There is a great chapetr there on the Armenian Genocide. It is always a great idea to do your research and find out the truth for yourself.

[Just asking]

Could you please tell us how much Canada is asking for visa for Turkish people and how difficult is to get it.

[Tim]

The irony is that while Armenians have been doing their utmost to portray Turks as Nazis (in an effort to equate themselves with Holocaust victims, the one group best known to have fallen prey to genocide), Turks did their best to save Jews during World War II... while European Armenians actively supported the Nazi cause.http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/
‘Adolf Hitler: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

Now has anybody bothered to investigate it. No, of course. "It sounds like as if it is true, so why not believe it". Well fortunately there are still people who like investigating such stuff.
Read for example :
Heath W. Lowry
Washington, D.C.
Political Communication and Persuasion, Volume 3, Number 2 (1985)
Abstract This article traces the history of a purported Adolf Hitler quote which cites the perecent of the world's lack of reaction to the fate of Armenians during the First World War as a justification for his planned extermination of European Jewry in the course of the Second World War. By a detailed examination of the genesis of this quotation the author demonstrates that there is no historical basis for attributing such a statement to Hitler...
[...]
The latest British governemeents acceptance that the "blue book", which Armenian claims are based upon, have been declared by the government itself to be a WW1 time propaganda material. Yes you heard it right! http://www.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2J9C76U15K2GL/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdp

[Tim]

I would like to take your attention to:
Professor Bernard Lewis of Princeton University:
"[T]he point that was being made was that the massacre of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire was the same as what happened to Jews in Nazi Germany and that is a downright falsehood. What happened to the Armenians was the result of a massive Armenian armed rebellion against the Turks, which began even before war broke out, and continued on a larger scale."
Brian Ardouny of the Armenian Assembly of America in a videotaped interview for a documentary on the Armenian Revolt clucked:

"We don't need to prove the genocide historically, because it has already been accepted politically."

[Harout Manougian]

What makes you believe that Canada is the only country to recognize the genocide? The list is actually quite long:
http://anca.org/genocide_resource/recognition.php

[car accident claims]

There are many difficulties occur in getting visa in Canada.

[John Bara]

Denying the Armenian genocides is like denying the holocausts, the Armenian massacres happened and not only 1.5 Armenian Christians were murdered but also 0.5 million Syrian Christians were massacred. The Syrian Christian history is full of horrible stories of killing by the Turks. Turkey should not keep denying the massacres and should not keep finding excuses of committing such an act. You can find more info about the Armenian Genocides on this site
http://www.armenianmontreal.com/

[Bahri]

Armenian revolutionist killed 524.000 Ottomans. Armenians always show their side of the story. Armenian diaspora is vbery strong and uses its political ties to pass the law. Their websites can never answer the question WHY OTTOMAN EMPIRE WAITED 700 YEARS FOR THEM? There is relevant information in Turkey that Armenian revolutionists rebelled and official order given was to deport them.
Genocide is a lie and a political tool for them to get the land that they tried to get by rebelling.
History is a social science and this is part of history and should be discussed by academicians. Will you be making up laws that denies derivation in Maths too? and maybe penalize those who use derivation?

[Jasmeet]

Hi everyone,
I recently received an email about this blog post, which surprised me since I wrote it almost two years ago! Because there are still those that are commenting on this piece, I invite you to visit a follow-up blog post that I did, that cleared any misconceptions.

http://thestar.blogs.com/interns/2010/06/turkey.html

Here is a little excerpt on what I said:

"Referring to my post on the Armenian genocide, I first want to clarify that I am by no means questioning whether the horrible events of 1915 took place -- I wrote the blog because I felt that it was interesting to share the strong standpoint that members of the Turkish government were putting forward, vastly in contrast to much of the international political community and academic consensus on the issue.

When I wrote in the post about the urge to do more research after the meeting and to become your own critic of events, I was speaking for my newfound curiosity to sit down with several books on the topic, and to try to understand how and why the Turkish government continues with their narrative and disbelief of the genocide despite the strong scholarly evidence and the consensus of the international political community, documents and books that I wanted and would like to read in the coming months."

Thanks, and take care!