Please readers, understand genocide should not be taken lightly. It is the most disgraceful act that a human can take on another human. It is beyond all crimes. It is the crime. Every action taken by every nation to deny genocide or to circumvent passages of recognition of genocide fuel and support future doers of genocide. Please as human beings undertand this.
Fearing of being hacked and scrutinized for this blog post I plea to you before you hack me and call me a racist or an extremist, please read the post. I am not in support of anyone or anything. Please just read before you comment.
Today, Thursday December 22, 2011, “France’s lower house of parliament has approved a bill making it illegal to deny a genocide, including the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.” source
There has been incredible Turkish, political and non political, reaction to France’s passage of this bill. “Turkey, which denies the genocide, has withdrawn its Paris ambassador and frozen military ties.” source
I would like to share my comments on this issue. For the sake of fair discourse, I am disclosing that I am of Armenian ethnicity living in New York USA and am an American citizen.
One of my main concerns with the denial of any genocide is the harboring of future denial. The situation in France is overwhelmingly political and multi faceted. This has been one of the accusations of Turkish politicians. “There are some half a million ethnic Armenians living in France and their vote is considered important in next year’s presidential election, our correspondent notes.” source
According to Wikipedia there are 300,000[1][2] to 330,000[3] individuals identifying themselves as Turkish, living in France. The reason I state this is to address the point of political gain for President Sarkozy. I do not see Sarkozy gaining a majority of French Armenian votes based on this bill. The reason for is that I have the opinion that French Armenians will not vote solemnly based on this bill. The reason for this is that other french politicians will also support this bill because not supporting means allowing the denial of genocide in their sovereign country. Just as Turkish politicians will never say the word genocide, it is simply political suicide. In the same logic European politicians are putting themselves in an interesting position when they are asked about genocide. They are in an interesting position because there is huge political pressure from Ankara concerning the killings of Armenians and others during WWI. I think this is dangerous since, it opens the risk of other countries interfering or pressuring a domestic decision of a partner nation. This is dangerous for everyone.
I would like the readers of this post to understand my position. That politicians will do everything to gain support. In the same spirit international countries have ratified the killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during WWI as genocide, Turkish politicians have opposed it. Additionally I believe that it has become a requirement for Turkish politicians to strongly oppose and take actions against other countries who mention Armenian Genocide. I do not think this was the case when other countries passed similar laws as France wishes to in the past. It is only recently in the last decade that Turkey has taken the strong position to commit resources and willpower to influence foreign politically or historically motivated actions that have anything to do with the Armenian Genocide.
Why? Why is Turkey so committed to this foreign interference. I do not think decisions made by France or any other nation concerning laws that deny genocide naysayers will in anyway impact Turkey.
On a frank note, holly shit people, it is in the freaken lower senate, no one has passed any thing yet, what is all this commotion for. I only see it hurting Turkish international recognition when they go all out Defcon 1 whenever anybody proposes anything that has remotely anything to do with the Armenian genocide.
On the note of genocide. I personally believe that the historical, post WWI, actions taken by the winning European countries concerning the killings of peoples in Turkey during WWI, lead, to the Holocaust. Now this has nothing to do with modern Turkey. I do not want to get into a history lesson because I will be accused of cherry picking or being mislead or being misleading. I am simply sharing an opinion on genocide.
I repeat.
Please readers, understand genocide should not be taken lightly. It is the most disgraceful act that a human can take on another human. It is beyond all crimes. It is the crime. Every action taken by every nation to deny genocide or to circumvent passages of recognition of genocide fuel and support future doers of genocide. Please as human beings undertand this.
Now I will share a story concerning reactions or actions or situations that have arrose due to the denial or the recognition of the killings of Armenians in Turkey.
About me meeting a graduate student in my school, he was an international student from Turkey. Upon finding out that I am Armenian he took no action to discuss or to mention anything to do with history of that period. Nor did I take any action or have any intention to do so. This first example is of not sharing your opinion. Both he and I call each other friends and we just do not discuss history. We are designers what right do we have to discuss it. Yes it is our freedom of speech granted in America to discuss whatever we choose to. However it is also our decision to not discuss a topic that may hurt another individual or create a confrontation. Many Armenians will scold me for this and many Turks have scolded him for being friends with me. Why I ask? Why do we have to open each others wounds? This is the notion of pessimism. And I say I am a pessimist when it comes to this topic. The reason for this is that most modern Turks that I have come in contact with in America do not make it a point to tell me, hey you know by the way there was no genocide. It is not a threshold to being friends or accountancies that they have nor do I.
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In summery of the story and what I am trying to convey.
All nations have the right to the freedom of speech. That is to say on an international level all nations, give or take, have the ability to share their opinion about other nations on a political level in the general assembly and on a consumer level through international news outlets, etc.
This said, the laws of a country which one is in, is the laws that one must follow when in that country. These laws, in general, are the accepted laws by the population of that country. One should respect another countries laws when they are in that country. I hope you agree with me. We are in such an age where political asylum is possible for most individuals. If you are not in agreement with a law of a country than maybe you should leave that country.
In the case of France. Yes France is a Christian nation, however they are a very tolerant nation. I believe that cultural identity of a nation is very closely related with its major religion. This said most nations are very tolerant towards other cultures and religions, as in the case of France. Entailing, that it is because France is Christian and anti Muslim that they are passing a bill to condemn the denial of genocide is absurd. Turkey is muslim yet it recognizes the Holocaust, so why can’t another nation do so too. And equally all nations should have the ability to deny anything they want, it is their own international suicide they are risking. As in actions taken by Turkey against France for France’s domestic political decisions is international suicide and there is no need for it since it will not yield any benefit other than short political gain for Turkish politicians and many peoples feelings and sentiments putten into strain.