The Armenian Resolution

Turkey has been in the news a lot this month. Today the story about the conflict across the Iraq border with the PKK has taken the spotlight, but just last week the news was all about the "Armenian Resolution" before Congress. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the house, wants the U.S. to adopt an official resolution labelling the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in 1915-1917 as genocide.

The resolution has damaged Turkey's relationship with the U.S. and many people have pointed out the strategic role that Turkey has right now as a major highway for American military flights and equipment into Iraq. But this is just one reason why the resolution is a bad idea.


As a theologian friend of mine pointed out recently, this phenomenon of "coming to terms" with past events is a recent obsession, historically. It's a by product of a culture enamoured with "therapy." It's somehow healthy, even necessary, for us to assign the right diagnosis to past events, especially negative ones. And the "genocide" label is a political one. It has been so overused and underdefined that it carries no real content, just stigma.


Even if we were to accept that the events of 1915 do qualify as "genocide" (and I don't deny the atrocities), why would it become the duty of the U.S. to label it? Turks are not new to this debate and many of have accepted "Turkish" guilt in these events while others have fought to justify the actions of the Turks and mitigate the deaths. Of course, the Turkish republic had yet to be formed in 1915 so we are actually looking to recognize the actions of the Ottoman Empire as criminal... but the Ottoman Empire no longer exists... We're bullying the successors of a state that has done everything in its power to distance itself from the previous regime.


Using political pressure to force an artificial recognition of a 90 year-old event is a strange business, I think. And I can't think of any real benefit that such a recognition could have...

Comments

Doulos said…
You have forced me to look at the situation from a different perspective. And, I agree with you. I have a question though. Does the Turkish government actually deny the killings ever happened? If not then no problem, if yes then what would be the difference between this denial and the denial the holocaust ever happened by a modern German (or anyone for that matter)? I'm not trying to sound like a jerk here, just wondering. I agree that forcing a label on something that happened so long ago does little to change anything, but out right denial, if that is what's happening, can open up a whole other can of worms.

Again, you are right, Armenians were killed at the hands of "Ottoman" Turks, I don't believe any fault lies with Turks today. There are very few if any cultures/people groups that do not have some horror in their past. Could you imagine if everyone was forced to apologize for every single one?
October 26, 2007 at 6:48 PM
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