NEW YORK (Press Release) – In a month of solemn remembrance of the atrocities of the last century – from the 20th anniversary of the start of the Rwandan genocide to the annual commemoration in Israel and the United States of the Holocaust – we pause in mournful tribute to the memories of the estimated 1.5 million victims of the Meds Yeghern, the Genocide of Armenians, committed in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
AJC (American Jewish Committee) calls on the government of Turkey, a republic founded years after the empire’s dissolution, to not only provide at long last full access, as the government has pledged, to the historical record of that dark period of mass murder, forced relocation, death marches, sundering of families, and other abuses – but to address the realities the records reveal. The process of healing of this nearly century-old wound can only begin when the truth of that sorrowful era is confronted.
“As our organization has testified and written on various occasions, the atrocities committed against ethnic Armenians under Ottoman rule were an unspeakable crime against humanity,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “For the often-invoked but too-seldom-fulfilled phrase ‘Never again’ to have real meaning, the full details of that period must be acknowledged.”
“We identify with the core message of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, by then-Harvard University Professor, and now U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power that history must be faced, the dictates of conscience heeded – or we are doomed to endless brutalities by the powerful against the weak,” Harris added.
“As successive horrors painfully remind us,” Harris concluded, “we each bear the obligation of remembrance as a necessary step toward preventing such acts in the future. We stand in solidarity with people of good will everywhere in marking the 99th anniversary of the onset of the Meds Yeghern – the first, and not the last, instance of ethnic massacre and genocide of the 20th century.”
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Preceding provided by AJC (American Jewish Committee) … San Diego Jewish World invites attention from sponsors who would like their messages to run beneath topical stories. Contact donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com
Sorry AJC, after what? The AJC aided Turkey through lobbying support for decades in Congress against various Armenian organizations that sought the most minimal level of justice — the recognition of the genocide. Am now supposed to believe and applaud this? Sorry I do not. This may be part of an attempt to pressure Turkey towards reconciling with Israel, and we Armenians are being used as a pawn or a card.
I agree 100% because this will benefit them and when they get what they want they will forget about us. We do not need the Jewish organizations at all.
The above comments are a little narrow-minded? As an Armenian, i applaud what the AJC wrote here.
I agree 100% with Jack and Joseph above.
For years, I watched Barry Jacobs and the AJC aid Turkey in an amazing campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide in the face of history scholars worldwide and descendents of genocide victims. Did they do this because it was the honest, moral, and humanitarian thing to do??? Nope. It was a disgusting, immoral act for political posturing!!!
Now, you do a 180 degree turn??? Was this change of heart because you final wanted to take the honest, moral, and humanitarian road??? There is nothing that I have read to make me believe that this is anything more than political posturing. To little, too late, we don’t need friends like you. Get lost!!
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Better years later than never. Now, I hope the AJC and Mr Harris will speak directly with the person who created their obstructionist/denialist position, Israeli Pres. Peres, who incorrectly stated recently that while the Armenians did suffer a “tragedy” he did not consider it a Genocide. Mr Peres also appointed a woman to represent the Jewish-Turkish community, who also lobbied against Armenian Genocide Resolutions in the US (some say under Turkish threats to its Jewish community).
We (Armenian-Americans) have been facing obstruction of our due process not only from groups like the AJC and ADL but from the Jewish-Turkish community, the Govt. of Turkey and the Govt. of Israel.
If you can’t support us, don’t obstruct us (and embarrass yourselves in hypocrisy).
Dear readers,
I thought you might find this follow-up article of interest:
http://asbarez.com/123924/turkey%E2%80%99s-dc-envoy-angered-by-jewish-group%E2%80%99s-genocide-recognition/
Here is am image of the Turkish Ambassador’s letter:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152253566661859&set=a.172324551858.120197.16968936858&type=1&theater
Aram
Aram Suren Hamparian
Executive Director
Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 775-1918
Web: http://www.anca.org
Email: aram@anca.org
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