WASHINGTON—Earlier this month, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum published a comprehensive statement on the centennial of the World War I, in which the Armenian Genocide was featured.
“As a result of the Ottoman government’s systematic policy of mass deportations and executions, at least one million members of its Armenian minority were killed. The most intense period of the Armenian Genocide occurred in 1915–16 when hundreds of thousands of people, including children and the elderly, died during forced marches into the desert due to violence, starvation, exposure, and disease. Knowledge of these mass murders quickly spread around the world, but there were few efforts to intervene or hold perpetrators accountable,” reads the statement by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“This massive conflict [WWI] and its divisive peace created conditions that would give rise to a second, even more destructive, world war and genocide committed under its cover,” added the statement.
The federally-funded museum, which was established in 1980 through a Congressional Mandate, unveiled its headquarters in Washington in 1993. Its stated mission is to inspire “citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity.
“This sadly underscores that President Obama – under a pressure from a foreign government – will be heading into 2015 so very far out of step with academic scholarship, with American civil society, and even with his own promises to speak honestly about the Armenian Genocide,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Oh, i see it was the Ottomans … there is no mention of Turk in the statement.
The Turks have not only murdered humans, destroyed an ancient culture, civilization and rewritten history, but 99% of Turks today continue to legitimize the act of genocide as well as the racist ideology that led to the act.
Dr. Lemkin, who is credited for coining the word “genocide” in 1943 to describe the 1915 genocide of the Armenians and then the Holocaust, has also played an important role in compelling the United Nations to adopt the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948 (after the Holocaust).
When asked how he became interested in the Armenian genocide, Dr. Lemkin explained: “I became interested in genocide because it happened to the Armenians; and after[wards] the Armenians got a very rough deal at the Versailles Conference because their criminals were guilty of genocide and were not punished”.
Where in this mission “to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity” does the the reported invitation of Franjo Tudjman to its opening ceremonies in 1993 fit, not to mention the campaign among prominent Jewish organizations to exclude mention of the Armenian Holocaust from the outset?