In the end, the definition of “intent “ remains the key to unlocking the legalistic straightjacket into which we have tie ourselves by a misplaced sense of personal and national reputation, “honor,” and latent nationalism.
What we are left with is the observation by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart: “I know it when I see it.” But the world must look and not hide its head in the sand. And by the way, Congress may yet act on one or more of the pending pieces of legislation.
Colonel Daniel M. Smith graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1966. His initial assignment was with the 3rd Armor Division in Germany.He then served as an intelligence advisor in Vietnam, following which he earned a graduate degree at Cornell University and taught philosophy and English at West Point.
Subsequent intelligence and public affairs assignments were at Fort Hood, Texas; the Army Materiel Research and Development Command, where he was speechwriter for the Commanding General; the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA); and Headquarters, Department of the Army.Six of his years with DIA were in London in the British Ministry of Defense and n as Military Attache in the U.S. Embassy. Colonel Smith retired in 1992. He joined the non-partisan Center for Defense Information in April 1993 becoming Associate Director in 1995 and Chief of Research in 1999.
Colonel Smith, a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College, the Armed Forces Staff College, and the Army War College, joined the Friends Committee on National Legislation in September 2002 as Senior Fellow on Military Affairs.
The killings occurred between 1915 and 1918. Anyone who was realistically old enough to participate in the killings (set a minimum of age 16 in 1918) would be at least 105 years old today; just how many of the guilty to you think are still alive?
It's obvious that the West isn't doing squat about genocides going on right now (think Darfur) or happened in the recent past (think Rwanda), because to have taken action would have been too expensive and too inconvenient. Just what moral authority would a resolution which can only offend an ally, but not do one thing to any of the perpetrators, have when no one is really interested in genocide going on today?
by
Dana Pico (7 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 174 comments)
on Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 12:16:13 PM
We Jews know what ethnic cleansing is. Probably more so than many other ethnic groups do. What happened to the Armenians was a horrific massacre and loss of life. Was every massacre throughout history motivated by ethnic cleansing? Certainly not. What Hitler tried to accomplish is a far cry from any Armenian so-called genocide. You cannot deny that many Armenians lost their lives as they were looking for a land of their own, however, what is not recognized is that the Armenians themselves inflicted as much damage as others in the hostilities of that time for their own selfish objectives. The Turk's only policy was the removal of Armenians from the front line with Russia, where they were collaborating with the Ottoman Empire's enemies. They were a threat to security. This is called war.
Regarding persecution, the Ottomans had one of the most tolerant policies toward non-Turks of any empire of its day. The three communities of Jews, Greeks and Armenians were virtually autonomous within the empire. It cannot be denied that throughout history the Ottoman Empire unlike any other empire of its time allowed Jews to practice their own religion as well as many freedoms of their time. When the Ottoman Empire had taken over Jerusalem, had they tried to annihilate the strong presence of the Armenians who had their own quarter? Never. Could you say that the Russians committed genocide against the Circassians and Adyghes? If you could then the Armenians slaughtered 200,000 people including Turks and Kurds and Jews in Eastern Anatolia during Turkey 's Independence War while the Turks were fighting against the imperial powers of Europe on five fronts. Armenians took advantage of the Turks' weak position and waged a war against them by opening a new front. But, this was war.
by
m t (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 7:01:18 PM
The U.S. has already exceeded the numbers of deaths, displacements, destruction, and economic plunder in Iraq that resulted in what happened in Armenia being labelled a genocide.
by
Web Smith (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 27 comments)
on Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 1:13:54 PM
Before we called a Tree , the Tree was still a Tree !
Presently, 92 years after the instigation of the genocide of the Armenians, selected Turkish "historians" maintain – for their own self-satisfaction and for the targeted deception of the Turkish and international public – that "there was no official document ordering the extermination." If this Turkish logic were to be followed through, the Holocaust would also be open to question; as is well-known, no official document ordering the extermination was ever supposedly issued under the National Socialist Regime either. The malicious denial of the Turkish-instigated genocide of the Armenians and the continual demand for still more proof is a byproduct of the "glorious history" invented by Turkish bureaucrats for this "chosen people." This invented, glorious history declares all civilized people who ever existed within the perimeter of today's Turkey – no matter what their indigenous culture is or was – as proto-Turks. Armenians, of course, do not belong to this. The splendid history of Turkey, an artificial, eulogistic and ideological fabrication, continues to exclude the worst and darkest sides of Turkey's past – such as the systematic extermination of the Armenians.
1- „…The alternative is on display in Turkey, where the collapse of a war crimes tribunal after World War I paved the way for today’s widespread Turkish nationalist denial of the Armenian genocide…” Gary J. Bass , Try and Try Again, September 26, 2005, NYT.” (Gary J. Bass, an associate professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton, is the author of “Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals.”)
2- ” That entire debate about whether there was or wasn’t genocide is foolish and ugly. Nobody disputes the fact that more than one million Armenians were murdered during a two-year period, and a million people are not murdered without planning and without organization. The Turks can invent a thousand reasons to explain what happened, but of what importance will that be when the important thing is that people, women, men, children, died strange and ruthless and unnatural deaths?” (Yossi Sarid former education minster in Israel )
3- Millions of Muslim Turks had witnessed the mass deportation of Armenians three years earlier a few, with infinite courage, protected Armenian neighbours and friends at the risk of the lives of their own Muslim families and, on 19 October 1918, Ahmed Riza, the elected president of the Turkish senate and a former supporter of the Young Turk leaders who committed the genocide, stated in his inaugural speech: “Let’s face it, we Turks savagely ( vahshiane in Turkish) killed off the Armenians.”
4-
Excerpts from the rationale of the cross-party and unanimously adopted "Armenian Resolution" of the German Federal Parliament, which condoms the denial policy of Turkish government and asked Turkey to accept its history.(Source: Lower House of the German Parliament Printed Matter 15/5689, 15th Legislative Period 15.06.05)
“…Rationale90 years ago, on April 24th, 1915, by order of the Young Turk movement steering the Ottoman Empire, the Armenian political and cultural elite were arrested, transported deeper inland and to a large extant put to death. For Armenians throughout the world, this date has become the Day of Remembrance for the expulsion and massacre of the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire which had already begun towards the end of the 19th Century and, however, occurred to an even greater extant during the First World War.At the start of the war the recruited Armenian soldiers of the Ottoman Army were combined into work battalions and, for the most part, murdered. As of spring 1915, the women, children and elderly were put on death marches through the Syrian Desert. Those among the expelled who did not die or get murdered while underway suffered this fate at the latest in the inhumane camps located the desert around Deir ez Zôr. Massacres were also carried out by special task forces set up specifically for this purpose.High-ranking Turkish civil servants who voiced resistance to these procedures as well as criticism from the Ottoman Parliament were met by the Young Turk Regime with brutal rejection. Many areas from which the Christian Armenians were expelled were then resettled with Kurds or Muslim refugees of the Balkan Wars…According to impartial calculations, over one million Armenians were victim to the deportation and mass murder. Numerous independent historians, parliaments and international organizations describe the expulsion and annihilation of the Armenians as genocide.To date, the Republic of Turkey – the legal successors of the Ottoman Empire – still continues to deny the fact that these actions were systematic in nature and/or that the mass deaths during the resettlement marches and the massacres were committed intentionally by the Ottoman government…Turkish justification is that the Armenians used of force and armed resistance against Turks during the Turkish resettlement measures...As a whole, the magnitude of the massacres and deportation that occurred in Turkey is still played down and largely denied. This attitude of Turkey is in direct contradiction to the idea of reconciliation which stands at the forefront of the European Union's community of values. Even today historians in Turkey are still not free to deal with the history of deportation and murder of Armenians; despite relaxation of the previously existing liability of punishable culpability, they are still subject to great pressure.As the main military ally of the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire was likewise deeply involved in these events. From the outset, both the political and the military leadership of the German Empire were fully informed of the persecution and murder of the Armenians. The files of the foreign office, which consist of reports from the German Ambassadors and Consuls to the Ottoman Empire, document the systematic implementation of the massacres...”
by
eddy (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 2:52:13 PM
We Jews know what ethnic cleansing is. Probably more so than many other ethnic groups do. What happened to the Armenians was a horrific massacre and loss of life. Was every massacre throughout history motivated by ethnic cleansing? Certainly not. What Hitler tried to accomplish is a far cry from any Armenian so-called genocide. You cannot deny that many Armenians lost their lives as they were looking for a land of their own, however, what is not recognized is that the Armenians themselves inflicted as much damage as others in the hostilities of that time for their own selfish objectives. The Turk's only policy was the removal of Armenians from the front line with Russia, where they were collaborating with the Ottoman Empire's enemies. They were a threat to security. This is called war.
Regarding persecution, the Ottomans had one of the most tolerant policies toward non-Turks of any empire of its day. The three communities of Jews, Greeks and Armenians were virtually autonomous within the empire. It cannot be denied that throughout history the Ottoman Empire unlike any other empire of its time allowed Jews to practice their own religion as well as many freedoms of their time. When the Ottoman Empire had taken over Jerusalem, had they tried to annihilate the strong presence of the Armenians who had their own quarter? Never. Could you say that the Russians committed genocide against the Circassians and Adyghes? If you could then the Armenians slaughtered 200,000 people including Turks and Kurds and Jews in Eastern Anatolia during Turkey 's Independence War while the Turks were fighting against the imperial powers of Europe on five fronts. Armenians took advantage of the Turks' weak position and waged a war against them by opening a new front. But, this was war.
by
m t (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 6:59:56 PM
We Jews know what ethnic cleansing is. Probably more so than many other ethnic groups do. What happened to the Armenians was a horrific massacre and loss of life. Was every massacre throughout history motivated by ethnic cleansing? Certainly not. What Hitler tried to accomplish is a far cry from any Armenian so-called genocide. You cannot deny that many Armenians lost their lives as they were looking for a land of their own, however, what is not recognized is that the Armenians themselves inflicted as much damage as others in the hostilities of that time for their own selfish objectives. The Turk's only policy was the removal of Armenians from the front line with Russia, where they were collaborating with the Ottoman Empire's enemies. They were a threat to security. This is called war.
Regarding persecution, the Ottomans had one of the most tolerant policies toward non-Turks of any empire of its day. The three communities of Jews, Greeks and Armenians were virtually autonomous within the empire. It cannot be denied that throughout history the Ottoman Empire unlike any other empire of its time allowed Jews to practice their own religion as well as many freedoms of their time. When the Ottoman Empire had taken over Jerusalem, had they tried to annihilate the strong presence of the Armenians who had their own quarter? Never. Could you say that the Russians committed genocide against the Circassians and Adyghes? If you could then the Armenians slaughtered 200,000 people including Turks and Kurds and Jews in Eastern Anatolia during Turkey 's Independence War while the Turks were fighting against the imperial powers of Europe on five fronts. Armenians took advantage of the Turks' weak position and waged a war against them by opening a new front. But, this was war.
by
m t (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 6:58:04 PM
A Nuremberg style independent court could decide after investigating historical facts gathered from both parties.
Currently, Armenian propaganda is misleading vote hungry politicians while silencing the historians who conclude Turkey was justified to transport the belligerents for her own safety.
Armenians go ballistic when invited to enter scholarly; probably because they can't face truth. They argue their grandmother told me stories should be satisfactory for the world as well.Actually, they hide the vulgar methods used by their forefathers to annihilate the Muslims of Eastern Anatolia to declare an independent state for themselves. They almost achieved recognition without proof.
Daniel Smith writes the events took place in 1915-1918 long before modern Republic of Turkey was founded, but fails to explain why S/H R106 extends the time period to 1915-1923 the year the modern Turkish Republic was founded. He also distorts history to fit Armenian victimhood mentality. His effort to equate relocation with killing is insulting our intelligence.
Armenian terrorist organization ASALA killed Turkish diplomats in world capitals from 1973-1985, causing Turkey to pay attention to their unfair accusations. Their next step to force Turkey into recognition through power hungry politicians is continuing.Next, they hope to gain monetary reparations from Turkey, just like the Jews received form Germany. However, they cannot pull the wool over our eyes and equate their treason to the Jews innocence.
by
Huseyin Avsharoglu (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 5:03:05 PM
There is vast difference between the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian stories. For years leading up to Holocaust Jews were dismissed from public life in a humiliating way. Jewish doctors were not allowed to treat ‘Arian’ Germans, Jewish lawyers could not defend ‘Arian’ Germans, and many more put downs... Armenians on the other hand, had adequate representation in the Ottoman cabinet. They were holding ambassadorial posts; the Sultan’s treasury was maintained by an Armenian and so was his doctor an Armenian. Turks on the other hand were put down by Armenians. Literature and folk songs reveal this fact. They referred to Muslims/Turks as ‘dogs’ etc. If there is intention to wipe a race from the face of the earth; Armenians wish to do away with Turks now as they did in early 1900s.
There was no intent on the Turks heart to get rid of Armenians. Armenians were relocated as a political group posing a major threat to the Ottoman Empire, not because they were considered ‘different’.
Warring parties were removed from the UN convention of genocide upon Raphael Lemkin’s recommendation. Armenians were sure at war against Turks. Head of the Armenian delegation Boghos Nubar boasted in 1918 how they fought during World War I; “150,000 Armenian men fought in Russian Army, 45,000 wearing French uniforms, and 30,000 elsewhere fought on the side of the entente.” This makes a total of 225,000. Assuming each armed man had three siblings, a mom and a dad the total makes 6*225,000=1.35 million. This is a lot considering total population of 1.3 million Armenians living all over, including Istanbul.These large number of armed belligerents raised havoc in Van, Cilicia, Erzurum, Erzincan, Sivas, Kayseri, Yozgat.
by
Huseyin Avsharoglu (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 5:36:38 PM
The Armenian side is waging a disinformation campaign
It's not very difficult to see that the Armenians' tactic is to flood the public with so much hateful propaganda as to completely drown out the other side. Turkish people in the West are subjected to hardships in their daily lives because of this hate campaign waged by some of the Armenians. In Turkey the Armenians and the Turks get along quite well; it's only here in the West that many of the Armenians have chosen to pursue this campaign of villification and hatred against the Turkish People. Even here in the US, many Armenians are ashamed of what these Agitators in their midst are doing. They should get on with their lives and learn to live with their fellow man and stop causing such social disruption. The events in question cannot rightly be described as "genocide"; this is an over-simplification. The Turkish People find it insulting because it is untrue; they know enough about what happened in this complex period to know that the word "genocide" could never be used to describe it.
by
P. Connolly (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Wednesday, November 7, 2007 at 10:05:02 PM
The documents the Armenians present to prove that genocide occurred consists of many forgeries. For example:
1) The Blue Book: ‘The Blue Book’ which was one of the major documents, youthe Armenians present, was published by English ambassador Toynbee (1916). Toynbee himself later admitted that ‘The Blue Book’ was a war and propaganda book, in the his book entitled ‘The Western Question in Greece and Turkey’.
And most importantly, in July 2004, the Ankara ambassador of the United Kingdom sent a letter to the Chairman of the Turkish Assembly, Bülent Arınç declaring that ‘The Blue Book’ written for the Turks was also a propaganda book (Deveci Y,2005) like the Blue Book written for the German.
2) Aram Andonian’s book (The telegrams which were claimed to have been sent by Talat Pasha to order the massacre of the Armenians which were pressed in the book of Aram Andonian in 1920, in three languages): It was proven by both the Turkish and foreign historians that these telegrams were fake too.
After these telegrams were published in Daily Telegraph in England, in 1922, the English Foreign Ministry made a scrutiny and denounced that they were prepared by an Armenian association. 3) Diary of American Ambassador Morgenthau published in 1918. Professor Heath Lowry, an American historian from Princeton University displayed that the events depicted in the book depended on lies or half true events, by comparing the information Ambassador Morgenthau sent to American Foreign Ministry, with those written in the diary, in his book entitled ‘The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story’, in 1990 .4) The cover photograph of the book of Tessa Hoffmann: Tessa Hoffmann printed the painting of Russian artist Vasili Vereshchagin depicting a mass of skulls which was painted in 1871, as if it were the photograph of 1915 Armenian genocide, in the cover of his book and had to admit his forgery during the trial ofDoğu Perinçek held in Switzerland in March 2007,in which he was listened as a wittness. 5) The number of Armenians who were relocated: The number of the Armenians who were relocated was reported as 600-700 thousand by Boğos Nubar Pasha who attended to the talks of Sevres Treaty as a chief of Armenians. However the number of relocated Armenians is given as 1.5 million by some Armenian sources and 2 and even 2.5 million by some others. However, the total number of Ottoman Armenians including thosewho live in the West Anatolia (therefore who were not relocated) was reported as 1.5 million in Encyclopedia Britannica’s 1910 edition which was edited by an English editor. Surprisingly, the total number of Ottoman Armenians was increased to 2.5 million in 1953 edition of the same encyclopedia which was edited by an Armenian editor .
by
mustafa ka (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Friday, November 9, 2007 at 3:29:35 AM
10 comments
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