Recognition of the Armenian Genocide

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To date, 21 countries have officially recognized the massacres of Armenians committed by Ottoman Turkey between 1915-1923 as genocide.

Contents 1 International organizations 2 Governments 3 Media 4 Recent developments 5 See also 6 References

[edit] International organizations

There is general agreement among historians that the events constituted genocide. Several international organizations, conducting studies of the events, have determined that the term "genocide" aptly describes "the Ottoman massacre of Armenians in 1915–1918."^[1] Among the organizations asserting this conclusion are the International Center for Transitional Justice, the International Association of Genocide Scholars,^[2] and the United Nations' Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.^[1][3]

In 2007, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity produced a letter signed by 53 Nobel Laureates re-affirming the Genocide Scholars' conclusion that the 1915 killings of Armenians constituted genocide.^[4] Wiesel's organization also asserted that Turkish acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide would create no legal "basis for reparations or territorial claims", anticipating Turkish anxieties that it could prompt financial or territorial claims.

[edit] Governments

Although there has been much academic recognition of the Armenian Genocide, this has not always been followed by governmental and media recognition. Many governments, including the governments of Israel, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Georgia, do not officially use the word "genocide" to describe these events. Although many Turks and the Turkish government believe that the United States has not formally recognized the Armenian massacres as a genocide, in a recent revelation, an International Court of Justice document reveals a "written statement of the government of the United States of America" explicitly stating: "The Roman persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide." ^[5] Furthermore, 42 of the 50 U.S. states have made individual proclamations recognizing the events of 1915 to 1923 as genocide.^[6]

First, in 2001, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec independently of their federal government, then, in 2004, the government of Canada itself recognized the Armenian Genocide.^[7][8] The Parliament of the State of New South Wales, Australia passed a resolution acknowledging and condemning the Armenian Genocide in 1997.^[9]

In recent years, parliaments of several countries, including France and Switzerland, have formally recognized the event as genocide. Turkish entry talks with the European Union were met with a number of calls to consider the event as genocide,^[10][11][12] though it never became a precondition.

This article is part of the series Foreign relations of Armenia

Foreign policy Diplomatic missions Relations with the EU Armenian Genocide Armenian diaspora Bilateral relations with: Argentina Australia Azerbaijan Belgium Canada Croatia Egypt France Georgia Germany Greece Iran Iraq Israel Lebanon Poland Russia Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States Other relations: The Assyrians The Kurds See also: Politics of Armenia This box: view • talk • edit

Countries officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide include:

A major obstacle for wider recognition of the genocide in the world is the position of Turkey, which denies that genocide or even massacres ever took place and insists any deaths were a side-effect of the World War I casualties. Azerbaijan, as an ally of Turkey and in a state of war against Armenia, shares the position of Turkey. Israel and Denmark believe that the genocide recognition should be discussed by historians not politicians.^[21][22] There was a move by activists in Bulgaria to acknowledge the genocide, but it was voted down.^[23] Position of the UK is that it condemns the massacres, but did not find them qualified enough under 1948 UN Convention on Genocide to call them genocide and did not believe the UN Convention rules could be applied retroactively.^[24] On June 12, 2008, the Swedish Parliament rejected a bill recognising the events as genocide.^[25]

[edit] Media

Many newspapers for a long time would not use the word "genocide" without disclaimers such as "alleged" and many continue to do so. A number of those policies have since been reversed.^[26]

[edit] Recent developments

On 9 September 2004, President Mohammad Khatami of Iran visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial at Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan.^[27]

On June 15, 2005 the German Bundestag passed a resolution that "honors and commemorates the victims of violence, murder and expulsion among the Armenian people before and during the First World War". The German resolution also states: "The German parliament deplores the acts of the Government of the Ottoman Empire regarding the almost complete destruction of Armenians in Anatolia and also the inglorious role of the German Reich in the face of the organized expulsion and extermination of Armenians which it did not try to stop. Women, children and elderly were from February 1915 sent on death marches towards the Syrian desert."

The expressions 'organised expulsion and extermination' resulting in the 'almost complete destruction of Amenians' is sufficient in any language to amount to formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide, although of course the crime of 'genocide' had not been legally defined in 1915. The Resolution also contains an apology for German responsibility.^[28]

In 2006, the French parliament submitted a bill to create a law that would punish any person denying the Armenian genocide with up to five years' imprisonment and a fine of €45,000.^[29] Despite Turkish protests, the French National Assembly adopted a bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.^[30] The bill has been criticized as an attempt to garner votes from among the 500,000 ethnic Armenians of France.^[31] This criticism has come not only from within Turkey,^[18] but also from independent sources, such as Orhan Pamuk, Hrant Dink, former French President Jacques Chirac and U.S. diplomat Daniel Fried.^{[32][dubious – discuss]}

On 10 May 2006, the Bulgarian Government rejected a bill on recognition of the Armenian Genocide.^[33] This came after Emel Etem Toshkova, the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria and one of the leaders of the MRF, the main Turkish party in Bulgaria, declared that her party would walk out of the coalition government if the bill was passed. The bill itself was brought forward by the nationalist Ataka party.

International bodies that recognise the Armenian genocide include the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the World Council of Churches and the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal.

On 4 September 2006, Members of the European Parliament voted for the inclusion of a clause prompting Turkey "to recognise the Armenian genocide as a condition for its EU accession" in a highly critical report, which was adopted by a broad majority in the foreign relations committee of the European Parliament.^{[34], [35]} This requirement was later dropped on 27 September 2006 by the general assembly of the European Parliament by 429 votes in favor to 71 against, with 125 abstentions.^[36] In dropping the pre-condition of acceptance of the Armenian genocide, (which could not be legally demanded of Turkey), The European Parliament said: “MEPs nevertheless stress that, although the recognition of the Armenian genocide as such is formally not one of the Copenhagen criteria, it is indispensable for a country on the road to membership to come to terms with and recognise its past.”

On September 26, 2006, the two largest political parties in the Netherlands, Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Labour Party (PvdA), removed three Turkish-Dutch candidates for the 2006 general election, because they either denied or refused to publicly declare that the Armenian Genocide had happened. The magazine HP/De Tijd reported that the number 2 of the PvdA list of candidates, Nebahat Albayrak (who was born in Turkey and is of Turkish descent) had acknowledged that the term "genocide" was appropriate to describe the events. Albayrak denied having said this and accused the press of putting words in her mouth, saying that "I'm not a politician that will trample my identity. I've always defended the same views everywhere with regard to the 'genocide'".^[37] It was reported that a large section of the Turkish minority were considering boycotting the elections.^[38] Netherlands' Turkish minority numbers 365,000 people, out of which 235,000 are eligible to vote.

On November 29, 2006, the lower house of Argentina's parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The bill was overwhelmingly adopted by the assembly and declared April 24, the international day of remembrance for the Armenian genocide as an official "day of mutual tolerance and respect" among peoples around the world.

On July 17, 2006, the Brazilian state of Ceará became the second state after São Paulo to ratify a bill recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

On March 8, 2007, Turkish nationalist Doğu Perinçek became the first person convicted by a court of law for denying the Armenian Genocide, found guilty by a Swiss district court in Lausanne. Perinçek appealed the verdict.^[39] The conviction was upheld by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court on December 12, 2007.^[40]

On April 20, 2007, the Basque Parliament approved an institutional declaration recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The Basque Parliament included six articles where it affirms the authenticity of the Armenian Genocide and declares sympathy to the Armenians, while at the same time denouncing Turkey's negation of the genocide and its economic blockade imposed on Armenia.^[41]

Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League has been criticized by Robert Spencer for not acknowledging the Armenian genocide due to fear of worsening relations between Israel and the republic of Turkey.^[42] On August 21, 2007, the Anti-Defamation League recognized the Armenian Genocide as "tantamount to genocide," following their controversial refusal to support the proposed recognition by Representative Adam Schiff.^{[43], [44]}

The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs approved HR 106, a bill that categorised and condemned the Ottoman Empire for the Genocide, on October 10, 2007, by a 27-21 vote. However, some of the support for the bill from both Democrats and Republicans eroded after the White House warned against the possibility of Turkey restricting airspace as well as ground-route access for US military and humanitarian efforts in Iraq in response to the bill.^[45] Passage of the bill is currently in doubt.

In response to the House Foreign Affairs Committee's decision on the bill, Turkey ordered their ambassador to the United States to return to Turkey for "consultations."^[46]

On November 23, 2007, the Mercosur parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the “Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, which took 1.5 million lives from 1915 to 1923.” The Mercosur resolution also expressed its support for the Armenian Cause and called on all countries to recognize the Genocide.^[47]

[edit] See also

• United States resolution on Armenian genocide

[edit] References