Armenian Americans have lobbied for years and pushed for the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide but the US had been reluctant to make an official stance on the issue to prevent angering Turkey, a strategic NATO ally.
Written by Neha Banka , Edited by Explained Desk | Kolkata | Published: December 21, 2019 9:48:30 am
FILE – In this Nov. 13, 2019 file photo, President Donald Trump shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The State Department says recent congressional action to recognize the Armenian genocide does not reflect Trump administration policy. (AP Photo)
The US Senate passed a resolution last week recognizing the mass killings of Armenians from 1915 to 1922 as genocide, a move that Turkey has consistently opposed. The resolution recognized and acknowledged the killing of approximately 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire.
What happened during the Armenian Genocide?
While Turkey disagrees, the consensus among historians is that in the Armenian Genocide during the First World War, hundreds of thousands of Armenians perished due to killings, starvation and disease, when they were deported by Ottoman Turks from eastern Anatolia. It is difficult to estimate the total number of Armenians who died during the genocide. The Armenian diaspora says that approximately 1.5 million died, while Turkey rejects that number claiming that some 300,000 may have perished. The International Association of Genocide Scholars estimates that more than 1 million Armenians may have died.
Why does Turkey dispute the Armenian Genocide?
The UN Convention on Genocide describes genocide as actions that intend “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”. The dispute centers around whether the killings were premeditated. The Armenians, governments and some historians believe that the Armenian Genocide was a premeditated campaign to exterminate the Armenian people, while Turkey and some other historians reject this.
While Turkey agrees that some atrocities were committed against the Armenians, they reject assertions that there was a systematic attempt to engage in destroying the Armenians.
Why did the Armenian Genocide happen?
The roots of the Armenian Genocide can be found in the historical discrimination and abuse that Armenians were subjected to under Ottoman rule. The Armenians were the first to make Christianity their official religion. The Armenian people living under the Ottoman rulers were minorities in a Muslim kingdom and faced discrimination and challenges in their everyday living and in practicing their faith. The socio-economic successes of the Armenians was a cause for resentment in the Ottoman empire, who feared that the group would bear allegiance to Russia due to their shared faith, with whom, the Ottoman empire shared an unstable border.
These anti-Armenian sentiments became stronger as the Ottoman empire fell and coincided with the Armenians having succeeded in their fight to secure basic civil rights in the empire. Towards the end of the 19th century, Turkish ruler Abdul Hamid II launched a state-sanctioned pogrom against Armenians, exterminating entire villages.
In 1908, a reformist group called the Young Turks came to power, who overthrew Sultan Abdul Hamid II in favour of a constitutional government. However, the arrival of the new leaders did not stop the pogroms against the Armenians.
When the First World War started, Armenians volunteered with the Russian army to fight against the Turks in the Caucuses. Combined with the historical discrimination and the Armenians deciding to fight for the Russian army, prompted the Turkish government to “remove” Armenians from conflict zones along the Eastern Front.
What happened during the Armenian Genocide?
The Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is commemorated on April 25 every day to mark the day when the genocide of the Armenians began in 1915. The Turkish government arrested and executed Armenian intellectuals and ordinary Armenians were forced out of their homes, with their properties confiscated. Armenians in the Ottoman Army were dismembered or killed. The genocide ended in 1922.
After the First World War, several senior Turkish military leaders were put on trial for subjecting Armenians to abuse and atrocities. The members of the reformist group, Young Turks, fled overseas and were sentenced to death in absentia.
FILE – In this April 24, 2019, file photo, protesters hold portraits of Armenian intellectuals during a rally held to commemorate the 104th anniversary of the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Turks in Istanbul. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
Which countries recognize the Armenian Genocide?
More than 20 countries around the world have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide, along with the European Parliament and the UN. While the governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland recognize the Armenian Genocide, the UK has not officially done so. Critics say that the UK’s official stance is rooted in fear that any such official moves would alienate Turkey, an important NATO ally.
Israel has also been reluctant to recognize the Armenian Genocide because it fears Turkey’s backlash and the souring of relations with a strategic ally in the region. Till recently, the US had been reluctant to give the Armenian Genocide official recognition by using its position as an important NATO ally and by threatening bilateral relations.
Why was the White House reluctant to recognize the Armenian Genocide?
Donald Trump is not the only US leader to deny official recognition to the Armenian Genocide. His predecessor, Barack Obama reneged on campaign promises towards the end of his second term at the presidency by stopping short of using the term ‘genocide’, that he had used during his campaigns prior to becoming president in 2008.
Armenian Americans have lobbied for years and pushed for the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide but the US had been reluctant to make an official stance on the issue to prevent angering Turkey, a strategic NATO ally. In the past few weeks, Trump had used three Republican senators to block the Senate resolution but may have been unable to continue doing so, leading to last week’s resolution. The Senate vote came after the House approved the measure last month that took place while Trump and Erdogan were meeting in Washington D.C.
Following the Senate vote, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to recognize the mass-killings of Native Americans in North America as genocide. The US State Department rejected the Senate vote, saying that the US government’s official position did not change despite the vote. In a statement on the anniversary of the killings in April, Trump had paid tribute to the victims of “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century”, but like Obama, stopped short of using the word “genocide”. Erdogan called the House and Senate votes “worthless” and the “biggest insult” to Turkey.
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