The ADL Caves
Boston’s small but feisty Armenian lobby scored
its biggest “victory” yet earlier this week, when it finally cornered
Anti-Defamation League President Abe Foxman into describing the slaughter of
Armenians during and after World War One as “tantamount to genocide" (see
press release). I
put “victory” in quotation marks because, in my view, neither side emerges from
this controversy looking like a real winner.
I’ve written in the past about the strong-armed, censorship-prone tactics used by
Watertown’s Armenians to advance their cause,
and on the importance of leaving questions of history to scholars, not interest
groups. You can check out my op/eds on this topic, both in
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and
The Boston Globe.
I’m equally dismayed at the ADL’s
poor handling of this fiasco. I wrote earlier that the ADL finds itself in a
hole largely of its own digging (see “Genocide and its Partisans: What the ADL
Did Wrong”). And if you think that the ADL’s flip-flop on the G-word is going
to make this flap disappear, think again. The ADL’s poorly conceived and essentially
dishonest explanation of its reversal has opened the door for yet more
attacks.
Of course, the ADL won’t admit that it caved to the Armenian
lobby. So in a textbook PR move, the organization tries to claim that reversing
its stance was its own idea all along (“We have always described the painful
events of 1915-1918 perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire
against the Armenians as massacres and atrocities”).
Rather than succumb to any notion
that their Armenian counterparts were right, Foxman and company write that “on
reflection, we have come to share the view of Henry Morgenthau, Sr. that the
events [constitute] genocide.” It’s no accident that ADL cited Morgenthau, a
Jew, instead of any of the large number of contemporary historians who have
criticized the ADL’s stance. This is clearly a cynical attempt by the ADL to
remind us all that the man credited with blowing the whistle on the so-called genocide
was Jewish. If I were Armenian, I
would be a bit peeved by these lame attempts at spin. (As a Jew, I’m a bit
embarrassed by it all, even though I keep telling myself that it’s not my
doing.) And, don’t expect the Turks to be happy with this Morgenthau reference
either. As one of my colleagues pointed out, this will only pour salt in the
wounds of the already defensive Turks, seeing as Morgenthau, in those same very
same dispatches, frequently used colorful racist language to describe “those
unspeakable Turks.” Chalk this up as one more example of how dishonesty brings
nothing but trouble.
I’m also curious to see how the ADL
plans to maintain its tenuous new position that there was a genocide, but that
the issue should not be voted on by the Congress nor litigated in the courts.
The ADL’s legal staff must realize that it doesn’t work that way. A nation
can’t acknowledge the genocide but then try to avoid all the baggage that comes
with it. And judging from press accounts so far, it’s clear that the Armenians
won’t relent and meet halfway on this issue. The mudslinging has just begun, I
fear.
And no one, it seems, is fighting
for the proposition that historians, rather than politicians and interest
groups, should pronounce on historical truths. Decisions on when the term
“genocide” applies should be made on the basis of documentation, reliable
evidence, and clear legal standards and definitions. This does not imply that
what happened to the Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks was, or was
not, a genuine genocide in terms of modern-day definitions. It’s simply a plea
for keeping government and pressure groups out of the business of pronouncing
truth and labeling opposing points of view as the equivalent of blasphemy.
While you’re reading up on this
brouhaha, check out Jeff Jacoby’s column from yesterday’s Boston Globe, in which he writes that “the Armenian genocide
is an incontestable fact of history. Shame on anyone who refuses to say so.”
This is exactly the sort of rhetoric that sends chills down my spine. If Jacoby
wants to push his view that there was a genocide, more power to him. What irks
me is the attack on those who disagree with him, who are now becoming known as
“genocide deniers,” a category of “haters.” Not only is this viewpoint
poisonous to the notion of open and unfettered discourse, but it is also
plainly inaccurate, since it ignores the work of credible scholars who have
formed more nuanced responses to the Armenian question. How can a civilized
discussion of such an important historical event, resulting in so many deaths,
be conducted if one side is always demonized in this fashion?
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March 7, 2000
View image of document
126 HOLOCAUST SCHOLARS AFFIRM THE INCONTESTABLE FACT OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND URGE WESTERN DEMOCRACIES TO OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZE IT
At the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Scholars' Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches Convening at St. Joseph University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 3-7, 2000, one hundred twenty-six Holocaust Scholars, holders of Academic Chairs and Directors of Holocaust Research and Studies Centers, participants of the Conference, signed a statement affirming that the World War I Armenian Genocide is an incontestable historical fact and accordingly urge the governments of Western democracies to likewise recognize it as such. The petitioners, among whom is Nobel Laureate for Peace Elie Wiesel, who was the keynote speaker at the conference, also asked the Western Democracies to urge the Government and Parliament of Turkey to finally come to terms with a dark chapter of Ottoman-Turkish history and to recognize the Armenian Genocide. This would provide an invaluable impetus to the process of the democratization of Turkey.
Below is a partial list of the signatories:
Prof. Yehuda Bauer
Distinguished Professor
Hebrew University
Director, The International Institute of Holocaust Research
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
Prof. Israel Charny, Director
Institute of the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem
Professor at the Hebrew University,
Editor-in-Chief of The Encyclopedia of Genocide
Prof. Ward Churchill
Ethnic Studies
The University of Colorado, Boulder
Prof. Stephen Feinstein, Director
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
University of Minnesota
Prof. Saul Friedman, Director
Holocaust and Jewish Studies
Youngston State University, Ohio
Prof. Edward Gaffney
Valparaiso University Law School
Prof. Zev Garber
Los Angeles Valley College
Prof. Dorota Glowacka
University of King's Collage
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Dr. Irving Greenberg, President
Jewish Life Network
Prof. Herbert Hirsch
Virginia Commonwealth University
Prof. Irving L. Horowitz
Hannah Arendt Distinguished Professor
Rutgers University, NJ
Rabbi Dr. Steve Jacobs
Temple Sinai Shalom
Huntsville, Alabama
Associate Editor of The Encyclopedia of Genocide
Prof. Steven Katz
Distinguish Professor
Director, Center for Judaic Studies
Boston University
Prof. Richard Libowitz
Temple University
Dr. Marcia Littell
Stockton College
Exec. Director, Scholars' Conference
On the Holocaust and the Churches
Franklin Littell
Emeritus Professor
Temple University
Prof. Hubert G. Locke
Washington University
Co-founder of the Annual Scholar's Conference
On the Holocaust and the Churches
Dr. Elizabeth Maxwell
Executive Director of the International Scholarly
Conference on the Holocaust, London, England
Prof. Erik Markusen
Southwest State University, MN
Prof. Saul Mendlowitz
Dag Hammerskjold Distinguished Professor
of International Law
Rutgers University
Prof. Jack Needle, Director
Center for Holocaust Studies
Brookdale Community College
Lincroft, NJ
Dr. Philip Rosen, Director
Holocaust Education Center of the Delaware Valley
Prof. Alan S, Rosenbaum
Dept. of Philosophy
Cleveland State University
William L. Shulman, President
Association of Holocaust Organizations City University of New York
Prof. Samuel Totten
The University of Arkansas
Assoc. Editor of The Encyclopedia of Genocide
Prof. Elie Wiesel
Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities
Boston University
Founding Chairman of the United States
Holocaust Memorial Council
Nobel Laureate for Peace
I hereby declare that the originals of these one hundred and twenty-six signatories are on file in my office. All affiliations supplied are for identification purposes only.
Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Director,
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
University of Minnesota
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Whomever posted the above bits of propaganda neglected to focus on the essay's statement: "And no one, it seems, is fighting for the proposition that historians, rather than politicians and interest groups, should pronounce on historical truths." Genocide scholars belong in the category of "interest groups"; their interest rests with affirming genocides, but only the genocides (or would be genocides) of their choosing. Genocide scholars begin with the conclusion first, the reverse of the way a true scholar is expected to operate. Genocide scholars omit facts not in keeping with their agendas. Furthermore, Jewish Holocaust scholars go along, forming their opinions on the overwhelming Armenian propaganda that exists, because they irrationally fear questioning the Armenians would lead to the questioning of the Holocaust. What they do not realize is that they are inviting questions on the very real genocide perpetrated by the Nazis, because when they compromise the truth for the Armenians, one then would wonder what else they would be untruthful about.
The famous authors who were connived into signing the 1998 commemoration above will forever live with the shame of neglecting the performance of objective and independent research, and helping to perpetuate hatred against Turkish people. "On April 24, 1915, the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire began a systematic, premeditated genocide of the Armenian people," this foolish statement begins, even though there is absolutely no factual evidence whatsoever demonstrating premeditation. The activists among the Christian minority were certainly not "unarmed," as the statement later erroneously reports: the terrorist groups (primarily Dashnaks and Hunchaks) were arming themselves for years and were financed by Russia, as well as the other enemies of the Armenians' Ottoman nation. "More than a million Armenians were exterminated through direct killing, starvation, torture, and forced death marches" is another horrible statement, as those dying from famine and disease (the real toll was around half a million; the pre-war Armenian population was around 1.5 million, and as the statement continues "Another million fled into permanent exile." We subtract one million survivors from 1.5 million to arrive at the true mortality, and "permanent exile" is another inaccurate statement. Every Ottoman-Armenian who had left was given the right to return, per the Gumru/Alexandropol and Lausanne Treaties) cannot be put in the "extermination" category, particularly when most of the over 2.5 million other Ottoman victims were dying of these very same causes.
This is all ugly propaganda, and Mr. Silverglate is a hero for getting to the crux of the matter, as we have read from his concluding remarks: "What irks me is the attack on those who disagree with him, who are now becoming known as'genocide deniers,' a category of 'haters.' Not only is this viewpoint poisonous to the notion of open and unfettered discourse, but it is also plainly inaccurate, since it ignores the work of credible scholars who have formed more nuanced responses to the Armenian question. How can a civilized discussion of such an important historical event, resulting in so many deaths, be conducted if one side is always demonized in this fashion?" In other words, Armenian genocide propaganda perpetuates the true hatred, by demonizing a people that the true evidence tells us tried to protect the Armenians. (Big undertakings taken at the last moment out of necessity -- the Armenians posed a serious threat to their surrounded Ottoman nation -- often bring chaos, particularly when the nation has few resources to do the job properly. Witness the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, where a modern and wealthy nation was in charge.)
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