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Morality of Genocide Denial and need for Recognition

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Title: Morality of Genocide Denial and need for Recognition


1
Morality of Genocide Denial and need for
Recognition
  • Robert Hovhanessian

2
What is Genocide?
  • The systematic extermination or attempted
    extermination of an entire national, racial,
    religious, or ethnic group.
  • 1944 Prof. Raphael Lemkin coins the term genocide.

3
Armenian Genocie
  • 1915 April 24
  • Estimated up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed
    by Ottoman Turks
  • Also Greeks, Assyrians, Ezdis
  • It is denied to this day by the Turkish
    government
  • Acknowledged by more than 20 coutries, 44 U.S.
    States

4
Timeline
  • 1918 An Ottoman military tribunal.
  • 1981 President Ronald Reagan
  • 1997 the International Association of Genocide
    Scholars (IAGS) passed a resolution unanimously
    recognizing the Ottoman massacres of Armenians as
    genocide.
  • 1995 -1998 (20) Russia, Greece, Belgium, Italy,
    France

5
Denial TImeline
  • 1935 Turkey pressures MGM and the United States
    government from allowing the film giant to
    produce a film based on The Forty Days of Musa
    Dagh
  • 1960s teach to the world "the other side of the
    story."
  • 1980 Ottoman Archives opened
  • 2005 Article 301

6
Types of denials
  • Israel Charney, Executive Director of the
    Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in
    Israel, describes genocide denial by putting it
    into the following categories
  • 1. Innocence-and-Self-Righteousness
  • 2. Scientificism in the service of confusion
  • 3. Practicality, pragmatism and realpolitik
  • 4. Idea linkage distortion and time-sequence
    confusion
  • 5. Indirection, definitionalism, and maddening
  • "Elie" Wiesel chair of the International
    Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide
  • Turkey's 90-year-old campaign to cover up the
    Armenian genocide a double killing, since it
    strives to kill the memory of the original
    atrocities.

7
Turkish Policy
  • 1975 Turkish historian and biographer Sevket
    Süreyya Aydemir "The best course, I believe, is
    not to dwell on this subject and allow both sides
    to forget (calm) this part of history.
  • Threatening to cut military and economic ties.
  • Establish Historical commissions with Armenia

8
Excuses for U.S. Presidents
  • Bill Clinton Could harm relations with our ally
  • George W. Bush A highly sensitive issue at a
    time of rising U.S.-Turkish tensions over
    northern Iraq
  • Barak Obama impede progress on normalization
    of relations' between Turkey and Armenia,
    according to an administration spokesman.
  • America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully
    about the Armenian Genocide and responds
    forcefully to all genocides, he said. I intend
    to be that President.

9
So what is the right thing to do?
  • The Social justice questions
  • 1) Would you take Utilitarian view? - One must be
    realistic and live through realpolitik.
  • 2) Would you take Deonthological standpoint? -
    Right thing to do
  • 3) or Virtue ethics ? Good for your soul.

10
Video Links
  • Orphans of the Genocide
  • CrossTalk on Genocide Turkey's Burden
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