Apologize and move forward
Yesterday Turkey temporarily withdrew its ambassador to the United States in response to a House committee’s resolution defining the WWI Turkish massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a genocide.
President Bush opposed the resolution because Turkey is a moderate Muslim state favorable to U.S. policy in the Middle East. Turkey adamantly denies the genocide and is hostile to the label.
Given the Muslim world’s generalized anger towards the United States, was this a necessary resolution given that the genocide happened 90 years ago? Is promoting a truth worth risking an important alliance?
It is a tough diplomatic call. I’m not sure that I have the answer. However, had the world taken note of the plight of the Armenians then perhaps there would have been no Holocaust. The event happened. Armenians suffered terribly during the Young Turks quest to exterminate them. With the situation in Darfur worsening, how can we not take note of the horrors of the past no matter the nation that committed them?
For Turkey, recognizing a past crime might help the country move forward and put this event behind them. Why is there such a close tie to a horrible event that happened so long ago? The records are clear. A genocide was committed. It wasn’t committed by the Turks living today. What is the issue with apologizing or even compensating the survivors? Germany has moved forward because it has fulfilled its penitence. Why wouldn’t Turkey want to get beyond this event? It’s hard to trust or respect a country that can’t reflect upon its history and apologize for misdeeds even when there are so few consequences to apologizing: there are no soldiers who can be tried in court. There will be no trial. It’s an apology.
By apologizing Turkey demonstrates that it will not participate in nor tolerate future genocides. Why Turkey doesn’t jump at the chance to remove this horrible event from the world agenda? If Turkey changes its policy of denial the country should be given the opportunity to join the European Union and take its place on a world stage that condemns genocide.
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/
http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/armenian_genocide.htm
