Armenian genocide: Protecting ‘historical truth’

Jewish organizations responded positively to the United States officially recognizing as a genocide the killing and deportation of more than a million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.

The declaration was made on April 24 by President Joe Biden. Previous administrations have avoided the issue so as not to inflame tensions with Turkey, a NATO ally in the Middle East.

“The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today,” Biden said in a statement. “We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated.”

Jewish organizations applauded Biden’s statement.

“If you talk to any legitimate historian, they’ll say there was a real genocide,” said ZOA President Mort Klein. “If there was a real genocide, it should be recognized as such.”

“The mass violence suffered by Armenians in the early part of the 20th century not only deserves remembrance, it necessitates it,” read a B’nai B’rith statement. “These unthinkable atrocities, which cannot be denied or justified, caused immeasurable human suffering.”

“It’s essential to protect historical truth. And it’s equally essential to draw the lessons from historical truth,” said David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee. “As early as 1950, American Jewish Committee leaders testified before the US Congress in favor of the Genocide Convention, citing the ‘extermination of the Armenians’ at the hands of ‘the Turkish rulers,’ and drawing a direct line from that genocide, which went unpunished, to the Holocaust.”

As expected, the announcement was met with hostility by Turkish officials, with the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemning Biden’s move in “strongest terms” and saying that it was the result of pressure from “radical Armenian circles.”

“The US president’s statement will not yield any results other than polarizing the nations and hindering peace and stability in our region,” said the Foreign Ministry statement. “We call on the US president to correct this grave mistake, which serves no purpose other than to satisfy certain political circles and to support the efforts aiming to establish a practice of peaceful coexistence in the region, especially among the Turkish and Armenian nations, instead of serving the agenda of those circles that try to foment enmity from history.”

Klein said he was not worried that Biden’s words would create tensions between the United States and Turkey, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for some time shown hostility towards Israel and the United States.

“As far as I’m concerned, Erdogan is an enemy of the West, which includes America and Israel. And when you’re dealing with terrorist dictators like Erdogan, it’s never good to appease them, especially when you’re dealing with the truth of the Armenian genocide,” said Klein. “I think it is appropriate to let Erdogan know that we’re not intimidated by him, we’re not going to appease him, we’re going to tell the truth, and he doesn’t deserve our respect in the way that he relates to Israel and the way that he relates to the West.”

While Klein supported Biden’s decision, he said that the president now needs to tell the truth about Palestinian aggression against Israel, with the PA continuing to glorify terrorists, naming schools, sports teams, streets and children’s camps after them.

“Why does he have the appropriate courage to tell the truth about the Armenian genocide but doesn’t have the courage to tell the truth about the Palestinian Authority being a terrorist dictatorship whose goal is Israel’s destruction?” Klein said rhetorically.

Klein remembered a call he received more than a decade ago from the leader of a major Armenian American organization, asking him as the ZOA president to publicly recognize the historical event as a genocide.

He said that he agreed, but only if the Armenian leader at the same time would acknowledge and condemn the Palestinian Authority for promoting violence against Jews and Israel in its schools, media and speeches.

At that time, said Klein, the Armenian leader would not condemn the PA, so Klein did not formally make a statement on the topic.