WATERTOWN, MA – Greater Boston-area activists Dikran Kaligian and Laura Boghosian spotlighted U.S. government and media complicity in genocide denial, in two letters to the editor published in the June 18th issue of the Boston Globe, reported the Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts (ANC of MA).
Kaligian, a member of the ANCA Eastern Region Board, focused on Pres. Obama’s double standard on human rights, comparing the President’s moving words at the Buchenwald concentration camp last week to his broken pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Pres. Obama spoke of America’s “duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history,” during his visit to the Nazi death camp, but has refrained from properly characterizing the Armenian Genocide, instead “strong arming the Armenian Government to agree to a roadmap for reconciliation with Turkey that has no possibility of every being implemented.” Kaligian goes on to note that the President’s inaction “gave Turkey a green light to continue blackmailing the United States by threatening to shut down the airbase that supports American troops in Iraq any time a U.S. official accurately recounts history.”
Boghosian’s letter to the editor addressed the Boston Globe’s reporting on the recent dismissal of a Massachusetts court case that would have allowed Armenian Genocide denial in the commonwealth’s classrooms. Rejecting the Globe’s characterization of the Armenian Genocide as a “contentious issue that has been debated by academics and historians,” Boghosian notes that “reputable scholars agree that the Armenian Genocide is settled history; it is solely the Turkish government’s political campaign that obfuscates the issue. Only a fringe element, usually funded by Turkey or Turkish supported institutes, alleges there is controversy.” Boghosian concludes that “by failing to provide background and context that would refute the allegation that this is a ‘quintessential’ historic debate, the Globe, in effect, has abetted genocide denial – the highest form of hate speech and the last stage of genocide.”
The full texts of Kaligian’s and Boghosian’s letters to the editor follow.
The Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts (ANC of MA) is part of the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANC of MA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.
The Boston Globe
June 18, 2009
Obama broke campaign promise
PRESIDENT OBAMA reminded the world of its “duty to confront those’’ who deny genocide (“At Buchenwald, Obama urges stand against evil,’’ Page A3, June 6). His words would carry more weight had not he and his state and defense departments become complicit in Turkey’s multimillion-dollar campaign to deny the Armenian genocide.
By strong-arming the Armenian government to agree to a road map for reconciliation with Turkey that has no possibility of ever being implemented, Obama gave himself political cover for breaking a clear campaign promise. He also gave Turkey a green light to continue blackmailing the United States by threatening to shut down the airbase that supports American troops in Iraq any time a US official accurately recounts history.
No wonder Sudan’s president was welcomed in Turkey for a state visit just after being indicted for crimes against humanity; perhaps he wanted tips on successful genocide denial from the foremost experts in the field.
Dikran M. Kaligian
Watertown
The writer is the author of “Armenian Organization and Ideology under Ottoman Rule.’’
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The Boston Globe
June 18, 2009
Armenian tragedy not open to debate
THE ARTICLE “Armenian genocide lawsuit rejected: Judge says no role for court on curriculum guidelines’’ (Metro, June 13) suggests that there is legitimate debate over the Armenian genocide. Lawyer Harvey Silverglate argues that political pressure, not educational merit, resulted in so-called counter-arguments being excluded from Massachusetts curriculum.
The opposite is true. Reputable scholars agree that the Armenian genocide is settled history; it is solely the Turkish government’s political campaign that obfuscates the issue. Only a fringe element, usually funded by Turkey or Turkish-supported institutes, alleges there is a controversy. The International Association of Genocide Scholars voted unanimously in 1997 that the extermination of the Armenians by the Turks constitutes genocide.
It is doubtful that Silverglate would sue Massachusetts to mandate that the “opposing viewpoints’’ of neo-Nazis who deny the Holocaust be taught to our children. Yet the “counter-arguments’’ the plaintiffs pushed to include in the curriculum consist of standard genocide denial tactics, such as questioning the numbers killed, blaming the victim, or disputing the perpetrators’ motivations.
By failing to provide background and context that would refute the allegation that this is a “quintessential’’ historic debate, the Globe, in effect, has abetted genocide denial – the highest form of hate speech and the last stage of genocide.
Laura Boghosian
Lexington