ADL woes in Watertown lead to Turkey-Israel Drama
Who knew my little hometown would cause such a ruckus?
The No Place For Hate controversy has some very unexpected ripple effects, including the firing of the New England head of the ADL by the head honcho Abe Foxman because he dared to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide (Foxman has only said the events are “tantamount to genocide) and surrounding towns like Arlington, MA also ousting the No Place For Hate program affiliation from their town.
But now the repercussions have become international. The Jerusalem Post today reports that Turkey has sent its ambassador to Israel back to work early to resolve tensions with the ADL.
So, here are the had gadya-like sequentials: Israel is supported by the ADL who didn’t acknowledge the genocide and then sort of did, whereupon Turkey was offended:
The Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said that to describe the events during WWI as “genocide” was “without historical and legal basis,” and that contrary to the ADL’s claim, there was no consensus on this matter among historians.
“We see this statement as an unfortunate one that is unjust to the Holocaust, which has no precedent, and to its victims. And we expect it to be corrected,” the statement read.
Thank you, but no thank you, Turkey. It’s nice that you’d like to pretend that your ire has something to do with respecting the suffering of the Holocaust, but Israel has publicly acknowledged its own commiseration with the Armenians that comes out of empathy with them. So no deal.
I had a very personal look at the inside of this Turkish-Armenian and now Turkish-Armenian-Jewish-Israeli issue as a student in the same department as Fatma Muge Gocek, one of the few Turkish Scholars to acknowledge the suffering of the Armenian people. She is quoted as saying the following in 2006 on the anniversary commemorating the genocide:
I’d really like to hear what any of our Turkish bloggers think about all this.
As an endnote, I am still torn that some of the most vocal resistance to the ADL’s program comes from a very HATEFUL group of Watertown citizens who post on the blog Mass Resistance whose initial opposition to No Place For Hate came from their own homophobia and very intolerant, right-wing attitudes.
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The spark for this came from a guy named David Boyajian who wrote a letter about the ADL’s denial to the town council. Perhaps Mass Resistance joined in with their own problems against No Place for Hate, but the spark came from an Armenian re: the genocide.
Duly noted and corrected, thanks Paul. I actually know the Boyajians, so it’s much appreciated.
Hey Paul,
please tell me what is illegitimate in Boyajian’s letter to town council?
Abraham Foxman’s last statement astounds me. ADL finally acknowledges the Armenian Genocide(based on consultation with many credited western historians) but it doesn’t want US congress to do so…?
I’m not that concerned about either the ADL’s, nor Israel’s, nor America’s stance regarding the Armenian Holocaust. We all know that Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries that actually has good relations with Israel, doubtlessly for geopolitical ends. So if Jews and Israelis try not to humiliate an ally, well, that’s understandable, considering how the rest of the world is committed to their eradication.
What I’m still trying to understand is what it is about the Armenian Genocide that is so politically dangerous for Turkey today? The genocide happened during World War One, during the Ottoman dynasty, which was famously replaced afterwards by the secularism of Ataturk. There is nothing, really, for Turks to be ashamed of, as the sins of the Ottomans are basically the sins of an Islamic state. Why does modern, secular Turkey care to cover up for the genocide of a past Islamic state, even though it was a part of their own Turk heritage?
Acknowledging the Armenian Genocide would be a powerful, secularist weapon against Islamists. What is it about this past that secularist Turks are willing to deny, to the point of giving up the abundant wealth and security that being a member of the EU would deliver, if only they’d acknowledge the Armenian Holocaust?
Perhaps some Turks visiting this site might shed some light.
All those so concerned about Turkey acknowledging the Armenian genocide, why not have other countries acknowledge their role in genocides to set the example. The United States could ackowledge the 3 to 5 million deaths it is responsible for when it bombed Vietnam and Camnbodia. The United States and its allies could acknowldege their roles in the genocides of the Congo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Western countries could acknowledge their hypocrisy when they go around preaching human rights and democracy and but engage in regime change supporting brutal dictars that dotheir bidding.
While were at it, Europeans should acknowledge that they are nothing but genocidists, as their history proves. But they’re not as bad as Africans, whose continent never could rise because they spent their histories in brutal genocidal conflict with each other (the Europeans were saved by the emergence of mercantilism and, later, capitalism).
And let’s not forget the brutality of “native” Americans, who were not so “native” at all, but committed brutal genocide against the earlier Americans that had claimed the land a mere 10,000 years earlier.
Finnpundit,
Why does Turkey need to acknowledge the Armenian genocide when Europeans and AMericans have been killing millions of each other in two WOrld Wars and in many other wars.
The Vietnam genocide is a more recent than Armenian genocide. Why do you find it acceptable that the United States killed 3 to 5 million?
WHY CAN’T YOU ACKNOWLEDGE ALL OF THOSE THINGS AND NOT MAKE EXCUSES FOR THEM?