To escape justice genocide perpetrators deny its occurrence
The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) January 30, participated in a press conference organized by the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) to discuss issues related to the punishment of war criminals. In addition to the CJC and the ANCC, conference participants included the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, PAGE-Rwanda, and the Roma Community Centre. Aris Babikian, the Executive Director, Armenian National Committee of Canada, said during the event, "It is ironic that at the dawn of a new century and after 92 years of the Armenian Genocide, we are gathered, as victim nations of Genocide and Holocaust to remind the international community of its responsibility and obligation to bring to justice the perpetrators and their accomplices. Canada and the international community can not sit idly and watch as a new genocide unfolds in front of our eyes and on our TV screens. The pledge "never again" should not be a hollow echo of the past, but it should be our moral and ethical compass to prevent future Holocausts, Genocides, and ethnic cleansing.
By bringing to justice the architects of such heinous crimes and by recognizing, commemorating, and banning the denial of these despicable acts, Canada and the international community can send a clear and unequivocal message to the despots of the world that that the international community will not tolerate such vile and inhuman treatment of our fellow human beings. To cover up their responsibility and to escape justice the first act of the perpetrators of any Genocide is to deny its occurrence. We have witnessed this again and again.
As scholars have demonstrated, the last act of any Genocide is the denial of the horrendous act. Once the denial machine is set into motion, the planners and executors of the Holocaust or Genocide get emboldened and feel that they have gotten away with their original plan of wiping out a whole race. They then proceed to blame the victims and the survivors for their misfortune and plight. It is true that while each genocide has its own unique circumstances, planning and implementation, the concept of genocide and the denial are universal and integral for each other. In all genocides the survivors are subjected to the denial machine one way or another. The denial can originate in individuals, organizations or states.
Unlike the historical revisionism and the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish Government, Holocaust deniers, such as Ernst Zundle and Jim Keegstra, constituted the lunatic fringe of society. But recently-learning from the Turkish Government's tactics-certain countries have started implementing the Turkish Government's denial strategy to rewrite the Holocaust. Denial of any mass killing is to deflect justice and to perpetuate the hatred cycle against the victims. Denial has another catastrophic impact on nations and civil societies: Once the guilty part covers up its crime and gets away with it, it spreads falsehoods in its educational system, to indoctrinate future generations with hatred and animosity towards the victim nation. The denialist portrays the victims as the enemy of the state and of the nation. It injects the US against THEM concept into the mentality of its own society. The recent assassination of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink is quintessential expression of this concept.
Here's the full cycle--from genocide to genocide denial:
· For 92 years the Turkish state denied its responsibility for the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians
· The Turkish state then proceeded to arouse hostility among its citizens against Armenians. It did this through the educational system and trough broad propaganda.
· The Turkish state supported ultra nationalists to incite the masses against the Armenians.
· The result? A teenage assassin, goaded and armed by ultranationalists, assassinated an Armenian journalist whose sole "crime" was writing about the truth of the Armenian Genocide and promoting friendship between Turks and Armenians.
By suppressing the truth the perpetrators discharges its responsibility. It also justifies its action as a "righteous crusade" for the welfare of its own people. With incredible chutzpah Turkey turned the story of the Armenian Genocide upside down and depicted itself as the victim! It was the Armenians who had committed genocide against the Turks, blithely said.
Armenians all over the world believe in accountability and responsibility. The punishment of the guilty is imperative because it will help the civil society of the perpetrator to atone for the crimes of its leaders and to reconcile with the victim nation. As we have seen, without recognition of the crime and punishment of the guilty there can be no reconciliation.
The denial of the Holocaust or any other genocide is an encouragement for its repetition, as it eventually did happen in Turkey against the Kurds, in Germany against the Romas, in Cambodia and in Rwanda against the Tutsis and today in Darfur.
We should not allow Hitler's contemptuous remark:" Who remembers nowadays the Armenians?" haunt us forever.
We call on the Canadian Government to take the lead and ask the UN to amend its UN Charter on the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of the Genocide by adding an article on denial of the Holocaust and all Genocide," reports the ANCC.
By bringing to justice the architects of such heinous crimes and by recognizing, commemorating, and banning the denial of these despicable acts, Canada and the international community can send a clear and unequivocal message to the despots of the world that that the international community will not tolerate such vile and inhuman treatment of our fellow human beings. To cover up their responsibility and to escape justice the first act of the perpetrators of any Genocide is to deny its occurrence. We have witnessed this again and again.
As scholars have demonstrated, the last act of any Genocide is the denial of the horrendous act. Once the denial machine is set into motion, the planners and executors of the Holocaust or Genocide get emboldened and feel that they have gotten away with their original plan of wiping out a whole race. They then proceed to blame the victims and the survivors for their misfortune and plight. It is true that while each genocide has its own unique circumstances, planning and implementation, the concept of genocide and the denial are universal and integral for each other. In all genocides the survivors are subjected to the denial machine one way or another. The denial can originate in individuals, organizations or states.
Unlike the historical revisionism and the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish Government, Holocaust deniers, such as Ernst Zundle and Jim Keegstra, constituted the lunatic fringe of society. But recently-learning from the Turkish Government's tactics-certain countries have started implementing the Turkish Government's denial strategy to rewrite the Holocaust. Denial of any mass killing is to deflect justice and to perpetuate the hatred cycle against the victims. Denial has another catastrophic impact on nations and civil societies: Once the guilty part covers up its crime and gets away with it, it spreads falsehoods in its educational system, to indoctrinate future generations with hatred and animosity towards the victim nation. The denialist portrays the victims as the enemy of the state and of the nation. It injects the US against THEM concept into the mentality of its own society. The recent assassination of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink is quintessential expression of this concept.
Here's the full cycle--from genocide to genocide denial:
· For 92 years the Turkish state denied its responsibility for the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians
· The Turkish state then proceeded to arouse hostility among its citizens against Armenians. It did this through the educational system and trough broad propaganda.
· The Turkish state supported ultra nationalists to incite the masses against the Armenians.
· The result? A teenage assassin, goaded and armed by ultranationalists, assassinated an Armenian journalist whose sole "crime" was writing about the truth of the Armenian Genocide and promoting friendship between Turks and Armenians.
By suppressing the truth the perpetrators discharges its responsibility. It also justifies its action as a "righteous crusade" for the welfare of its own people. With incredible chutzpah Turkey turned the story of the Armenian Genocide upside down and depicted itself as the victim! It was the Armenians who had committed genocide against the Turks, blithely said.
Armenians all over the world believe in accountability and responsibility. The punishment of the guilty is imperative because it will help the civil society of the perpetrator to atone for the crimes of its leaders and to reconcile with the victim nation. As we have seen, without recognition of the crime and punishment of the guilty there can be no reconciliation.
The denial of the Holocaust or any other genocide is an encouragement for its repetition, as it eventually did happen in Turkey against the Kurds, in Germany against the Romas, in Cambodia and in Rwanda against the Tutsis and today in Darfur.
We should not allow Hitler's contemptuous remark:" Who remembers nowadays the Armenians?" haunt us forever.
We call on the Canadian Government to take the lead and ask the UN to amend its UN Charter on the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of the Genocide by adding an article on denial of the Holocaust and all Genocide," reports the ANCC.
