ASA Students Protest In Silence for Armenian Genocide Recognition
Josh Goodmacher
Student protesters from the Armenian Student Association gathered at the eternal flame last Thursday, Jan. 31, with red tape covering their mouths to symbolize the repression of justice and lack of acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide. In an attempt to increase awareness of the genocide and the ensuing denial campaign by the Turkish Government, University of California, Santa Barbara’s Armenian Students Association, in coordination with ASA clubs across California including on Capital Hill and in Washington D.C, participated in the second annual silent protest, The Stain of Denial.
The choice to protest at the eternal flame was a symbolic and meaningful one, as the flame itself represents a commitment to peace. The Stain of Denial protest is essentially that; it is an attempt to raise awareness of the denial of the Armenian Genocide, the systematic killing of 1 to 1.5 million Armenians at the hand of the Turkish government, and to the continued issue of genocide in general. It’s goal is one of humanity and the recognition of atrocity.
“There is a line between humanity and politics. When it comes down to a genocide, politics shouldn’t take a role,” said ASA member and fourth-year political science major Shant Mirziains.
Over 20 countries have recognized the Armenian Genocide as a genocide, but the United States and Turkish governments have not officially done so. This year’s protest in particular was one of importance for the movement, it happened in the wake of President Barack Obama’s inaugural address. The president has continually made promises to the Armenian community to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide as a genocide but the promise has fallen through. He has mentioned the atrocity multiple times but has never used the word genocide. This is because Turkey is one of America’s few allies in the Middle East, and has the second biggest standing army in North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Adam Jaratanian, President of UCSB’s ASA and a fourth-year political science major, along with many others in the movement, believes that if the U.S. government officially recognizes the genocide, the political pressure will be such that the Turkish Government will be forced to do so as well. The issue has become one of political pressure through public awareness by means of protests and other methods, including calling attention to the actual commemoration on April 24.
“If even one person gets educated, that’s a success,” said Jaratanian.
Anna Kupchyan, ASA representative and a fourth-year black studies major, regards the protest as a complete success because it has stuck in the minds of those who witnessed it.
“Throughout the protest people came up to me and said things like, ‘I remember you guys from last year,’” said Kupchyan. She describes that the movement’s goal in the end was “to fight for human rights” and for the “peace of mind” for the Armenian community.
“You don’t want them to have died in vain,” said Jaratanian.
The ASA is very active within the community and works with humanitarian efforts in the Republic of Armenia, including the Hidden Road Initiative, an effort to help rural communities and schools in Armenia. It equally works with other Middle Eastern culture groups in preserving and celebrating their unique cultural heritages.
ALLEGATIONS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARE RACIST AND DISHONEST HISTORY.
They are racist because they imply only Armenian (or Christian) dead count, the Turkish (or Muslim) dead do not. The former must be remembered and grieved; the latter must be ignored and forgotten. Do you know how many Muslims, mostly Turks, were killed during World War One? Answer: About 3 million, including half a million of them at the hands of well-armed, well-motivated, and ruthless Armenian revolutionaries. Compare that with less than 300,000 Armenian casualties which number is gradually magnified to 1.5 million over the years through Armenian propaganda.
And the allegations of Armenian genocide are dishonest because they simply dismiss “the six T’s of the Turkish-Armenian conflict”.
“THE SIX T’S OF THE TURKISH-ARMENIAN CONFLICT”:
1) TUMULT ( numerous Armenian armed uprisings between 1882-1920)
2) TERRORISM (by Armenian nationalists victimizing Ottoman-Muslims between 1862-1922)
3) TREASON (Armenians joining the invading enemy armies, 1914-1921)
4) TERRITORIAL DEMANDS (from 1877 to present, where the Armenians minority was attempting to establish Greater Armenia on Turkish soil. Ironically, if the Armenians succeeded, it would be one of the first apartheids of the 20th Century, with a Christian minority ruling over a Muslim majority )
5) TURKISH SUFFERING AND LOSSES (i.e. those caused by the Armenian nationalists: 524,000 Muslims, mostly Turks, met their tragic end at the hands of Armenian revolutionaries during WWI, per Turkish Historical Society. This figure is not to be confused with 2.5 million Muslim dead who lost their lives due to non-Armenian causes during WWI. Grand total: more than 3 million, according to Justin McCarthy)
6) TERESET (temporary resettlement : triggered by the first five T’s above and amply documented as such; not to be equated to the Armenian misrepresentations as genocide.)
Armenians, thus, effectively put an end to their millennium of relatively peaceful and co-habitation in Anatolia with Turks, Kurds, Circassians, and other Muslims by killing their Muslim neighbors and openly joining the invading enemy. Muslims were only defending their home like any citizen anywhere would do.
VERDICT WITHOUT DUE PROCESS AMOUNTS TO LYNCHING
Those who take the Armenian “allegations” of genocide at face value seem to also ignore the following facts concerning international law:
1- Genocide is a legal, technical term precisely defined by the U.N. 1948 convention (Like all proper laws, it is not retroactive to 1915.)
2- Genocide verdict can only be given by a “competent court” after “due process” where both sides are properly represented and evidence mutually cross examined.
3- For a genocide verdict, the accusers must prove “intent” and “motive” at a competent court and by allowing due process to run its natural course. This was never done.
4- Such a “competent court” was never convened in the case of Turkish-Armenian conflict and a genocide verdict does not exist (save a Kangaroo court in occupied Istanbul in 1920 where partisanship, vendettas, and revenge motives left no room for due process.)
5- Genocide claim is political, not historical or factual. It reflects bias against Turks. Therefore, the term genocide must be used with the qualifier “alleged”, for scholarly objectivity and truth.
6- Armenian claim of genocide deeply insult Turkish-Americans as well as Turks around the globe. Turks stood shoulder to shoulder with Americans in Korean War (1950) Gulf War (1991), Somalia (1992), Bosnia (1998), Kosovo (2000), Afghanistan (2001), and more. Armenia, the land-locked, poverty-stricken, corrupt and violent place is little more than an outpost for Russian Military today. Armenia is selling arms to Iran. But the Armenian lobbies are still allowed to poison the excellent U.S.-Turkey relations.
7- History is not a matter of “conviction, consensus, political resolutions, propaganda, editorial, or public relations.” History is a matter of research, peer review, thoughtful debate, and honest scholarship. Even historians, by definition, cannot decide on a genocide verdict, which is reserved only for a “competent tribunal” with its legal expertise and due process and only after “intent to destroy” is proven.
Those who claim genocide verdict today, based on the much discredited Armenian evidence, are actually engaging in “conviction and execution without due process”, which is the dictionary definition of “lynch mobs”. What we witness today, therefore, amounts to lynching of the Turks by Armenians and their supporters to satisfy the age old Armenian hate. American values like fairness, presumption of innocence until proven guilty, objectivity, balance, honesty, and freedom of speech are stumped under the fanatic Armenian feet.
Ergun burn in hell. Dont worry God has a special place for you write next to Muhammed, Stalin and Hitler and all their soldiers in Hell! All you have to do is wait…
“When we arrived at Zeve, the village couldn’t be passed through because of its stench. It was as if the bones in our noses would fall off. There were bodies everywhere. We saw a weird scene on the threshold of one house: they had filled the house with Muslims and burned it, and so many people had been burnt that the fat that had oozed from under the threshold had turned back into the trench in front of the door. That is, it was as if the river of fat had risen and later receded. The fat was still fresh. The entire village had been destroyed and was in this situation. I saw this with my own eyes, and I’ll never forget it. We heard that they did the same thing to the Muslims on Carpanak Island. The Armenians told me about the latter; I did not see it for myself.” Haci Osman Gemicioglu, an Armenian-Turk, who eyewitnessed the 1915 Zeve massacre
READ THIS ARMENIANS YOU KILLED 2.5 MILLION MUSLIMS , FUCK YOUR FABRICATED GENOCIDE LIES AND BURN IN HELL!
Typical for SATINISTS like you Meryam and Ergun to hear 1.5 million Armenians were SYSTEMATICALLY BURNT, STARVED and RAPED but deflect the subject on Your FAKE fabricated information. Pictures speak a thousand words. Images of STARVED Armenian children, of STARVED Women or BEHEADED Armenian men. MASS GRAVES and scattered bones in all history books and all over the internet. Show me the images of the Mass graves of Turkish men, women and children. SHOW ME images of Armenian soldiers standing above the bodies of slaughted Turkish children. SHOW ME! Keep bowing dowN To Satan 5 times a day its not too long till you Join him in the Lake of Fire!
Typical for SATINISTS like you Meryam and Ergun to hear 1.5 million Armenians were SYSTEMATICALLY BURNT, STARVED and RAPED but deflect the subject on Your FAKE fabricated information. The above fake statement you typed Meryam Sounds like you narrating from your Quran! The Jihadist manual! Pictures speak a thousand words. Images of STARVED Armenian children, of STARVED Women or BEHEADED Armenian men. MASS GRAVES and scattered bones and Burnt women and men in all history books and all over the internet. Show me the images of the Mass graves of Turkish men, women and children. SHOW ME images of Armenian soldiers standing above the bodies of slaughted Turkish children. SHOW ME! Keep bowing dowN To Satan 5 times a day its not too long till you Join him in the Lake of Fire!
Reading these responses to Ergun’s writings, i am reminded not only of how victorious governments reserve the right to present history in whatever way they see fit, I can also see that rage can blind us to our own hatred. This is not about genocide perpetrated by religious group. The focus should be on the truth of the matter: That the Turkish government has spent a great deal of time, money and political capital claiming that a genocide either didn’t happened or that its victims were actually casualties of war. If it didn’t happen, why would the Turkish government or its supporters spend so much energy either denying it or challenging the narrative? Let all the facts be seen. Present the full and truthful history of what happened, and do so without allowing bigotry or rage to color the issue.
Stuart, we the people of Turkish descent don’t deny the fact that Armenian suffering occured. We don’t say that “Armenian suffering ever happened.” You are brainwashed by Armenian fanatics and extremeists unfortunately. Yes, there was Armenian suffering and I do not deny it. But what about how Armenian terrorists in 1915-1923 revolted to plan to create a Greater Armenia spanning from the Meditterennean all the way to the Caspian, and why do all Armenian extremeists and radicals still gloat about this idea? Don’t you think this is a little faschistic? Armenia should open it’s hidden nailed shut archives hidden in Boston and Yerevan and have the courage to take Turkey to court, bring its archives to Turkey to set up a joint commision of historian. But Armenia fears the joint commision of historians and taking Turkey to court. Because Armenia fears that the fact of shared suffering will come out and their radical supremacist agenda of “Greater Armenia” will fall. You are falling for the trap of the Holy “1915″ religion. The goal of Armenian extremeists is to get the world to hate all things Turkish (whether if you are as nationalist as Alparlsan Turkes, or as self-hating and vile as Taner Akcam) and push a radical evil agenda against their neighbors.
What about Armenian agression in Nagorno Karabagh where Armenian forces internally displaced 500k-1 million Azerbaijanis in Nagorno Karabagh and the Khojaly massacre as well?