More on the Armenian/ADL fallout
Published by Avi Green on Monday, October 22, 2007 at 12:35 PM.
More on the fallout between Armenian American communities and the Anti-Defamation League over the ADL's refusal to take a solid stance on the issue of Turkey's genocide in 1915:
I wonder what the purpose is of continuing to thwart the ADL's projects, even after they came around to declaring that the Armenian massacres were a genocide. It's unfortunate that the ADL has taken this foolish and unjust pro-Turkish position all along. However, what is the real aim of those continuing to oppose the ADL now? Is it a "leftist" effort to attack the whole Jewish community and Israel? Unfortunately, many people in the Armenian community in the US and elsewhere have accepted Arab anti-Israel arguments. In many cases this means that they are undermining the understanding of why the Ottoman empire, a Sunni Muslim state, was trying to wipe out the Armenians. Both Armenian nationalists and Zionists were seen as rebellious dhimmis, whom a Muslim state is entitled to punish severely if not destroy. Some historians, including Armenians, want to see the Armenian genocide as a product of Turkish nationalism. However, it fits into the mold of the traditional treatment by the Muslim state, imbued with the jihad ethos, of rebellious subject peoples, that is, dhimmis who revolt. Further, the massacres began at great intensity under sultan Abdul-Hamid in 1895-96. Abdul-Hamid was not a Turkish nationalist, but a Muslim first.
LEXINGTON, Mass. (JTA) -- Nearly two months after the Anti-Defamation League reversed itself by acknowledging the World War I-era massacres of Armenians as "tantamount to genocide," activists in the Boston area are pushing ahead with their campaign against the organization.Oh, I wouldn't call Turkey that so easily now, after they've been indicating that they're going to attack the Kurds in Iraq. A country that declares jihad like Turkey is doing is not a country to maintain diplomatic relations with, and certainly not an honest partner in the war on terrorism. As the following tells:
On Monday night, at the urging of Armenian American activists and some Jewish allies, two Massachusetts towns -- Lexington and Arlington -- voted to sever ties with the ADL's highly touted No Place for Hate anti-bigotry program.
Three other towns -- Watertown, Newton and Belmont -- already had decided to end their ties with the ADL, and several more municipalities are considering similar steps.
The campaign against the ADL was launched this summer after the organization refused to use the term "genocide" to describe the 1915-18 massacres out of deference to Turkey, an American and Israeli ally.
This week, as Turkey stepped up warnings of a rupture in U.S.-Turkish relations and threatened to launch military incursions into northern Iraq against Kurdish fighters, the measure was criticized by President Bush, his secretaries of state and defense, Republican congressional leaders, conservative pundits and a growing number of Democratic lawmakers.And they shouldn't, if that's how Turkey is going to behave. It's time to start severing ties with them, and certainly to denounce their actions, intended or current.
None of those considerations appeared to sway Armenian activists or their supporters in Massachusetts.
I wonder what the purpose is of continuing to thwart the ADL's projects, even after they came around to declaring that the Armenian massacres were a genocide. It's unfortunate that the ADL has taken this foolish and unjust pro-Turkish position all along. However, what is the real aim of those continuing to oppose the ADL now? Is it a "leftist" effort to attack the whole Jewish community and Israel? Unfortunately, many people in the Armenian community in the US and elsewhere have accepted Arab anti-Israel arguments. In many cases this means that they are undermining the understanding of why the Ottoman empire, a Sunni Muslim state, was trying to wipe out the Armenians. Both Armenian nationalists and Zionists were seen as rebellious dhimmis, whom a Muslim state is entitled to punish severely if not destroy. Some historians, including Armenians, want to see the Armenian genocide as a product of Turkish nationalism. However, it fits into the mold of the traditional treatment by the Muslim state, imbued with the jihad ethos, of rebellious subject peoples, that is, dhimmis who revolt. Further, the massacres began at great intensity under sultan Abdul-Hamid in 1895-96. Abdul-Hamid was not a Turkish nationalist, but a Muslim first.
Labels: Armenia, Asia, dhimmitude, turkey
