Israel has to stand with Armenia
Here's a writer at the Jerusalem Post providing an argument making perfect sense when it comes to these 2 countries:
The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has once again come to violent confrontations between Azeris and Armenians over the hotly contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. The semi-autonomous area has been in dispute since the fall of the Soviet Union, with periods of lasting ceasefire in between, but Turkey’s expansionist and aggressive policies have likely sparked the recent uptick in violence between the two states in recent weeks. With hostile Turkey’s involvement, and Iran’s Azerbaijan alliances, should Israel be continuing to support Azerbaijan? And is the Jewish state committing a moral failure by refusing to support Armenia?Absolutely correct. Just because Israel gets oil supplies from Azerbaijan, the political establishment remains quiet? Unacceptable, and equally so when other nations do the same.
Israel and Armenia have numerous historical reasons to be allies. Perhaps the most obvious is that both peoples have faced tremendous persecution for their faith and ethnicity. The Armenian Genocide, the systematic genocide of 1.5 million Armenian Christians in the early 20th century at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, was a horrific precursor to the Holocaust. Sadly, many states refuse to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide or Turkey’s well-documented role, which the modern state has desperately tried to cover up. Incredibly, the State of Israel has repeatedly failed to recognize the Armenian Genocide, due initially to political interests with Turkey, and later due to alliances with Azerbaijan.
Israel’s political status with Muslim nations is certainly contentious, but there are moral recognitions that should be above political interests. Recognizing genocide is one of them. Israel must recognize the Armenian Genocide, and the international community must hold Turkey accountable for its bullying and war-mongering in response to any such recognition, whether from Israel or any other nation-state.
Labels: anti-semitism, Armenia, islam, Israel, jihad, racism, terrorism, turkey
