Ignoring the Armenian genocide

REGARDING "TRUTH is the way to peace": It is important, for legal reasons, for the U.S. to use the word "genocide" when referring to the genocide committed by Turkey against its Armenian population from 1915 to 1923.

Genocide is formally defined in the UN Genocide convention of 1948, to which the U.S. is a signatory. A nation that recognizes a particular genocide is obligated to do something about it.

The man who coined the word genocide, international jurist Raphael Lemkin, said in a CBS television interview in 1949 that it was the Armenian genocide that first got him interested in the subject.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars has officially recognized the Armenian genocide and even sent a letter to the Turkish prime minister a few years ago telling him that his call for a "joint historical commission" with Armenia to study the events of 1915 was absurd, as the facts of the Armenian genocide have been well-established by existing scholarly research (see Genocide Watch).

Much of the jockeying that the U.S. is engaged in within the Caucasus region, where Armenia is located, is simply an attempt to co-opt Armenia and use it as a potential route for Western oil and gas pipelines. Turkey is part of that U.S. scheme.

As for alleged Turkish leverage over the U.S., don't believe it. Turkey is highly dependent on the U.S. militarily, economically and politically. If Obama were to use the word "genocide," there is nothing Turkey could do.

Turkey is bluffing. About 20 countries, many in Europe, as well as the European Union parliament, have recognized the Armenian genocide, and Turkey has done little more than bluster and throw a temper tantrum.
Paul, from the Internet