Joe Biden’s April 24 statement acknowledging the Armenian Genocide (1915–1923+) carried out by Turkey was welcome, but flawed. Indeed, “Turkey” appears nowhere in the document. Moreover, the State Department swiftly undermined Biden’s virtuous-sounding words.
American acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide isn’t even new. The U.S. House has passed several resolutions on the Genocide. And a nearly unanimous Congress did so in 2019.
Presidents going back to Woodrow Wilson have described the Armenian ordeals with language such as: an effort to exterminate all Armenians; terrible massacres; mass killings; death marches; and an ancient [Armenian] homeland was erased. If these don’t describe genocide, the word is meaningless.
In 1951, the State Department cited the Armenian “massacres [as a] crime of genocide” in a filing at the International Court of Justice. In 1981, President Reagan included “the genocide of Armenians” in a Holocaust proclamation.
Genocide acknowledgments should not — like car insurance — lapse if not renewed annually. Will the Holocaust become a non-genocide next year if the White House happens to overlook it?
Still, the president’s statement is noteworthy. It could even reinvigorate several Armenian American lawsuits against Turkey. But the statement has problems.
It tries to take the heat off today’s Republic of Turkey by blaming only “Ottoman-era … authorities” for the Genocide.
After the Allies defeated Ottoman Turkey in WWI (1918), Ottoman General Mustafa Kemal’s (Ataturk) forces continued to massacre Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks. Kemal also ordered that Armenia be “politically and physically eliminated.” When he established the Turkish Republic in 1923, Kemal appointed Ottoman genocidists and continued to persecute Christians.
Thus, as President Erdogan himself has confirmed, his country is a “continuation” of Ottoman Turkey. Knowing this, the Turkish Republic has always tried to evade accountability for the Genocide.
Disgracefully, though, Biden tries to assist Turkey in that regard by writing, “We do this not to cast blame” [on Turkey].” The president has no right to hand Turkey a “Get Out of Jail Free card.”
Just two days later, American Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy tried to help Turkey duck accountability. “The Armenian Genocide took place in 1915, the [UN] Genocide Convention did not come into force until 1951 … from the legal perspective the Convention is not being applied retroactively.”
Tracy’s reasoning — disputed by experts — suggests that Jews should have received no restitution or reparations because the Holocaust (1933–1945) also occurred before 1951.
Turkey’s genocidal threats against Armenians continue to this day, something the president’s declaration ignores.
In 1993, Turkey was going to invade Armenia were the coup against Russian President Boris Yeltsin to succeed.
President Erdogan has branded Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks “Leftovers of the Sword.” It’s an obvious, existential threat against Christian populations who survived Turkey’s 20th century genocides.
In 2020, Turkey, its Turkic ally Azerbaijan, and jihadist mercenaries successfully attacked Armenian-populated Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabagh and Armenia.
Erdogan gleefully likened these attacks to Ottoman Turkey’s genocidal invasion (1918) of Armenia. “Today, may the souls of [General] Nuri Pasha, [Minister of War] Enver Pasha, and the brave soldiers of the Caucasus Islam Army, be happy.”
An analogy would be Germany’s denying the Holocaust, threatening Israel, arming its foes, calling Jews “leftovers of the concentration camps,” and glorifying Nazi Germany.
Azerbaijani President Aliyev simultaneously claimed huge chunks of Armenia, including its capital Yerevan.
Turkey and Azerbaijan’s military assaults and threats are all reminiscent of the Genocide.
Biden’s vow that America must “ensure that what happened [the Armenian Genocide] is never repeated,” therefore, rings hollow.
Moreover, Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act conditionally prohibits U.S. aid to Azerbaijan if the latter supports terrorism or engages in aggression against Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabagh/Armenia.
However, the White House just waived Section 907 despite Azerbaijan’s flagrant use of ISIS and other terrorists against Armenians.
Let’s not be deceived by the president’s April 24 statement and the State Department’s unprincipled actions.
David Boyajian writes about Caucasus issues. His work can be found at http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/David_Boyajian.
born saturday says
turkeys history, is no different than a criminal record… a heavy one… lets not forget who made turkey what it is today, who lustfully pets all the muslims that are commiting no less than modern genocides in africa in syria and around the world….
Jillian says
The fact that Biden is surrounded by Islamists and anyway he’s incapable of a simple sentence. This is horrific to the US and the world.
Wellington says
Had a suspicion it was too good to be true and this article confirms that suspicion significantly. Yep, it was during the Ottoman era and thus really has nothing to do with modern Turkey. Right.
What a weasel administration the Biden Administration is. Just as with the Obama Administration, it uses insincere words or expressions extensively (e.g., Biden asserting that Israel has a right to defend itself while at the same time sucking up to the so-called Palestinians by way of money, sending Blinken to “repair” relations with the Palestinians, et al.). Biden, just like Obama, is kind to the cruel and cruel to the kind (no better example can be found in the last few months than the Biden Administration being, excuse the expression, pussy-whipped by China).
What a refreshing break from this sycophantic approach was the Trump Administration, which Leftists, many wishy-washy moderates (N.B., there is no such thing as a great moment in moderate history) and a veritable plethora of RINOs (perhaps in “honor” of Mitt Romney we should just start calling RINOs “Romneys”) have regularly denigrated, so utterly foolish are these clowns and jokers.
Long live Israel. Down with Erdogan. Long life to the Armenian element of mankind. Screw the Biden Administration. This is all—for now.
Infidel says
Great as President Trump was, I do fault him for admiring President Erdogan, not recognizing him as an enemy the same way he recognized China, and as a result, refusing to denounce the Armenian genocide
Wellington says
Your assessment is a reasonable one, Infidel, as is so typical of your comments. In defense of Trump, however, I would maintain that precisely because Turkey was and is still part of NATO, though it should no longer be, and because Trump had to fight so many fools in the State Department (as was the case in so many other Departments), never mind the monumental amount of fools in Congress who sought his demise daily (including not only Democrats but RINOs too), he had to pick and choose his battles. He had to deal with China far more than he had to deal with Turkey and, besides, Trump did have the balls to move America’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, so no wonder Netanyahu said that Trump was the best friend Israel has ever had.
For the record and all that. Nevertheless, I do want an American President to “ditch” Turkey as long as people like Erdogan are in charge. Won’t happen with Biden, that’s for sure.
Infidel says
Actually, while Trump was better on NATO than others by insisting that they pay their fair share, there are still nagging questions that remain. Like during the Helsinki summit, Tucker Carlson asked him about Montenegro’s admission into NATO, and why the US should support it? Trump went about the usual spiel that if they can afford it, they need to pay, and if they are too poor, then only will we subsidize them. But he missed the mark
Tucker asked the right question: how many Americans would be willing to send their kids to defend and potentially die for, say Latvia or Slovakia or Montenegro or any country they can’t find on a map, from a Russian invasion. Trump’s answer seemed to imply that for the right amount of money, we’d do it. Nothing against any of these countries, but the solution, if they are threatened, is to arm them to the teeth, like we did w/ Ukraine: to this day, Russia has been unable to conquer Donbass. That’s the way to do it. Of course, we’d do all that for countries threatened by Russia, which is fine, but we didn’t lift a finger to help Armenia while it was attacked by Azerbaijan
My point remains that we need to leave NATO: the Cold War is over, and hasn’t been around for 30 years now – this year will be the 30th anniversary of the end of the Soviet Union. We have 2 major enemies – Islam and China. Islam has been haunting us for the last 20 years in ways that we allowed to happen, namely allowing their peoples into our countries. While Chinese expansionism has picked up over the last decade ever since Xi Jin Peng came to power. The Chicoms have, through the belt/road initiative, been busy taking over large swathes of Africa, Latin America and even Europe, and could even take us over, if they manipulate Biden and the dems well enough. And then there are their direct military threats to many of their neighbors – Taiwan, Japan, India, Vietnam, and so on
Like I’ve said many times, we need to leave NATO, and focus on expanding Quad. Our #1 enemy is China, and we’ve seen what they did w/ the Chinavirus: if it was not a deliberate biological attack on the rest of the world, as some claim it was, then imagine what they could do if they did wanna launch one. They are on target to building a larger navy than we have, and expanding an already huge military. Essentially, imagine a Stalin and Tojo rolled into one, and that’s what we have in China. If we keep ignoring it, a time will come when China tries to do in this decade what Japan tried to do in the 40s
It’s time to fire everybody in the State Department and the Pentagon, and hire people who’s #1 focus is China, and #2 focus is Islam. Where people like Robert Spencer and Gordon Chang are taken seriously
commonsense says
Brilliant posts, Wellington and Infidel. Thank you both. If only those in power would read your comments and act on them!
gravenimage says
Agreed, Infidel. One of President Trump’s blindspots, unfortunately.
GreekEmpress says
Thank you for this excellent article and the link to Mr. Boyajian’s other articles.
gravenimage says
What Lies Beneath: Biden’s Deceptive Acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide
………………..
All this from David Boyajian is true–nonetheless, while I am overall *no* fan of Biden, I still welcomed his acknowledgement, however limited, of the Armenian Genocide.
Crusades Were Right says
Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion (AD 301).
It is – owing to invasion, colonization, massacres and genocide perpetrated by Turks, Kurds and other Mohammedans – a small nation, almost entirely surrounded by Islam.
The nearest thing to an ally it has is Russia; but when Azerbaijan (Turks under a different name) invaded Artsakh (part of historic Armenia) last year, the Russians (who supply weapons to both countries) did not intervene while the slaughter was happening – rather, in the guise of “peace keepers” after the event, they effectively annexed the part of Artsakh that Azerbaijan failed to conquer.
On an almost daily basis the Armenian people watch helplessly as Azerbaijan, emboldened by its Artsakh success, perpetrates one border outrage after another against Armenia “proper” – gradually whittling away its territory – while the West, consumed by its bizarre masochistic obsession with “racism” and “Islamophobia”, looks away.
The Armenian Prime Minister, Pashinyan, who signed the notorious surrender document, is widely perceived by Armenians as a traitor – and is even suspected of being a paid agent of Azerbaijan/Turkey.
And on top of all that, the Armenian people have to endure the empty virtue signalling of the despicable Democrat “swamp monster”, Sleepy Creepy Joe Biden.
If Armenia were a person, his name would be Job.
commonsense says
+1
Myron J. Poltroonian says
+1,000%!
Boycott Turkey says
Biden is a filthy snake also his sending military aid to Azerbaijan which is continuing to attack Armenians about 1000 Azerbaijan soilders are in Armenian border and 6 Armenian soilders where arrested by Azerbaijan Biden Is complite with genocide of Armenians https://youtu.be/F0LwkIB5cPI
Jerry says
At long last the US Dim Dems acknowledge that there was a Turkish perpetrated Armenian Genocide, but nobody seems to acknowledge that there was also a Turkish perpetrated genocide of ethnic Greek Christians in Anatolia, also, just over one hundred years ago.
Worse still, there is still ongoing genocide of Assyrian and Chaldean Christians in Syria and Iraq, perpetrated by elements of Al Qaida and ISIS, with the complicity of Turkey and wannabe new Chaliph, Butcher Erdogan.
The world is obsessed with the plight of the more than half a million Muslims killed in Muslim upon Muslim violence, and a further more than one million displaced Muslims, but no one seems to notice that probably more than two and a half million Christians totally disappeared from the face of this earth in the same Islamic instigated and perpetrated conflict, some times disguised as a quest for democracy which is totally impossible under Islam
commonsense says
Excellent post, Jerry.
gravenimage says
Yes–Armenians were the largest number of victims, but victims also included Greek, Assyrian, and Levantine Christians–really, *all* Christians in Turkey.
OLD GUY says
Just smoke and screens from Biden and his cronies. The leader of Turkey Erdogan is nothing less than a carbon copy of Hitler. Erdogan wants world domination of Muslims period, and will kill the Jewish people and Christians to do it.
Myron J. Poltroonian says
My Dear Fellow “Elder Flatulence”, [a.k.a.: “High class ‘Old Fart’.”],
To Erdogan (and, by extension, all “Islamists”), the way to so-called World Domination [by Islam] is by killing all Christians, Muslims, Animists and/or any other “Non-Believers” and wiping out all evidence of their existence – before, during, or after Mohammad – on this earth.
Myron J. Poltroonian says
[Addendum: You know, sorta like Big Tech’s, “Fact Checkers”.]