The Peace Project

Remembering Genocide

Ninety years ago today, Turkish officials rounded up 250 leaders of the Armenian community. Some were executed; others deported. It marked the beginning of a two-year campaign that claimed more than 1.5 million Armenian lives.

Turkey claims these deaths were casualties of war. But residents of Armenia (and 15 other countries) say that the mass executions and starvations were the first genocide of the 20th century, a precursor to the Holocaust 25 years later.

"After all, who remembers the annihilation of the Armenians," Hitler has been quoted as saying.

Armenians around the world say it is essential for them to remember.

"We can't let our children forget what happened. The world does not pay attention to Armenia as it is, so we should do our best to keep reminding them," said Borseb Gevorkian.

Governments often sweep their misdeeds under the rug (see Katie's posting on Japan for a good example of this), and, in this case, nearly everyone who remembers the Armenian genocide has died. The few who are left were children when the killing began, and they tell their stories here. Because there are so few survivors remaining, it becomes easier and easier for Turkey to deny the genocide ever occurred. Soon, it may disappear, vanishing within the pages of history.

The lack of an adequate record allows those in power to manipulate history to their own ends, denying a horror that now lives only in the memories of old men and women. The need to bear witness to history is one reason why international criminal tribunals and, by extension, the International Criminal Court, can play such a vital role in the international community. These institutions create extensive records of the crimes that occurred while instability and chaos controlled a country. Nuremberg and the Eichmann trial made it impossible for anyone to deny the occurrence of the Holocaust. Similarly, the ICTY and ICTR will make it impossible for anyone, 90 years from now, to call the civilian massacres "casualties of war."

Aside from any deterrent or rule of law function they may serve, these tribunals assist the cause of peace simply by acknowledging that these atrocities took place. They burn onto the pages of history the individual suffering and the mass killings of a people. And with that simple step, they guarantee that no government can perpetrate a genocide on its population and then escape the gaze of history.

posted by Sammy @ 8:32 PM