“Recognizing The Armenian Genocide Means Being On The Right Side Of History,” wrote Serj Tankian in an article published by New Europe.
–
“The Armenian Genocide – an umbrella term for the 1915 massacres of Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire – has for decades been used by Turkey as political capital against well-known democracies around the world,” he noted. “The result has been an absolute disaster, hindering Turkish democracy, and helping to silence all those struggling for an egalitarian, secular state there.”
–
“Armenians around the world were devastated to witness Turkey’s bombing of Kurdish forces and civilians in Syria. It was like experiencing PTSD from a 100+-year-old genocide. The YPG/Kurdish-American alliance was destroyed overnight after US President Donald Trump’s call with Erdogan.” As Tankian noted, most of his friends are shocked that Israel has also never formally recognized the genocide.
–
“As Armenian-Americans, we have fought for recognition of the genocide for many years. We will continue to fight for a Senate resolution of the same kind in the coming days and months. The importance of such resolutions is to finally make it clear to Turkey that there is a price to pay for genocide denial, for continuing to act with impunity against its own minorities and activists and to shed international laws,” Tankian added.
–
“Irrespective of the bad diplomatic blood between Turkey & Israel, PM Netanyahu’s government has blocked all such efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide due to the intelligence sharing that Israel has with Turkey and, until now, the US’ official stance on genocide recognition,” he said.
–
According to him, Israel should have been the first state to pass a resolution that gave official recognition to the Armenian genocide. “The Armenian Genocide should serve as an important historical lesson to all. Unpunished crimes against humanity that are ignored for economic or political gain by the international community will eventually lead to global disorder,” Tankian concluded.
–
H/T News.Am