We Will Not Remain Silent

On April 24, we marked the 104th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the systematic murder of 1.5 million innocent Armenians, and millions more who were raped, starved, tortured and displaced. Despite the horrific crimes perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923, the United States Congress has failed to join 49 American states, 28 countries and the European Parliament in formally recognizing the Ottoman Empire’s attempted extermination of the Armenian people as a genocide.

No debate exists among historians as to whether the atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian people meet the definition of a genocide. Indeed, it was partially his study of the experience of the Armenians that inspired Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew whose family was killed in the Holocaust, to coin the word “genocide” to describe the crime of destroying an entire people and culture.

If such concrete consensus exists, why, then, has denial of the Armenian Genocide persisted, regardless of the President’s political party or the majority in Congress? The answer is Turkey.

For years, Turkey has abused its position as a member of NATO and deployed a tactical lobbying campaign to prevent Congress from formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide. It is joined in this campaign by officials from prior administrations who participated in the same flawed policy of denial and some defense contractors who want to ensure business with Turkey is not interrupted. Nevertheless, Turkey’s denial of the Genocide is a source of continued regional tension, undermining the foundations of a durable peace that would be in the best interests of the United States and our national security.

The death marches, during which tens of thousands of Armenians were forced across deserts, and the concentration camps in Deir ez-Zor, where many were tortured and starved, must make their way into our school curriculums and history books. But for too long Congress has been intimidated into silence by Turkey. Coming from another community, the Jewish community, that suffered its own genocide in the Holocaust, it pains me that our country’s deafening silence on the Armenian Genocide has echoed across generations, and meant continued suffering by survivors and their descendants.

That is why this month, along with Congressman Gus Bilirakis and more than 75 of my colleagues, I introduced a bipartisan resolution to commemorate the Armenian Genocide. Our resolution recognizes the genocide against the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire, rejects efforts to enlist the U.S. government in Turkey’s campaign of denial, and encourages education about the Armenian Genocide, as well as the unprecedented relief efforts undertaken by the United States in the aftermath of the Genocide. When we fail to recognize the atrocities perpetrated against innocent Armenian men, women and children more than a century ago, we not only endorse the continuing injury to the survivors, we also weaken our standing to condemn other crimes against humanity.

Genocide is not an antiquated relic of a darker time in human history, left behind in the 20th century; it is a tragic part of our modern existence. We see it in the attacks perpetrated against Darfuri men, women and children in Western Sudan, on Christian and religious minorities in Syria and Iraq by ISIS, and against the Rohingya community in Burma. These crimes against humanity must make us recommit ourselves to seeking justice and restitution for victims, survivors and their descendants. Yet, how are we to stand against modern genocides if, as a nation, we continually succumb to foreign intimidation on the Armenian Genocide? Congress must stand up, speak loudly and make clear once and for all that we will not remain silent about genocide.

  ADAM SCHIFF