The Assyrian Democratic Organization
By Thea Halo
US – ESNA — As some of you know, Genocide Scholar Adam Jones of Yale University decided to present a Resolution to the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), which would recognize the massacres and forced death marches between 1914-1923, of Assyrians and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks, as Genocide.
I have been in contact with Professor Jones since we met at the 2005 IAGS Conference. In November 2006 Prof. Jones invited me to give a seminar at Yale University on my paper, “The Exclusivity of Suffering: When tribal concerns takes precedence over historical truth.” During our association, Prof. Jones became increasingly aware of the disparity between the way the genocide is presented as exclusively Armenian, and the actual enormity of the crime that was committed against all the Christians of Ottoman and Kemalist Turkey. Earlier this year, he decided to make a proposal to the IAGS to, in effect, revise their original resolution on the Armenians to include the Assyrians and Greeks. His proposed resolution is as follows:
PROPOSED RESOLUTION – IAGS 2007
WHEREAS the denial of genocide is widely recognized as the final stage of genocide, providing impunity for the perpetrators of genocide, justifying the destruction of the victim groups, and paving the way for future genocides;
WHEREAS the Ottoman Empire’s genocides against minority populations during and following the First World War is often remembered as a genocide only against Armenians, with little recognition of the qualitatively similar genocides against other Christian minorities of the Empire; WHEREAS historical documentation of intentional and systematic mass murder against Christian minority groups by the Ottoman Empire is extensive and conclusive;
BE IT RESOLVED that it is the judgment of the International Association of Genocide Scholars that the Ottoman Empire’s intentional destruction of its Christian minorities between 1914 and 1923 constituted genocides against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Association calls upon the current Government of Turkey to recognize the genocides by the Ottoman Empire against these populations, to apologize to the victim groups, to memorialize the victims, and to provide meaningful restitution to their descendents.
The problem of how to be inclusive of Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Nestorians, etc. has been disturbing for all of us who feel all should be included. But so far no one has come up with a reasonable way to be inclusive, without bogging down resolutions and essays by running off a long list of peoples in each relevant sentence. In my papers, I make a point of listing all those peoples who are included under the general title of Assyrians.
Peter Balakian, head of the IAGS Board, demanded we supply documentation and bibliography to support the resolution. I worked closely with Prof. Jones and compiled much of the primary source accounts from diplomats such as Ambassador Morgenthau, US Consuls and Relief Workers, foreign diplomats, and news agencies, and I compiled a bibliography, including books in Greek. In the latter instance, I was aided by a Greek scholar. Adam Jones read David Gaunt’s new book and used it as an important source for the Assyrians.
During an early phase, an email discussion for the resolution ensued. Israel Charney, then president of IAGS acknowledged the merits of the resolution and made a fine plea to the Board for its passage. But resistance from various board members continued. I sent numerous rebuttals to the negative responses, as did Adam Jones.
The resolution with supporting documentation and bibliography was supposed to be presented by email to the IAGS members to prepare for a vote at the conference. Although it was finally presented by email as directed, Adam and I were asked at the conference to allow the Board to shelve the resolution to allow people more time to look at the evidence with the promise that it would then be voted on at a later date. Adam and I agreed with reservations, to which the incoming president of IAGS, Greg Stanton, promised a vote no later than 2 months time. He also assured us that most Board members were in favor of the resolution and that they felt confident, but could not promise, it would be passed.
It is interesting to note that, except for one misrepresentation of the facts, all of the objections by Board members were based on a discussion of whether or not IAGS should continue to make such resolutions, even though I believe all those who objected had voted for the two resolutions on the Armenian Genocide. To change its policy on this issue after a resolution has been presented using existing policies, would be inappropriate. It also fosters the impression that the IAGS is disproportionately invested in Armenian issues. As I noted in one of my rebuttals, it is tantamount to saying: My horse is safely in the barn, so let’s lock the door.
It is clear that the lack of Greek and Assyrian participants at these conferences since the IAGS began 12 years ago, and the lack of a concerted effort to hold people responsible for the exclusion of Greeks and Assyrians from historical texts, resolutions and memorials, some of which are funded by tax-payer dollars, has contributed to the false impression that the genocide between 1914-1923 was suffered exclusively by Armenians. Even more disturbing,
I found some young scholars, who gave papers in 2003 on the Armenian Genocide, had no idea that Greeks and Assyrians even existed in Asia Minor. Had I not been at the conference in 2003, and then in 2005 to rebut some of the misinformation and/or omissions, much of the academic community present at those venues would still be in the dark as to the extent of the genocides in the Ottoman Empire.Recently, a number of historians have told me they want to include sections that cover the Genocide of Greeks and Assyrians in books they are writing. I met one of these historians at the Sarajevo conference. I have been asked to write such a section.
I am happy to report that during this conference, however, other than myself, three Greek historians attended, Dr. Nikolaos Ouzounoglou, Mr. Vassilios Kyratzopoulos, and Dr. Iakovos Z. Aktsoglou, and the latter two gave papers. I am also happy to report that there was an Assyrian representative, Sabri Atman. Although he did not give a paper, his presence was important nevertheless.
I presented two papers on two separate panels. The first was a series of primary source documents that support a finding of genocide for the Greeks and Assyrians. I also included commentary and a news report about the importance of the trial against the Young Turks, as they were not only tried for their atrocities against the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian populations, they were also convicted and sentenced to death according to a New York Times report of 1919. Such a trial affirms the Genocide of these Christians of Ottoman Turkey, just as the Nuremberg Trials affirmed the Genocide of the Jews.
My second paper was entitled Modes of Denial, in which I exposed some of the modes used by both Turkish officials and various Armenian/American historians and their supporters.
At this stage, we will resend some of the most compelling primary source documentation to support the resolution, along with a bibliography of books written in both English and Greek, for the IAGS conference members to read before the vote. I am still concerned about the resistance by some Board members to the resolution. In my research I have come across too much appalling revisionist writing by those who should know better, one of which went so far as to deny the very existence of the Greeks and Assyrians in Asia Minor. For the last four years, I have set about exposing some of the worse offenders.
This is a long struggle. Unless we are willing to let self-interested historians and advocates write our history in any way they wish, or exclude Greeks and Assyrians from this history, the Greek and Assyrian communities must become more active. As Israel Charney pointed out, in Armenia they recognize the genocide of the Greeks and Assyrians, but many Armenian/American and some European/Armenian historians still resist acknowledging these co-victims.
Unfortunately, it is in the US and Europe that the Armenian communities and their advocates have had the most influence. Denial is the last stage of Genocide. But silence is even more deadly, because it insures that the genocide is complete.
