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| PRESS RELEASE |
June 16, 2008 |
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ABOUT US |
The objective of the Assembly is to coordinate the activities of member Turkish American associations and individual members of the Assembly for the purpose of presenting a more balanced view of Turkey and of the Turkish people, and emphasizing the importance of enhanced understanding between Turkey and the United States. [more]
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By becoming a member you will be part of a network of Turkish-Americans and friends of Turkey who care about the historic relationship between the two peoples and who are aware of the crucial role each one of us plays in strengthening the relationship and promoting an accurate and fair picture of Turkey and Turks. [Join ATAA]
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Commons Sense Leads Swedish Parliament's Refusal to Define Armenian Case as Genocide
On June 12, 2008, the Swedish parliament, with an overwhelming vote of 245 - 37 rejected to a resolution that characterized the 1915 Armenian case as genocide. The decision of the Swedish Parliament followed long deliberations.
The resolution was rejected because: (1) the United Nations has never accepted the Armenian case as genocide; (2) the United Nations Genocide Convention does not apply retroactively to events before 1948; (3) there is substantial disagreement between experts regarding the events of 1915; (4) there is concern by experts about broadening the definition of genocide and overlapping with other crimes; and, (5) a legislature should not intervene in foreign affairs and disturb the Turkish domestic process.
ATAA President-Elect Gunay Evinch and 1991-93 Fulbright Scholar on the Armenian issue, commented that that in 1986 the United Nations considered the Whitaker Report on the Crime of Genocide, which attempted to slip in the Armenian case in a footnote: "That caused a substantial debate, the result of which was the UN's decision to `receive' rather than `accept' the report. Receiving is a diplomatic way of rejecting."
Evinch also reminded that in 1917, Sweden lead the formation of the Scandinavian Commission of Inquiry into allegations of Armenian massacres, and reports regarding that the Armenians had engaged in a massive revolt to assist the Russian invasion of March 1915. Similarly, in 1919 the India Muslim Commission of Inquiry was formed to report on the atrocities committed by the Armenian Revolt against Muslims in eastern Anatolia 1880-1919. Both Commissions were discouraged and closed by the British Empire.
The vast majority of experts on the Ottoman Empire reject the Armenian case as genocide -- Bernard Lewis, Guenther Lewy, Andrew Mango, Avigdor, Levy, Stanford Shaw, Masaki Kakiszaki, David Fromkin, Norman Stone, Edward Erickson, Heath Lowry, and Justin McCarthy, to list a few notables.
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