April 24th marks an important day in Armenian history, remembering the Armenian genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
Prior to the genocide, it is estimated that around 2,000,000 Armenians lived in the region. This number was brought down to almost 500,000 by fall 1916. For those that survived, life remained hell on Earth as they were forcibly ‘Turkified’ in the empire, while others were displaced, fleeing to Syria, Lebanon or further afield, forming part of the Armenian diaspora that left for Russia, the U.S. and Europe.
The Ottoman Empire collapsed following the defeat of the Central Powers, and the Turkish Republic, founded in 1923, succeeded the crumbling empire in Anatolia. And yet, 110 years later, the modern day state of Turkey refuses to recognize the genocide.
In addition to the orchestrated genocide, the Ottoman Empire gradually deported Armenians to other parts of Anatolia. The Turkish Republic has since regularly claimed this was done for ‘security reasons’, in the context of WWI while Turkey continues to argue that the mass killings were a mere consequence of civil unrest and of war.
To deny a genocide is one thing, to prevent the population from speaking up about it is barbaric.
Voices within Turkey have raised awareness about the Armenian genocide. Such dissidents have been regularly silenced, including the assassination of Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in 2007.
Turkey’s Penal Code allows the government to penalize anyone speaking in favour of recognizing the genocide, arguing it “insults Turkishness”.
Needless to say that this is deeply harmful, making reconciliation efforts between Armenia and Turkey virtually impossible.
In Europe and in the West, talking about the Holocaust, Srebrenica and Russian invasion in Ukraine has become normalized. While this is great, it raises the following question: why is the Armenian genocide rarely mentioned?
Recognizing the Armenian Genocide should not be a problem, not in Europe at least. The European Parliament recognized it in 1987, while sixteen countries in the European Union have acknowledged it on a national level.
In the case of Greece, Slovakia and France, denial is even criminalized.
On the other hand, many major European countries have not formally recognized the genocide. Among them are England, Spain or Hungary.
In most cases, there is no precise “denial”, but a lack of recognition in fear of complicating diplomatic relations with Turkey. The immigrant crisis in 2015 complicated matters, as relations between Turkey and the EU deteriorated. Since then, no significant progress has been made around the Armenian question, in turn demonstrating Europe’s hypocrisy. At the same time, the EU repeatedly requested Turkey’s neighbor start to “reconcile” with Turkey, made impossible when genocide denial remains the country’s policy.
Turkey’s efforts to dissuade other countries from recognizing the Armenian genocide are not limited to Europe. Aware of its position as an economic power and its strategic position, Turkey has realized it can blackmail countries in the Middle East, threatening to refuse to deliver weapons or military equipment if they recognize the genocide.
In other cases, Turkey has tried to lobby political opponents. This has been a regular discussion in the U.S., where Turkey has tried to lobby the Congress in an attempt to prevent several bills around the question from being passed.
Wherever countries have tried to nationally recognized the Armenian genocide, Turkey has tried to bribe lawmakers and politicians into blocking the proposal, usually with economic incentives.
If Europe claims to be a continent of values, and accepts that the Armenian genocide was a reality – as passed by the European Parliament in the 1980s, it is time to act upon it.
Most of the countries do not “deny” the genocide, but have refused to officially acknowledge, fearing Turkey’s retaliations.
There is no denial that Turkey is an important partner to the West, both to NATO and the EU. However, an uncomfortable discussions has been avoided in the past decade about the recognition of the Armenian genocide, especially as Armenia continues to seek European integration as the government aims to push forward its application as a candidate country in the EU.
Too often have countries pointed out that it is foremost Turkey’s responsibility to acknowledge to genocide, something which is unlikely to happen in the next years.
Genocide researcher laid out ten difference stages to genocide, the last of which is denial. There is no doubt this is the path Turkey has doubled down upon, which is a choice. This decision must come with consequences.
Turkey launched in 2009 a proclamation of reconciliation with Armenia, yet never followed by recognized the hideous crimes against humanity during the genocide. Normalization of relationships can only start with the recognition, and this is the time for Europe to demonstrate it supports Armenia in its independence struggles.
