The Not-So Silent Scream

The Stiletto ^ | January 29, 2007 | The Stiletto

[theothercheek]

Last night, The Stiletto went to see "Screamers," a powerful and moving documentary that asks why genocides keep occurring – from the 1915-1917 near-annihilation of Armenians by Ottoman Turks (warning: graphic images) to today’s ethnic cleansing in Darfur. You can watch the trailer here.

The title of the documentary is meant to refer to those who don’t silently stand by as genocides are unfolding, notably Harvard Professor Samantha Power, author of "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide" (2002). Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, assassinated 10 days ago in Istanbul by a Turkish nationalist sympathizer, is also interviewed.The film follows Grammy-winning alternative metal band "System of a Down," on a multi-nation tour in 2005 commemorating the 90^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Concert scenes are interspersed with oral histories of genocide survivors, including lead singer Serj Tankian’s 96-year old grandfather, as well as several from Rwanda and Darfur. There are also several scenes of the group lobbying – unsuccessfully - former House Speaker Dennis Hastert on a Congressional resolution to affirm the Armenian Genocide; he pulled the bill.

Editorial Note: Genocide denier James Taranto ("We have no opinion on whether the events of 1915 constitute genocide or not …") ought to see this film so he can get off the fence over what everyone except Turks and their apologists consider settled history. His Wall Street Journal colleague, Turkish apologist Carl Bialik, ("deaths from disease and starvation … may be related to the killings [but] it's debatable whether they should be included in the overall count’) would also benefit form learning how genocides are executed when there are too many people to murder and not enough bullets to do the job.

One person who need not bother attending a screening of this film is freelance writer Tulin Daloglu (coincidentally – or not – an ex-girlfriend of Taranto’s), as she is beyond the reach of fact, reason or decency.

A Turk, she wrote an op-ed published in The Washington Times about Dink that undermined his lifelong campaign to induce Turkey to admit the Ottoman government’s genocidal crimes – a cause for which he gave his life. Interestingly, she takes the same tack as Taranto (it must be in "The Genocide Denier’s Handbook"): "Turks don't believe that the facts of history are entirely known."

The Stiletto cannot guess at the psychosexual suasion responsible for Taranto’s Armenian genocide denial, but Daloglu was indoctrinated from childhood to believe that Ottoman Turks did not commit genocide.

In a classic brainwashing technique employed by totalitarian regimes, she started each school day reciting the Turkish Oath:

I am a Turk, I am honest. I am a hard worker. My rule is to protect those younger and to repect my elders, and to love my country and my nation more than myself. My goal is to enhance and to get higher. May my life be a present to the Turkish people. Honorable, unreachable Ataturk! I give my oath to continue towards reaching the targets you showed, to walk on the road you have opened, in the country you created. How happy I am to say I am a Turk.

Naturally, every history book she studied from portrayed the "events of 1915" as a justifiable military response to "disloyal" Armenians who had joined invading Russian troops in attacks on the Empire.

As Daloglu was bred from the womb to believe that Turks are a master race, and are the real victims of the "so called" Armenian Genocide, her editorial is tiresomely predictable. But she does admit a chilling motive for Dink’s execution at this time:

Almost every year for the last three decades, Congress has considered bills regarding the so-called Armenian genocide that ask the president to call the events that took place between the Turks and the Armenians during and after World War I "genocide." … This year, Armenians are hopeful that the bill will pass both the House and the Senate. For one, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stands for the adoption of the resolution.

The dozens of articles in European and Turkish newspapers The Stiletto read about Dink’s execution, also pointed to the intensifying fear in Turkey that the U.S. will officially acknowledge the Armenian Genocide - and join the European Union in calling upon Turkey to do the same. Dink was just another "disloyal" Armenian, imperiling the Turkey’s EU accession bid by shining a spotlight on a past that Turks would just as soon be forgotten.

Imagine what will happen to the remaining Armenian population of Turkey should the EU permanently withdraw the welcome mat.