Canadian Parliament formally declares that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians

Haaretz News Ticker ^ | 4/21/2004 | Reuters

[republicanwizard]

As an Armenian, I'm deeply offended that any good Freeper would cast doubt upon the murder of 1.5 million human beings.

[Verginius Rufus]

Kemal Ataturk did some very good things for Turkey, but I think he is also blamed for some post-WWI massacres (of Greeks at least--I'm not sure if there were any Armenians left by then in the areas under Turkish control).

Victor Davis Hanson, in his interview on C-SPAN in early March, talked about how the Armenians in the Central Valley of California were not permitted to use the public swimming pools in the 1920s.

[okie01]

As an Armenian, I'm deeply offended that any good Freeper would cast doubt upon the murder of 1.5 million human beings.

I presume your addressing that to me, as yonif has been supportive of the Armenian case.

And I'm not casting doubt upon it. What I'm really questioning is what was accomplished by the Canadian parliament taking it upon themselves to somehow "legitimatize" the event.

That's something they can't do. The event is a historical fact, it was what it was -- the mass murder (genocide or whatever you want to call it) of 1.5 million Armenians.

Did the actions of the Canadian parliament do anything to aid the descendants of Smyrna? Did they do anything to punish the Ottoman Turks -- who are dead and in their graves, too? The answers are "no" and "no".

But you can bet that a bunch of MPs feel smug and self-satisfied for their efforts -- which availed...what?

My contempt is for the Canadian politicians. And I have a measure of pity for those Armenians who felt that getting the Canadian parliament to vote and pass judgment on the issue would somehow assuage their own wounds.

It may bring them closure. But it's no reason to forget. Or to wallow in the past...