Anguish and Policy

The anguish of Armenians regarding the violence that beset their people in the period of World War I is widely shared, remembered by all civilized people as an awful example of the breakdown of law and order. So the indignation expressed so emotionally by Gov. George Deukmejian, the son of Armenian immigrants, on the anniversary of those events, is understandable and heard with widespread sympathy.

But his call, and the call of many within the Armenian community, to support congressional action to designate April 24 as Martyrs Day, commemorating what they regard as the “genocide” of the Armenians, does not enjoy universal support for good reason.

Those seeking that designation see it is part of a campaign to force the government of modern-day Turkey to acknowledge what the governor calls the “historical truth.” That is not fair. Whatever happened in Anatolia in those atrocity-filled years came under the Ottoman Empire and before the revolution of Ataturk created the modern state of Turkey. Furthermore, there remains a debate among scholars as to the circumstances of the atrocities committed against Armenians, but not only against Armenians, as Ottomans warred with invading Russians. Some clarity may come from the indications that long secret archives in Istanbul may be opened to scholars.

The pressure for a congressional resolution has also been resisted because so many calling for it, including the governor, have not matched the fervor of their denunciation of the Turks with a denunciation of the Armenian terrorism that still, 70 years after those dreadful events, preys on Turkish nationals, including diplomats faithfully carrying out their responsibilities.

Turkey is a strategically important member of the Atlantic Alliance. It is slowly returning to full democracy. It is maddeningly stubborn on some issues, including its indefensible occupation of almost half of Cyprus and its sometimes bellicose actions towards Greece in the Aegean. But neither those actions nor the outrages of the Ottoman past can justify congressional action that is but a thinly veiled attack on a faithful and effective ally.