October 10, 2007 is registered in the history as a great day, as a Great V Day. It symbolizes the victory of great humanitarian expectations born more than a century ago. It realizes dreams drawn decades ago. It unites people of good will scattered all over the world. It is the victory of good over evil.The Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106) of The US House Foreign Affairs Committee is the victory of all diplomats and pressmen (American, German, English, Italian, Russian, Austrian, French, Spanish, Latin American Swiss and others) accredited in The Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic who in the duration of their services reported detailed information about the atrocities of the Turkish Governments committed in regards to their subjects. They not only took photographs of the sceneries of torture not only reported the facts, but also systematically recorded them creating the objective history of Turkish atrocities. The majority of the diplomats in the bottom of their hearts believed that their work will in the near future be gratified by the civilized world, by historians, politicians, diplomats, jurists and sociologists of future generations.
The Resolution is the victory of all those missionaries, religious and medical workers who endangering their lives reported about the cruelties they witnessed in Turkey during the last decades of the 19th and the first quarter of the 20th century.
They depicted the discriminations, persecutions, mass deportations, massacres and the Genocide of the Armenians living in the Empire. They gathered the Armenian orphans in orphanages giving them the chance to speak to the world about their great tragedy and odyssey. They bravely witnessed before legal, political, religious international organizations about their experience.
The Resolution is the victory of all those courageous leaders and followers of the Mohammedan faith who openly condemned, criticized the Genocide of the Armenians perpetrated by the Turkish Governments. They confessed that their religion has nothing in common with the teachings of the Genocide perpetrators.. The Sharif of Mecca and the King of the Arab Lands Al Husayn Ibn Ali in 1917 issued a decree in protection of the Armenians. Many Islam even execrated and anathematized the leaders of the organization Union and Progress who declared Jihad.
The Resolution is the victory of those citizens of Turkey who ignoring the political limitations sanctioned by the government and the severe punishments imposed, revealed their non-Turkish and non-Islamic origin, the odyssey of their alienation, and the tragedy of the loss of their national identity. They actually depicted all the elements of Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish elite. They also witnessed to the world the existence in Turkey the presence of millions of forcefully converted citizens who confess their Armenian, Greek, Assyrian identity.
The Resolution is the victory of all those individuals, groups, parties and organizations who, despite all odds, believed in the victory of democratic principles, high moral values, truth and justice. Thousands of Turks, Albanians, Arabs, Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Hungarians, Jews, Rumanians, Serbs and representatives of other nationalities fought and died for the establishment of a democratic Turkey, for the Westernization of the country. Many minorities in Turkey struggled for the recognition of their national, religious, social and economic rights. The Armenians for decades organized their community life in Turkey lead by western ideas of democracy, human rights, social justice, self determination and freedom. The Turks “punished” the Armenians as aliens, as Westerners. The Armenians were firm in their beliefs. During WWI Turkey proposed the Armenians to use the Diaspora Armenians as an organized net of spies working for Germany and Turkey and against USA, UK, France. The Armenians again did not give up and remained the trustworthy ally of the andante. After the War the allies forgot the 14th ally and betrayed them, though the Armenians did not betray their own traditions and promises. The Resolution is the victory, the blessing, the crown of the firmness and the persistency of the Armenian and other nations’ democratic devotions. During WWII Armenians were fighting in the allied armies on all fronts (Pacific, Far Eastern, Middle Eastern, Asian, European, African )and in The Resistance, The Turkish Government was receiving bribe from the allies in order not to take sides with the enemy in case of critical moments. The negative tradition is alive today. Turkey is demanding bribes from the American Government in order to keep his promises of alliance.
Thousands of survivors of the Genocide were welcomed by other countries and nations of Asia, The Far East, Europe, Africa, Latin and North America. The Armenian immigrants received shelter, possibilities to work, study and organize their religious, social, economic and school life. Soon they became devoted and respected citizens of the country with equal rights, things that they were deprived of in Turkey. Strong ties of friendship were established between the newly hosted Armenians and the hosts. Armeno-Arab, Armeno-Greek, Armeno-Bulgarian, Armeno-Hungarian, Armeno-Polish, Armeno-French, Armeno-English, Armeno-Italian, Armeno-Spanish, Armeno-Canadian, Armeno-American, Armeno-Argentinean, Armeno-Uruguayan, Armeno-Brazilian friendship became one of the constant and major sources of development of those countries and people. That friendship helped the Armenians to find solutions to many of their historical problems, one of them being the recognition of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish Governments. One after the other the friendly people officially, on the state level accepted the historical fact and contributed to the development of The Armenian Republic. This Resolution is the victory of Armeno-American friendship which has strong historical background.
This Resolution has two specific features: First. It is the Resolution of the House of the strongest, richest and greatest power of the world, the bastion of democracy and human rights. The acceptance of the Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish Government will help the normalization of Armeno-Turkish relations. It will have a decisive positive impact on the liquidation of Genocide on our planet. Second. The USA Government is one of the great powers that subordinate historical truth to political and strategic demands of the day giving a sense of duality and hypocrisy to its foreign policy. The latter will definitely decrease the positive role of moral diplomacy in world affairs and ignore the role of the objective factor in political relations. In all cases the method of threads applied by the Turkish Government in political and diplomatic relations with USA brings a dangerous discord and disharmony in modern life.
The Armenian American organizations and their friends, in their struggle for justice and liquidation of the possibility of Genocide were motivated and inspired by the abovementioned factors and achieved this historic Resolution.
Glendale, Oct. 11, 2007 Dr. Gevork Kherlopian