The Armenian Genocide of World War I is sometimes called the forgotten genocide because it did not receive immediate media attention, happened about 90 years ago, and was covered up by the Turkish government. Since the genocide in 1915, the Turkish government has spent millions of dollars on public relations attempting to cast doubt or erase the genocide from the public mind.
Different tactics were used by the Turkish Government to cover up the Armenian Genocide
Immediately after World War I the Turkish government tried find scapegoats to blame for what they called a security measure. Blame was put on unscrupulous officials, Kurds, and common criminals.
The next tactic used was avoidance of the issue. Diplomatic efforts and political pressure were used where possible in order to act as if the genocide had not happened.
The Turkish government also attempted to disrupt academic discussions on the subject. An example is the attempted force cancellation of a conference in Tel Aviv in 1982 if the Armenian Genocide. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council reported similar threats over plans to include references to the Armenian Genocide within the interpretive framework of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Institutes established in the 1980s for the purpose of research on Turkish history was used to deny the Armenian genocide.
Former Reps. Bob Livingston (R-LA), Gerald Solomon (R-NY), and Stephen Solarz (D-NY), are aggressively attempting to rally Republican and Democratic opposition against official U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Revisionist maps and official history in Turkey make little or no mention of the historical presence and contributions of the Armenian people in their ancestral homeland.
Turkish government pressured Microsoft to whitewash the genocide in its Encarta Encyclopedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment