Significant Follow-up Developments Since The original Story Was written:

My story, (click on the high-lighted link below to read my original story)

The 1915 Armenian Genocide, The Turks, The Jews, America, Israel and the Only Way Out

about trying to resolve the nearly century old unresolved anger and emnity between the Armenians and the Turks, was first published fourteen months ago in October 2007.  I wrote an even-handed proposal suggesting what I felt was fair and possible to make a difference in that part of the world, but I had no real belief that anything would change.

The forces and attitudes on both sides of the historical dispute were so frozen in their positions, concerning the truth about the history of those times early in 1900, that any effort to soften all the rigidity seemed impossible for anyone to make a difference.  Then this happened:

This  difficult-to-believe story was published in The New York Times on Tuesday, December16, 2008:

Turkey: Apology for Armenian Killings

A group of about 200 prominent Turkish intellectuals issued an apology on the Internet on Monday for the World War I-era massacres of Armenians in Turkey.

The group of academics, journalists, writers and artists avoided using the contentious term “genocide,” referring to the killings of more than a million Armenians by the Ottoman Turk government from 1915 to 1918 as a “great catastrophe.”

While Turkey does not deny that many died, it has rejected the word genocide and has prosecuted people who have publicly acknowledged Turkish culpability for it.  The statement said in part:

I reject this injustice, share in the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers, and apologize for them.”

There were no threats of legal action from the government on Monday.

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November 5, 2019 News:

US lawmakers recognize killing of Armenians as genocide

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “one of the great atrocities of the 20th century,” after the House voted in favor of the resolution. Turkey said the measure was a “grave mistake” and “a meaningless political step.”

As a liberal and fair-minded American Jew with no prejudices, I view this as a remarkably positive development.  Tiny Armenia could never have forced it, or ever threatened Turkey militarily, so it is a heartening moment of moral and compassionate reconsideration by a major Asian/European regional power.

As someone who views the election of Barak Obama to be the next United States President as the closest I will ever get to a “Second Coming”, my feeling is that if a person or group of people have the courage and honesty to admit responsibility for an action their country is accused of committing 93 years ago, and if I was an Armenian, I believe I would offer my hand in friendship if not to the Turkish government, then at least to the Turkish People and bless them for letting the restless souls of my dead ancestors finally rest in peace. No, I am not Armenian, but at the age of 58 I have ceased to blame the present day Germans for their grandparents savage killing of my doomed European relatives, sixty-five years ago.  Life goes on, if all sides are willing.

Is the statement everything?  No it isn’t.  Is it a break in the historic moral standoff?  Yes it is.  So why not be equal to the Turk’s brave gesture and return a statement of friendship and appreciation, recognizing that at least some of the Turks, at possible legal risk to themselves, believe they know the truth are willing to say ‘Yes, this really happened and we’re sorry.’

It is what I would do, and I would thank God that such a statement was issued in my lifetime, so I could begin to find closure and start a new relationship with people from who are my neighbors.  It is possible to start fresh.  It is possible to forgive people.  And, believe me I know, it can be very, very difficult to say:

“I admit my people did this terrible thing to your people, please forgive me.”

Think about it.  There is a time to embrace your old enemies and give new friendships a chance to grow.

I wish everyone involved: Peace, and healed hearts.

Robert M. Katzman

(The news article I quoted above is copywritten by The New York Times Company.  I am using it for educational purposes only, and I am not using it in any way for commercial purposes.)

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