ATAA responds to Anti Defamation League-ADL’s Statement
With great consternation has the ATAA witnessed the machinations of the ADL as it comments on the events of 1915. The ATAA maintains two complementary positions. First, the loss of civilian life in eastern Anatolia during World War I was tragic for Muslims and Christians alike, but that for the Ottoman Armenians, who had considered these regions among their traditional homelands, the depopulation of these areas from both the government-ordered relocations and inter-communal violence, the harm was particularly acute and we acknowledge this independently as a tragedy. We mourn all of the innocents who died and respect those who wish to preserve their memory. And second, the historic record does not reflect that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to genocide as the term is understood in proper context, that of the U.N. Genocide Convention. Suggestions that it is an insult to the Armenian memory to consider Armenian losses anything other than genocide not only demeans the Convention, under which the Armenian case has yet to be tested, but also inhibits any efforts toward reconciliation among Turks and Armenians, whose shared history is vastly more complex than the hammer-and-fist rhetoric swirling around the single word, genocide. The ATAA perceives as a ray of hope from recent announcements by the ADL that it believes that the only way forward is to reconcile Turks and Armenians, rather than to punish Turks, which would be the net effect of passage of H. Res. 106. The ADL correctly realizes that the foundation of reconciliation will be laid by joint study of the shared history of Turks and Armenians, including its high points and low points. The ATAA, therefore, commends the ADL in this respect and looks forward to the empanelment of a joint historical commission composed of the world's leading scholars on Ottoman history regardless of their country of origin. The ATAA also hopes that the ADL will encourage the government of Armenia to participate in this effort. Finally, knowing that deciding history by legislative fiat would defeat the purpose of further study, the ATAA commends the ADL's opposition to H. Res. 106 and all legislation that would pre-judge a historical controversy.
Nurten UralATAA President
