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Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News
Protest Israeli Foreign Minister's remarks dismissing Armenian Genocide as "Meaningless"
by Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem, 4/13/2001
Posted: Saturday, April 14, 2001 00:19 am CST
International Action Alert
Situation:
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has said that claims of an Armenian Genocide are "meaningless," according to the April 10th edition of the Turkish Daily News (TDN). The newspaper quoted him as saying that:
"We reject attempts to create a similarity
between the Holocaust and the Armenian
allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust
occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians
went through but not a genocide."
In response to inquiries from Asbarez Daily Newspaper to the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed that Peres had in fact rejected any comparisons between the two of the major Genocides of the 20th Century. The Israeli Consulate released the following statement:
"This issue [of the Armenian Genocide] should
be dealt with by historians and not politicians.
We do not support the comparison of the Armenian
tragedies to the Jewish Holocaust. Israel will
not take a historical and political stance on
the issue."
Action:
Contact the Israeli Foreign Ministry and other Israeli government offices to voice your concerns about the Foreign Minister's offensive comments.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Mail: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hakirya, Romema
Jerusalem 91950
Israel
Tel: 972-2-5303111
Fax: 972-2-5303367
E-Mail: sar@mofa.gov.il
2) The Knesset
Mail: The Knesset
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Jerusalem 91950
Tel: 972-2-6753333
Fax: 972-2-6521599
Email: yor@knesset.gov.il
3) Ministry of Education
Mail: Ministry of Education
34 Shivtei Israel St.
P.O.B. 292
Jerusalem 91911
Tel: 972-2-5602222
Fax: 972-2-5602223
Email: pniot@education.gov.il
Email: sar@education.gov.il
4) Prime Minister's Office
Mail: Prime Minister's Office
3 Kaplan St.
P.O.B. 187
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Jerusalem 91919
Tel: 972-2-6705555
Fax: 972-2-6512631
Email: rohm@pmo.gov.il
Email: pniot@pmo.gov.il
NOTE: To send an email to all of the above, cut and paste the following addresses into the "TO:" field of your email program:
sar@mofa.gov.il,yor@knesset.gov.il,pniot@education.gov.il,sar@educa tion.gov.il,rohm@pmo.gov.il,pniot@pmo.gov.il
Sample letter:
Dear Sir:
I am writing to protest the offensive comments that have been attributed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Mr.Shimon Peres, during his last visit to Ankara.
I refer specifically to his remarks that Armenian allegations of Genocide are 'meaningless' and that there is no similarity between the Holocaust and fate of the Armenian during the first World War.
These statements were attributed to Mr. Peres during an exclusive interview with the Anatolia News Agency, portions of which were quoted by the Turkish Daily News on April 10th. According to these reports, Mr. Peres clearly denied that what occurred to the Armenians was a Genocide. He then went on to reject any sort of comparison with the Jewish Holocaust by saying: "We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide."
I find it shameful that the Foreign Minister of Israel has joined in the denial of the Armenian Genocide. That such offensive remarks could be made by an Israeli Foreign Minister is all the more troubling given that it was the failure of the international community to punish the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide that helped in part to create the environment of impunity that in which Nazi Germany perpetrated the Holocaust. As you know, prior to launching his campaign to destroy the Jewish people, Hitler asked: "After all who remembers the Armenians."
It is regretful that the Israeli government has fallen short of its moral obligation regarding the first Genocide of the 20th Century. I am aware, however, that the stance of the Israeli Foreign Ministry does not represent the Jewish nation, which has historically stood with the Armenian people in fighting Genocide denial. Evidence of this can be found in the powerful statements affirming the Armenian Genocide by leading Israeli political figures, including former Minister of Education Yossi Sarid and former Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israeli government and the Kenesset should take this opportunity to immediately set the record straight on the Armenian Genocide. Political consideration should never stand in the way of the condemnation of any Genocide, past or present.
Thank you for taking the time to address this matter and for contacting me in writing with the actions you have taken. I can be reached by e-mail at _________. My mailing address is __________.
Sincerely,
Background:
The Armenian Genocide Resource Center
5400 McBryde Ave, Richmond, CA 94805
Contact: Richard Kloian, (510) 965-0152
AGRC@jps.net
For Immediate Release
April 12, 2001
HOLOCAUST SCHOLAR ISRAEL CHARNY RESPONDS TO SHIMON PERES' STATEMENTS IN THE TURKISH PRESS
Professor Israel Charny, Executive Director of The Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, Israel, today issued a public letter in response to Shimon Peres's statements as reported in the Turkish Daily News.
Denial of genocide is a one aspect of genocide studies that Dr. Charny has devoted considerable energy to and published extensively on. It has become a major sub field of its own in the overall field of genocide studies.
AGRC received the following letter from Dr. Charny who asked that it herewith be made public in the Armenian press.
April 12, 2001
The Honorable Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State of Israel Jerusalem, Israel
Re: Report in Turkish Daily News, Ankara, 10 April 2001
Dear Mr. Peres:
I offer you my deepest respects for your enormous contributions to the security and development of Israel, and to peace.
Nonetheless, it has been my privilege for many years not to agree with your position regarding the Armenian Genocide. It seems that because of your wish to advance very important relations with Turkey, you have been prepared to circumvent the subject of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1920.
(Thus you advised me in a telephone conversation in 1982 not to insist on including the subject of the Armenians in the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide that we convened in Tel-Aviv, and I then made the decision not to give in to pressures of the Foreign Ministry to cancel the lectures on the Armenian genocide or to cancel the entire conference.)
It seems to me, according to yesterday's report in the Ankara newspaper, that you have gone beyond a moral boundary that no Jew should allow himself to trespass. You are quoted as follows: "We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide."
For the record, in 2000, at a Conference on the Holocaust in Philadelphia, a large number of researchers of the Holocaust, including Israeli historians, signed a public declaration that the Armenian Genocide was factual.
Also for the record, in 1997, at the meeting of the Association of Genocide Scholars, the Association as a whole officially voted a resolution that the Armenians had been subject to full-scale genocide.
Even as I disagree with you, it may be that in your broad perspective of the needs of the State of Israel, it is your obligation to circumvent and desist from bringing up the subject with Turkey, but as a Jew and an Israeli I am ashamed of the extent to which you have now entered into the range of actual denial of the Armenian Genocide, comparable to denials of the Holocaust.
Respectfully,
Prof. Israel W. Charny
Executive Director,
Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem, Israel
Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Genocide
[ABC-Clio Publishers, UK & USA, 1999]
For additional information, contact the ANC-Jerusalem:
The Armenian Cause Committee of Jerusalem
P.O.Box 14150
91140,Jerusalem, Israel
Fax:972-2-6264040
E-mail:haitad@hotmail.com
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