DEFINITION OF GENOCIDE:
Genocide is defined very precisely by the UN Genocide Convention as follows,
Article I. The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and punish.
Article II. In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: a) Killing members of the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III. The following acts shall be punished: a) Genocide; b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; d) Attempt to commit genocide; e) Complicity in genocide.
Article IV. Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.
Armenia genocide Jon Stewart
Bush Regime shows a lack of concern over human rights violations for instance in the case of Armenian Genocide of one and a half million Armenians by the Turks over 90 years ago.
As usual the Bush Regime is only concerned over human rights violations when it suits their agenda IE human rights violation in Iraq under Saddam Hussein or the present regime in Iran whereas the abuses of Palestinians by the Israeli government which is to some extent a form of ethnic cleansing without being a wholesale slaughter of Palestinians is downplayed by the Bush Regime & even by people like Hilary Clinton & lots of others who see themselves as liberals because the Israelis are too important strategically in the Middle East so if they create a giant Ghetto for the Palestinians & Arab Israelis that is ok - and the Bush people ignore human rights violations such as freedom of the press or the use of torture in other countries they are friendly with - but of course what can one expect from Bush & Co. who call their use of torture , kidnapping , detaining people without due process , using wide spread surveillance on American citizens without any real oversight & the use of Cowboy Style Mercenaries in Iraq & that the occupation of Iraq itself is a " War Crime" which is beginning to look a lot like Ethnic Cleansing - And what is going on Iraq is not that much different from what's going on in Burma - in both countries there is little concern for human rights or real democracy & in both cases it is all about making some wealthy people even wealthier while reducing the majority of the people to poverty -
The case of the Armenian Genocide seems to be straightforward but the Bush administration is afraid of alienating or pissing off the current Turkish Regime which is a US ally - this seems odd would the Bush administration feel the same way if the present German government wanted them to downplay the Holocaust or the Swiss insists that their profiting off of the Holocaust was just business as usual or that the French & other European nations were willing accomplices in the rounding up & killing of the Jews - oh yeah these countries all now feign innocence & claim it was only the German Nazis who committed these crimes & besides some American corporations made a great deal of money by aiding & abetting the Nazis from 1933 to 1945 -
- but in comes Realpolitik which says one does the expedient thing & not the right thing so morality & ethics mean little to the Bush Regime & their supporters that is the 30% of Americans who think George W. Bush can do no wrong - and how does Turkey respond to the lack of condemnation by the Bush Regime well they are threatening to invade the Kurdish part of Iraq to get a few terrorists they claim or will the Turkish government just continue with a bit of ethnic cleansing of the Kurds which is what the Kurds fear or are they & the Americans going to divide up Iraq between them as the French & British did before them in the 1920s - & is this part of their plan for Iran which again Hilary Clinton is all for invading & occupying & then of course Syria is next on their shopping list - so colonialism & the Crusades in one form or another continues-
from Information Clearing House a piece on Kurds & Turkey & US Politics on Al Jazeera
see for instance articles:
at MWC US panel: Armenian killing genocide By Agencies Oct. 11,2007
A US congressional panel has passed a symbolic resolution recognising the mass killing of Armenians in Ottoman-era Turkey as genocide, brushing aside White House warnings that it would do "great harm" to ties with Nato ally Turkey, a key supporter in the Iraq war.
Turkey denounced the move, calling it an insult.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted 27-21 to recognise "the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide".
...Ankara rejects the Armenian position, backed by many Western historians, that up to 1.5 million Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I.
Turkey has warned of damage to bilateral ties and military co-operation if congress passes the measure.
George Bush, the US president, along with his secretaries of state and defence, has warned against the step, as did a number of former US secretaries of state.
Advocates of the resolution said Turkey should simply acknowledge history and stop threatening retaliation.
"I think our relationship is important enough to the United States and Turkey to survive our recognition of the truth," Adam Schiff, the chief sponsor of the resolution with many Armenian-Americans in his district, said after the vote.
and :
MWC Turkey, US & Israel Genocide Commission Oct. 12,2007 By Gideon Polya
The bipartisan-backed Armenian Genocide resolution calls upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide.
The hope is that this bi-partisan Resolution will pass the House of Representatives despite the opposition by Bush, Turkish governments and their supporters.
... Israel also refuse to describe the Armenian Holocaust as an Armenian Genocide out of concern to not offend Turkey, the only Middle Eastern country with which it has close, cordial, strategic relations. Genocidal birds of a feather flock together.
Denial of the Jewish Holocaust (6 million victims) is punishable by 10 years' imprisonment in Austria and by lengthy prison terms in some other Western European countries and Israel. France and Belgium have recently extended holocaust denial criminalization to include denial of the Armenian Genocide. Indeed Germany has proposed that the EU criminalize denial and minimization of any recent genocides and holocausts.
Some people are concerned with possible constraints on free speech and scholarly research – however I have proposed "no-penalty criminalization" of genocide denial i.e. the punishment would simply be the public ignominy from public judicial conviction for the repugnant crime of genocide denial
If we accept the definition above of Genocide then the mass murder of tens of millions of Native Americans over several centuries by the British, Spanish , Portuguese & French & by the Americans & others including the Catholic Church & other Christian churches would constitute genocide & if this was established as an accepted historical & legal fact & judgement then to deny it would be either a criminal act or reason for censure at the least - Yet it is still treated as if it never happened or that the slaughter Native Americans from the Arctic Circle to the tip of South America was just some unfortunate unforeseen side effect of colonization or that Native Americans because they were a barbaric uncivilized people in need of Christian Salvation & so the Europeans & later the Americans were therefore justified in mass murder & the destruction of the Native American culture - besides the Europeans needed more land & resources which is why we are also going on a rampage in the Middle East because we are superior to all other societies , cultures or peoples - besides the West & America has God on its side-
also check out these articles on Human Rights Violations in Turkey America's good friend & ally:
Human Rights Watch: Turkey
Turkey: End Legal Action Against Gay Rights GroupAnd :
Attempt to Close Lambda Istanbul Endangers Basic Freedoms
Turkey: Human Rights Concerns in the Lead up to July Parliamentary Elections
This briefing paper examines the implications of military interference for human rights, as well as a number of other current human rights concerns, including restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, the harassment and prosecution of Kurdish political parties, ongoing problems of impunity for state officials, and police ill-treatment.
Reply Letter to the Swiss Government
Regarding the Swiss Government’s Use of Diplomatic Assurances Against Torture for Extraditions to Turkey
Turkey: Dink Murder Trial a Test for Judiciary
The Turkish judiciary must hold accountable any security forces found responsible for negligence or collusion in the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Human Rights Watch said today. Evidence that will be heard in the trial, which starts on July 2, may raise serious questions about possible involvement of the security forces in the killing.
Turkey: Ongoing Restrictions on Freedom of Expression
Human Rights Watch Letter to the Turkish Prime Minister
We are writing you today to express our deep concern about continuing restrictions on freedom of expression in Turkey. The prosecution of journalists and writers for expressing their views has helped to foster a climate of hostility against those who ask critical questions about the status quo in Turkey. The murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has deepened our concerns.
Compensation Law’s Promise Unfulfilled as Provincial Officials Apply Unjust Criteria
Despite its compensation law, the Turkish government is failing to provide fair compensation for hundreds of thousands of mainly Kurdish villagers displaced by the military’s brutal counterinsurgency campaigns in the southeast, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today.
December 20, 2006 Press Release
No security without human rights from Amnesty international
Recent Turkish history has been dominated by the Turkish state's failed experiment in maintaining security through repression. Successive governments have made some progress towards establishing parliamentary democracy and fundamental freedoms, but national security -- internal as well as external -- has consistently been left to the discretion of the security forces. They have treated international human rights standards and Turkish law with equal disdain.
"We'll finish terrorism but we are being held back by democracy and human rights."
Turkish Deputy Chief of Staff, General Ahmet Çörekçi, July 1995See footnote 1
As a result, the human rights picture in Turkey is bleak. Torture or ill-treatment have long been routinely inflicted on people detained for common criminal offences as well as on political charges. "Disappearance" and extrajudicial execution are new patterns of violation which appeared in the early 1990s and have since claimed hundreds of lives. Turkish citizens do not enjoy true freedom of expression. During the past six years scores of prisoners of conscience have served terms of imprisonment for expressing their non-violent opinions. Hundreds more, including writers and artists, are being tried in State Security Courts and threatened with imprisonment because they dared to express their political views.
This report is based on information collected from a wide range of sources including testimony given by victims and their families, statements given by witnesses and lawyers, medical reports and legal documents, photographic and videotape evidence, information given in replies by the Turkish Government, public documents issued by intergovernmental organizations, newspaper reports and reports issued by non-governmental organizations. The report includes the findings of 10 investigative research missions to Turkey and numerous trial observations carried out by Amnesty International since 1990. It proposes a modest set of reforms which, if supported by real political will, could radically improve human rights in Turkey.
take care,
GORD.
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