On April 24, 1915, officials from the Ottoman empire (later the Turkish state) started to deport Armenian intellectuals from the capital. Eventually the government conscripted able-bodied males and killed them through forced labor. The women, children, and elderly were led on death marches through the Syrian Desert in what eventually killed over a million Armenians.
With the nonstop moral preening from many on the left and hyperventilating wall-to-wall media coverage of every minor incident, it’s possible to overlook the important items. But remembering this genocide is important because it helps prevent future dictators from doing it, provides important foreign policy lessons, and disarms political attacks using the term.
Before his invasion of Poland and the establishment of infamous death camps of the Jewish holocaust, Hitler reportedly asked, “Who speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians?” While some historians dispute the veracity of the quote, it speaks to the danger of forgetting crimes against humanity because it emboldens similar policies in later dictators. Recent examples include massive killing in Bosnia and Rwanda where, despite the example of the multiple genocides, two more were allowed to occur.
Remembering the Armenians on this day also provides foreign policy lessons. Liberals and libertarians continue to blast CIA Director-Designate Gina Haspel, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and Secretary of State-Designate Mike Pompeo as warmongering neo-cons who support torture. Yet the Holocaust in Germany and that of the Armenians, as well as the two recent failures, are probably the clearest examples of why America must have a strong military that they are willing to use. Without the allied intervention, millions of lives would have been lost.
Pacifist positions, such as those from Gandhi that suggested the Jews rejoice in their suffering, wouldn’t have saved them. Just like the assets sent to stop Boko Haram, it isn’t nice words and hashtags that defeated Nazi Germany, but active and overwhelming military force. I’ve been mocked and attacked for supporting a strong military, intervention, and even preemptive war. But I simply respond to their insults that I’m pro-war to the extent that I’m anti-holocaust (among select other items.)
(Credit: YouTube/Hunan Hunanyan)
Finally, it is important to push back against political narratives. For example, every Thanksgiving brings a drum beat from certain quarters labelling it “genocide day.” OpsLens analysts have explained the fallacious reasoning behind those trite attacks. The word genocide is very potent and is used for its emotional value in attacking more than its historical accuracy.
The death of so many Native Americans was tragic, and certainly judging by today’s standards the Europeans who killed them were racist. But it was the introduction of deadly diseases into Native American cultures that killed far more natives in a quicker time than most other causes, and this was not a deliberate and genocidal plan of the Europeans. Many Native American tribes actually fought on the side of Europeans against other tribes, which undermines that “us or them” rhetoric.
The misuse of the word genocide turns serious crimes against humanity into political punch lines. Forgetting the genocide of the Armenians enables dictators. It also undermines US foreign policy positions that would help the American military stop them. I hope you take a moment during this busy day to remember the victims and impact of the Armenian genocide.
