An anniversary of genocide is here for Fresno’s Armenian Americans. Will Trump recognize it?
April 24 always marks one of the saddest days of the year for Fresno’s Armenian American community.
This year, April 24 is the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide — the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks starting in 1915 and continuing into 1918.
I knew little about the Armenian Genocide until I came to Fresno seven years ago to work at The Bee. Then I became professionally acquainted with local Armenian Americans who submitted moving tales of losing parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in the systematic killing and forced relocations.
It did not take much research to learn that, in fact, the death toll amounted to an attempt to wipe away Armenians. They were killed or removed from their homes by the Ottoman Turks who just wanted them gone from the face of the Earth.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of history, Turkish leaders to this day deny any such genocide occurred.
Last year I wrote The Bee’s editorial calling on President Trump to formally recognize the killings as a genocide. Only President Ronald Reagan in 1981 gave official status to what happened to Armenian Christians under Turkish rule.
But, as has been the case since Reagan’s time, no U.S. president has taken that step. The unspoken reason given is the strategic importance of a U.S. military base on Turkish soil. The U.S. government has not wanted to ruffle Turkish feathers with an official recognition for fear of losing that outpost.
However, both the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate last year recognized what Ottoman Turks had done as a genocide.
If Trump loses the fall election, Friday could mark his last chance to do the right thing. I asked three local Armenian Americans who are frequent contributors to The Bee’s Valley Voices page what they would want to tell President Trump if they gained an audience with him.
Sevag Tateosian of Fresno was succinct in his summary: “Every state except one has recognized the Genocide; the Senate and House have recognized it; it’s time you end the government of Turkey’s gag order and do the right thing.”
Fresnan Pauline Sahakian would offer this to the president:
“Turkey’s threat of economic and diplomatic consequences for denying the Armenian Genocide needs to be called what it is: Bullying. The whole world has long known there was no war between the Armenians and the Turks. Armenians were massacred in the name of ‘ethnic cleansing.’ Yet, Turkey continues to bully and threaten the United States and other countries into not recognizing the difference between genocide and war.
“One hundred years of denying the truth is shameful for America, a country that gave so many genocide survivors a place to call home. One hundred years is enough time for the U.S. and other countries to call out Turkey for protecting a fallen empire. The Ottoman Empire no longer exists. But we descendants of survivors carry our family’s stories in our souls, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren — living all over the world. It’s time, American politicians, do the right thing. Recognize the weight of sadness your Armenian citizens carry when our history is denied.”
And this from Silva Emerian of Clovis: “Mr. President, thank you for the good you have done for our country and our world. You have been bold and courageous and continue to be the global leader no one expected but cannot deny. You have the power and ability to right the wrongs of history by recognizing the Armenian Genocide. All of your choices have heavy consequences; this one will be no different. But you will be responsible for helping correct a revisionist agenda that has caused unspeakable damage for the past 105 years. The American Dream is a fundamental principle of this country; please help us have our Armenian Dream as well.”
America has long recognized the Jewish Holocaust, yet many scholars believe the Armenian Genocide was the first holocaust of the 20th century, and foreshadowed what Nazi Germany would do to Jews living in Europe during World War II.
May this year be when President Trump finally acknowledges what happened to the Armenian people as a genocide. Historians will mark it as the right decision. Only then can healing truly begin for local Armenian Americans like Sevag Tateosian, Pauline Sahakian and Silva Emerian — and tens of thousands of others in Fresno.