Armenian genocide not established

As a member of the Pax Turcica Institute, I welcome increased awareness of the recognized crimes against humanity, such as the Holocaust, Srebrenica and Rwanda genocides. But I am concerned that the Iowa House Resolution 34, to designate April as Genocide Awareness Month, selectively includes the alleged atrocities that were not tried by any court tribunal, in accordance with the 1948 United Nations Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

One example is the HR34 reference to “the Musa Dagh resistance in 1915 followed by the Armenian persecution.” This fictional story by Austrian novelist Franz Werfel does not define a crime of genocide from a scholarly or a legal perspective. The World War I-era interethnic atrocities in the Ottoman Empire never were tried by any competent tribunal and no intent to exterminate Armenians was established.

Neither the federal government nor Congress recognizes the Armenian narrative as a genocide.

Between 1914 and 1922, an estimated 523,955 Turks, Kurds, Azeris and other Muslims were mass murdered by the Armenian nationalist forces that sought to create their state in Anatolia and the Caucasus.

Thus, if the Iowa legislators define any selected narrative as a genocide, HR 34 shall similarly reflect on the mentioned Turkish and Muslim suffering, and on the 1992 Khojaly Massacre of Azerbaijani civilians by the Armenian forces.

Agshin Taghiyev

Coralville