Genocide, the great egalitarian of the great crimes

Vahe H. Apelian

Armenians will be commemorating the 108th anniversary of the genocide of the Armenians tomorrow, on April 24, 2023. This year the Armenians have also been warning the world of a possible impending 2nd Armenian genocide.

I put the following chronology regarding genocide. I gathered the information from Wikipedia.

1944 -     Raphael Lemkin first coined the word genocide in his book “Axis Rule in Occupied Europe.” The book was published in 1944, in the U.S.

1945 -       On August 8, 1945, in an agreement by the American, British, French, and Soviet governments called the London Charter, because it was signed in London, set the procedures for the Nuremberg Trials. “The London Agreement created the International Military Tribunal (IMT) on August 8, 1945, where each of the four Allied nations appointed a judge and a prosecution team.”

1945    On November 20, 1945 the four chief prosecutors of the International Military Tribunal began Nuremberg Trial and ended on October 1, 1946.

1945 -    On December 9, 1945 Shavarsh Missakian first reported the word genocide for the Armenian readers of the “Haratch Daily” he edited in Paris, France, alluding to the Nuremberg Trial. 

1946.      Genocide was first recognized as a crime under international law in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/96-I). The UN General Assembly Resolution 96, was adopted on December 11, 1946 (note: after the Nuremberg Trial ended).

1948      “The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition.” The convention was signed on December 9, 1948.

1951         On January 12, 1951 - “The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition.” Signed on December 9, 1948, became effective on12 January 1951.

The other day, Edward Jerejian, the eminent State Department official who acted as the U.S. ambassador to Israel and Syria noted that he brought the issue of Israel not recognizing the Armenian Genocide to Shimon Peres, when the convention was based on the Armenian experience. He said that Shimon Peres rejected any parallel between the Holocaust and the Genocide. 

Today the Armenian community of Worcester, MA as a whole commemorated the Genocide with a service held in the Etchmiadzin affiliated Saint Savior Church, but the priest of the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, affiliated with the Catholicosate of Cilicia, conducted the mass. It was followed by a commemorating program where the Pastor of the Armenian (Evangelical) Church of the Martyrs gave the opening prayer. It is a unique communal undertaking I have not experienced anywhere else even though my work has had me transferred to different states in this great country. 

The guest speaker at today’s event was Asya Darbinian, Ph.D. She is the newly appointed visiting professor of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies of the Clark University in Worcester, MA. It is the naming as Holocaust and Genocide Studies Center that prompted me to put this layman’s genocide chronology, concluding that Holocaust was indeed not tried under the U.N. Convention of genocide and that it would not be fair to legally treat Holocaust and Genocide the same.

In fact, it appears that no entity has been brought to justice for committing genocide. Consequently it does not surprise me that many European countries, including Canada, criminalize the denial of Holocaust. Denial of the Holocaust simply means denial of a legal judgement or of a  legal verdict rendered by a court. Whereby there is no judgement based on genocide and there is no genocide verdict rendered by a court.

As we commemorate the 108^th genocide of the Armenians and foreworn the world of an impending 2^nd genocide, we are legally treating the two the same, the one that happened in 1914-1922 time frame, to the one that may happen. Homicide is a egal term. Homicide is the killing of a person, period. Genocide is the killing in whole or in parts a race, period. The Armenians decry the U.S. presidents for calling the GREAt CRIME inflicted upon the Armenians, that resulted in their decimation, Medz Yeghern, much like the survivors did. Instead the Armenian pundits favor using the legally egalitarian term genocide, that much like homicide, does not put a distinction between genocides.

We are thus commemorating this year what could possibly happen, should the 2^nd genocide be inflicted upon us. 

The yardstick with which my generation was brought up to have a measure of the enormity of the April 24, 1915 is no more. Taniel Varoujan, Roupen Sevag, Krikor Zohran, Zeytoun or Sassoun are fading memories, let alone the fact that there may not even be memories left to fade away.

Boghos Shamelikian tells the following story in his book I translated "The Dawn of Armenian Pop Music". Members of a popular music band in Lebanon had someone from the band quote what Krikor Zohrab said about music. One of them asked, who is Krikor Zohrab? To which the person who quoted Krikor Zohrab emphatically responded saying, “Don’t you know who Krikor Zohrab is?” To which the band member who posed the question defensively said, “Am I supposed to know all music band players?”

So goes April 24, 1915, the genocide that happened way back, may also happen to Artsakh Armenians, as well. 

Indeed, genocide is the great egalitarian of the great crimes.