To Armenians, Biden’s Recognition of the Genocide Means the World

These efforts represent the final stage of genocide, in which a perpetrator attempts to rehabilitate itself — a double killing, as Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel explained — because if we allow victims of genocide to be forgotten, “the dead will be killed a second time.” And the long battle against Turkey’s denial has been psychologically damaging to Armenians, myself included, in incalculable ways. With empathy, my Jewish friends often say: We can’t imagine how we would feel if Germany did to Jews what Turkey is doing to Armenians today.

In “Trauma and Recovery: The aftermath of violence — from domestic abuse to political terror,” Judith Herman notes that “After every atrocity, one can expect to hear the same predictable apologies: it never happened; the victim lies, the victim exaggerates … and in any case, it is time to forget the past and move on.” In the case of mass violence, culpable regimes often quickly manufacture narratives to falsify their human rights abuses, defend their actions and blame their victims and, in doing so, strive to create a false reality in which to entrap the survivor culture and smash it into silence.

The Turkish government’s export of its denial of the truth has been virulent and protracted. Its behavior has continued to abuse people of Armenian descent around the world by preventing the process of healing for survivors and their communities. It is an assault on the rituals of commemoration necessary for burial of the dead, who, because of their violent deaths, never had their last rites. Ankara’s denial has robbed generations of Armenians of a chance at restoring moral order. And beyond the tragedy for the Armenian community, this denial paves the way for future genocides by sending the message that governments won’t be held accountable for atrocities.

In recent years, however, Turkey’s campaign has been rebuffed and eroded by the dedication of activists around the world and the work of scholars of many nationalities.

And the record is overwhelming: As the International Association of Genocide Scholars wrote to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2005: “We want to underscore that it is not just Armenians who are affirming the Armenian Genocide but it is the overwhelming opinion of scholars who study genocide.” Countries in Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America have passed Armenian Genocide resolutions, among them, Germany, France, Russia, Syria, Argentina and Canada. In doing so, they have made a statement about the importance of accountability in the wake of human rights crimes. The United States joined this group with Congress’s passage of Armenian Genocide resolutions at the end of 2019, though President Donald Trump rejected the nonbinding measures.

Germany’s acts of apology and reparation to the Jewish people and Israel are benchmarks. The message is powerful and simple: Genocide demands acknowledgment, accountability, and acts of repair and reparation.