“Will Trump Tell the Truth About the Armenian Genocide?” - Morgenthau’s grandson publishes article at WSJ

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. U.S. President Trump should demonstrate a commitment by declaring the truth of the Armenian Genocide. This would send clear message to the thugs in power around the world that their criminal acts will not go unnoticed, Robert Morgenthau said in this article titled “Will Trump Tell the Truth About the Armenian Genocide?” which has been published at The Wall Street Journal, Armenpress reports.

He starts the article by words of the fascist leader Adolf Hitler, who, during the invasion of Poland in 1939, instructed his commanders “to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women and children of Polish derivation and language.” He assured his staff the world would raise little objection: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

“That was a reference to the systematic destruction of the Armenian population by the Ottoman Turks beginning in 1915. World powers had offered little resistance to the slaughter as it occurred. Later, Turkey’s insistent denials made it the “forgotten genocide.”

Turkey, ostensibly an American ally, still refuses to confront its history. The U.S. government also has failed to give the annihilation of the Armenians its due. American administrations have bowed to Turkish pressure and failed to affirm consistently a simple fact: The slaughter of the Armenians was not a mere misfortune of history but a systematic genocide”, the author of the article says.

Robert Morgenthau stated that President Trump, in recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, seems to be signaling a new age. “That makes me optimistic that America may similarly acknowledge the historical truth of the Armenian Genocide. The facts are compelling. For millennia, Armenians lived in the shadow of Mount Ararat, in what is now eastern Turkey. For much of its history, this Christian minority lived in peace with its Muslim neighbors. But as the Ottoman Empire began to disintegrate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Armenians became targets of oppression. As World War I loomed, the Turks saw the opportunity to settle their “Armenian question”, the author writes, presenting the mechanisms of implementation of the Armenian Genocide - the arrests of Armenian community leaders and intellectuals, as well as the “death marches” of the remaining civilians to the Syrian desert.

Robert Morgenthau says for him, this chronicle is not confined to history books, as his paternal grandfather, Henry Morgenthau, was President Wilson’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire as the horror began to unfold. Although he took steps to prevent this, but Turkish replied that the Armenians were not American citizens and thus none of the ambassador’s concern.

“Every April, the president issues a proclamation recognizing the atrocity that was inflicted on the Armenian people. But bowing to Turkish pressure, that proclamation has never contained the word “genocide.” That must change.

I do not underestimate the concerns of those who say the wrath of Turkey may work against U.S. interests—as I do not dismiss those who say moving the embassy to Jerusalem may complicate peace negotiations. But a just and lasting world order cannot be built on falsehoods and equivocations. Let President Trump demonstrate that commitment once more by declaring the truth of the Armenian Genocide. This would send clear message to the thugs in power around the world: Your criminal acts will not go unnoticed”, the author concludes the article.