Kuwaiti writer Ahmad Al Rabe'e has published an interesting article in the
25th April 2005 issue of the well-known Saudi international daily "Asharq
Alawsat". Below is a translation of the article from Arabic:
Commemorating the Armenian Genocide
It is already the 90th anniversary of one of the most brutal mass
annihilations in the history of mankind: the Armenian Genocide, a chain in a
series of crimes against humanity, involving many peoples: massacres against
Jews, Kurds, Palestinians and Armenians.
A short while ago was the anniversary of the Holocaust, the crime that
Hitler committed against the Jews. Newspapers, radio and TV stations
conducted many interviews and discussions on the subject of Holocaust. It is
true that our human duty is to express solidarity with the Jewish victims of
Nazism, but it is pity that human beings are still selective, even when it
comes to the past: for example the killings of the Jews have become an
international event, commemorative monuments are erected and museums for the
victims are built, acts that are required indeed. But what about the
Armenian Genocide? Why this appalling silence every year? Why the Turkish
insistence on not publicly apologizing to the Armenian people, although the
current Turkish generation is not guilty and the apology would be for a
historical crime, all of whose victims and perpetrators have passed away by
now.
I am used to write on the occasion of the Armenian Genocide. I am also used
to receive every time a letter from the Turkish Embassy in Kuwait, in which
an attempt is made to explain the Turkish point of view, running away from
self-confrontation and telling the truth.
There are other tragic events in the history of mankind, dealt also with a
selective method: The anniversary of the Kurdish Halabja passes silently,
although a crime with chemical weapons have been committed there against
innocent families. The day of Sabra and Shatila and before that Deir Yassin:
people were killed brutally like sheep. The anniversary of Saddam Hussein's
invasion to Kuwait: the killing of people, the destruction of a country and
the burning of more than five hundred oil wells, one of the greatest crimes
against the environment.
I hope that we all read the message of the Prime Minister of Japan, in which
he is apologizing to all the nations who were victims of the Japanese
colonial period. He apologized in frank, clear and comprehensive way, with
pride. It is a great human merit to act so, especially all we are asking is
a mere apology ... the least a faithful can do.
See article in Arabic language.
http://www.asharqalawsat.com/leader.asp?section=3&issue=9645&article=295653
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www.azad-hye.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=183
1 comment:
We're grateful for Ahmad Rabe's objective and accurate reporting. To this end, last week, while I was in L.A., I watched the most touching documentary on the Armenian Genocide called "I Hate Dogs – The Last Survivor with Back to Ararat."
The filmmakers are Pea Homquist and Suzanne Khardalian.
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