Wednesday February 10, 2010<\/p>\n
Experts from Ireland, Turkey, UK and US confer in Minnesota<\/p>\n
Minneapolis – The University of St. Thomas School of Law, as part of
\nits “unique mission of integrating faith and reason in the search for
\ntruth through a focus on morality and social justice,” co-organized
\nan international conference, in partnership with the International
\nInstitute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the
\nZoryan Institute), to examine “The Armenian Genocide within the
\nFramework of National and International Law.”<\/p>\n
The conference took place on February 5th, 2010, in Minneapolis, in
\nconjunction with the Cafesjian Family Foundation and the Ohanessian
\nEndowment Fund for Justice and Peace Studies of the Minneapolis
\nFoundation.<\/p>\n
John M. Sandy, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Law and Public Policy
\nof the University of St. Thomas, stated, “When I first heard about the
\nArmenian Genocide from a fellow passenger on a flight to Los Angeles,
\nand learned the enormity of it, I was shocked that I had not come
\nacross this major historical event in my education up to that time. I
\nembarked on research on this subject, and the more I learned, the
\nmore astonished I became that this was not taught as part of American
\nhistory in WWI, and the more I felt there was a great deal still to
\nbe researched, especially from a legal perspective. Thus, the idea
\nof holding a conference for the purpose of preparing a special issue
\nof the university’s Journal of Law and Public Policy came to be.”<\/p>\n
Prof. Robert J. Delahunty of the Law School, who served as moderator,
\nreaffirmed the university’s position that the conference proceeds from
\nthe understanding that the Armenian Genocide is an established fact.<\/p>\n
One of the reasons for this position is that the International
\nAssociation of Genocide Scholars, the world’s foremost body of
\nresearchers in the field of genocide studies, has unanimously affirmed
\nthat “it is indisputable that the Armenian Genocide is proven history.”<\/p>\n
Mark L. Movsesian, Professor of Contract Law at St. John’s University,
\ndescribed how the reform movement (Tanzimat) intended to provide
\nequality for the non-Muslim minorities in the Ottoman Empire in the
\n19th century, failed. This was because the ruling elite and society
\nat large could not accept it. The resentment was twofold, a) the
\nreforms broke the covenant between the superior protector group,
\nMuslims, and the subservient, protected groups, non-Muslim; and b)
\nthey felt the reforms were imposed by the European Powers and were
\nconsidered outside interference. This helped make the mass violence
\nof the Hamidian massacres possible, in which some 200,000 Armenians
\nwere killed. It can also be seen as a precursor to the Genocide,
\nbecause the mass killings went unpunished.<\/p>\n
Prof. Vahakn N. Dadrian, Director of Genocide Research at the Zoryan
\nInstitute, an expert in history and international law, described
\nthe significance of the Allied Powers’ declaration on May 24, 1915,
\nthat they would punish those responsible for “these new crimes of
\nTurkey against humanity and civilization.” This set a precedent in the
\ndevelopment of international law on crimes against humanity. He then
\ndescribed how the national law of the Ottoman Empire, particularly
\nthe Military Tribunals, dealt with the Armenian mass killings by
\nprosecuting those crimes immediately after WWI.<\/p>\n
William A. Schabas, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at
\nthe National University of Ireland, Galway, and currently President
\nof the International Association of Genocide Scholars, addressed
\nthe subject of “The Retroactive Applicability of the UN Genocide
\nConvention to the Armenian Genocide.” He affirmed that what happened
\nto the Armenians in 1915 can properly be termed genocide, and that the
\nactions of the Ottoman Government constituted the crime of genocide.<\/p>\n
Prosecution for this crime is not likely, however, as there are no
\nlonger individuals alive to prosecute. There is evidence that crimes
\nagainst humanity were already recognized under international law in
\n1915, and by logical extension this should also apply to genocide. The
\nTurkish State, as the inheritor of the Ottoman regime, might also be
\nheld responsible for the atrocities perpetrated in 1915, provided a
\nsuitable forum can be found for such litigation.<\/p>\n
Geoffrey Robertson, QC, one of Britain’s leading human rights lawyers,
\nsubmitted a video recording of his speech, “Politics, Government, and
\nthe Armenian Genocide in the United Kingdom.” Robertson discussed in
\nparticular his expose of how the British Foreign Office suppressed
\ninformation and misled Parliament on the truth of the Armenian
\nGenocide, affecting British foreign policy greatly and resulting in
\nBritain’s stance of not recognizing the Genocide, but merely calling it
\na tragedy. This position is at odds with the position of the British
\ngovernment at the time of the Armenian Genocide, when they called
\nit a crime against humanity and civilization. Robertson’s research
\ninto this discrepancy shows that the current position of the British
\ngovernment is driven by political and commercial interests.<\/p>\n
Eren Keskin, an award-winning Turkish human rights attorney,
\nparticipated by telephone from Turkey. She spoke forcefully about the
\nArmenian Genocide and the importance of Turkey’s apologizing for it.<\/p>\n
She explained the militaristic foundation of the Turkish Republic,
\nthe continuity of the military mindset of 1915 and that of the Turkish
\nState today. This militaristic mindset causes the Turkish state to
\nsuppress dissent and punish what it considers insults to Turkishness.<\/p>\n
Ms. Keskin spoke movingly about the threats and abuse she has endured
\npersonally as an advocate for human rights in Turkey.<\/p>\n
Mark C. Fleming is a partner in the Boston office of Wilmer Cutler
\nPickering Hale and Dorr LLP. He prepared an amicus curiae brief on the
\nappeal in the Griswold v. Driscoll case, in which the Massachusetts
\nBoard of Education was being sued, based on the First Amendment, to
\nallow “contra-genocide” materials on a list of suggested educational
\nresources for teaching the Armenian Genocide. Initially the case was
\ndismissed and Massachusetts was free to list the resources of its
\nchoosing, but the case is now under appeal.<\/p>\n
Roger W. Smith, Professor Emeritus of Government at the College of
\nWilliam and Mary, spoke on the legal and philosophical aspects of laws
\npenalizing genocide denial. While genocide denial is dangerous and
\ncontinues the victimization of the target group, he said, preventing
\nfree speech in such cases has its own, serious, negative consequences.<\/p>\n
Ziya Meral, a Turkish researcher, writer, and Ph.D. candidate in
\nPolitical Science at Cambridge University, as discussant for the
\nconference, masterfully commented on numerous issues that were raised
\nby the other speakers. He spoke about the need for the people of
\nTurkey to accept the reality of the Armenian Genocide and said that
\nonly Turkish society had the power to change Turkey’s policy of denial.<\/p>\n
The papers from this conference will be published in the summer issue
\nof the university’s Journal of Law and Public Policy. Through this
\npublication, it is hoped that awareness among policymakers will be
\nraised to strengthen the legal framework, so that all cases of genocide
\nare treated with justice and that politics or economic interest do
\nnot obstruct the application of the law nationally or internationally.<\/p>\n
The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
\n(A Division of the Zoryan Institute) is dedicated to the study and
\ndissemination of knowledge regarding the phenomenon of genocide in
\nall of its aspects to create an awareness of it as an ongoing scourge
\nand promote the necessity of preventing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wednesday February 10, 2010 Experts from Ireland, Turkey, UK and US confer in Minnesota Minneapolis – The University of St. Thomas School of Law, as part of its “unique mission of integrating faith and reason in the search for truth through a focus on morality and social justice,” co-organized an international conference, in partnership with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":52500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenian-question"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}