Swedish and other Sources

[Joseph]

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute presents the memories of a Swedish diplomat Einar af Wirsen on the Armenian Genocide.
Einar af Wirsen was a Swedish Military attaché in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. He was an eye-witness of the Armenian genocide and had personal conversation with the main Turkish perpetrators and foreign diplomats accredited in Constantinople. The Chapter “The Murder of a Nation” is taken from his memories titled “Memories of Peace and War” published by Albert Bonnier Foriag, Stockholm, 1942.


Here are the links:
*

http://genocide-museum.am/index.html

*

http://genocide-museum.am/eye_witnesses.html

*

http://genocide-museum.am/eye_witnesses4.html

*

[Joseph]

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute presents the memories of a Swedish diplomat Einar af Wirsen on the Armenian Genocide.
Einar af Wirsen was a Swedish Military attaché in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. He was an eye-witness of the Armenian genocide and had personal conversation with the main Turkish perpetrators and foreign diplomats accredited in Constantinople. The Chapter “The Murder of a Nation” is taken from his memories titled “Memories of Peace and War” published by Albert Bonnier Foriag, Stockholm, 1942.


Here are the links:
*

http://genocide-museum.am/index.html

*

http://genocide-museum.am/eye_witnesses.html

*

http://genocide-museum.am/eye_witnesses4.html

*

Sweden was informed of extermination of Armenians in 1915 but preferred not to intervene
21.04.2008 16:11 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A recently conducted study at the Uppsala University has revealed highly interesting information in the Swedish Archives, which once again confirm the researchers’ view of the events in the Ottoman Turkey during the First World War: the Christian minorities, the Armenians in particular, were subjected to genocide, www.armenica.org reports.

The survey conducted by Vahagn Avedian, Editor of Armenica.org and Master Degree Student at Uppsala University, covers the period between 1915 and 1923 and includes, among others, reports which the Swedish Ambassador, Cosswa Anckarsvard, and the Swedish Military Attaché, Einar af Wirsén, both stationed in Constantinople, sent to the Foreign Department (found in the National Archive) and the General Staff Headquarters (found in the War Archive) in Stockholm, respectively. In total, about eighty documents were found with direct relevance to the so-called Armenian Question, of which some are over-explicit in their message: the Turkish Government conducted a systematic extermination of the Armenian Nation.

On July 6, 1915, Ambassador Anckarsvard, writing to the Swedish Foreign Minister, Knut Wallenberg, concludes: “Mr. Minister, The persecutions of the Armenians have reached hair-raising proportions and all points to the fact that the Young Turks want to seize the opportunity, since due to different reasons there are no effective external pressure to be feared, to once and for all put an end to the Armenian question. The means for this are quite simple and consist of the extermination [utrotandet] of the Armenian nation.”

Major Wirsén’s reports to the General Staff concur with Anckarsvard’s analysis. In 1942 Wirsén published his memoirs, entitled “Memories from Peace and War”, reflecting upon his time as Swedish Military Attaché in the Balkans and Turkey. In a chapter entitled “The Murder of a Nation”, Wirsén renders his observations of the Armenian massacres: “Officially, these [deportations] had the goal to move the entire Armenian population to the steppe regions of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria, but in reality they aimed to exterminate [utrota] the Armenians, whereby the pure Turkish element in Asia Minor would achieve a dominating position.”

The mentioned quotations are a fraction of the information presented in the study. In addition to the mentioned archives of the Foreign Ministry and the General Staff, the reports from the Swedish missionaries and the Swedish newspapers were also included in the study and concur with the same view.

Presently, Sweden, as all other states, chose to secure its national interests rather than standing out from the rest by advocating Armenia’s right and the question of punishing the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. The present-day Swedish Government does not seem to be willing to become involved in the question either. Just last fall, the Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, during an interpellation in the Swedish Parliament, refrained from officially recognizing the 1915 genocide, partly by referring to “the need of additional research about what really transpired in the Ottoman Empire.”

[Steph]

Sweden was informed of extermination of Armenians in 1915 but preferred not to intervene
21.04.2008 16:11 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A recently conducted study at the Uppsala University has revealed highly interesting information in the Swedish Archives, which once again confirm the researchers’ view of the events in the Ottoman Turkey during the First World War: the Christian minorities, the Armenians in particular, were subjected to genocide, www.armenica.org reports.

The survey conducted by Vahagn Avedian, Editor of Armenica.org and Master Degree Student at Uppsala University, covers the period between 1915 and 1923 and includes, among others, reports which the Swedish Ambassador, Cosswa Anckarsvard, and the Swedish Military Attaché, Einar af Wirsén, both stationed in Constantinople, sent to the Foreign Department (found in the National Archive) and the General Staff Headquarters (found in the War Archive) in Stockholm, respectively. In total, about eighty documents were found with direct relevance to the so-called Armenian Question, of which some are over-explicit in their message: the Turkish Government conducted a systematic extermination of the Armenian Nation.

On July 6, 1915, Ambassador Anckarsvard, writing to the Swedish Foreign Minister, Knut Wallenberg, concludes: “Mr. Minister, The persecutions of the Armenians have reached hair-raising proportions and all points to the fact that the Young Turks want to seize the opportunity, since due to different reasons there are no effective external pressure to be feared, to once and for all put an end to the Armenian question. The means for this are quite simple and consist of the extermination [utrotandet] of the Armenian nation.”

Major Wirsén’s reports to the General Staff concur with Anckarsvard’s analysis. In 1942 Wirsén published his memoirs, entitled “Memories from Peace and War”, reflecting upon his time as Swedish Military Attaché in the Balkans and Turkey. In a chapter entitled “The Murder of a Nation”, Wirsén renders his observations of the Armenian massacres: “Officially, these [deportations] had the goal to move the entire Armenian population to the steppe regions of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria, but in reality they aimed to exterminate [utrota] the Armenians, whereby the pure Turkish element in Asia Minor would achieve a dominating position.”

The mentioned quotations are a fraction of the information presented in the study. In addition to the mentioned archives of the Foreign Ministry and the General Staff, the reports from the Swedish missionaries and the Swedish newspapers were also included in the study and concur with the same view.

Presently, Sweden, as all other states, chose to secure its national interests rather than standing out from the rest by advocating Armenia’s right and the question of punishing the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. The present-day Swedish Government does not seem to be willing to become involved in the question either. Just last fall, the Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, during an interpellation in the Swedish Parliament, refrained from officially recognizing the 1915 genocide, partly by referring to “the need of additional research about what really transpired in the Ottoman Empire.”

Typically Swedish, witness their inactivity regarding the Holocaust and their trading with Nazi Germany. Terribly neutral following their disaster at Poltava 300 hundred years ago but hey, if they'd won that war with Russia Europe would be a completely different place now and not a nicer one!

[Joseph]

SWEDISH ARCHIVES CONFIRM: IT WAS A GENOCIDE!

arminfo
22-04-2008

A recently conducted study at the Uppsala University has revealed
highly interesting information in the Swedish Archives, which once
again confirm the researchers' view of the events in the Ottoman
Turkey during the First World War: the Christian minorities, the
Armenians in particular, were subjected to genocide.

The massacres in Ottoman Turkey during the First World War claimed the
lives of approximately 1.5 million out of a world population of four
million Armenians, while over 250,000 Assyrians/Chadeans and equal
number of Pontic Greeks. In 1923, for the first time in over 2,500
years, Armenians no longer lived on 85 % of their fatherland. Thus,
the Armenian genocide was, in a sense, a successful genocide, acquiring
the perpetrators an Armenia without Armenians.

The conducted survey covers the period between 1915 and 1923 and
includes, among others, reports which the Swedish Ambassador, Cosswa
AnckarsvÃard, and the Swedish Military Attache, Einar af WirsÃen,
both stationed in Constantinople, sent to the Foreign Department
(found in the National Archive) and the General Staff Headquarters
(found in the War Archive) in Stockholm, respectively. In total, about
eighty documents were found with direct relevance to the so-called
Armenian Question, of which some are over-explicit in their message:
the Turkish Government conducted a systematic extermination of the
Armenian Nation.

On July 6, 1915, Ambassador AnckarsvÃard, writing to the Swedish
Foreign Minister, Knut Wallenberg, concludes: "Mr. Minister, The
persecutions of the Armenians have reached hair-raising proportions
and all points to the fact that the Young Turks want to seize the
opportunity, since due to different reasons there are no effective
external pressure to be feared, to once and for all put an end to the
Armenian question. The means for this are quite simple and consist
of the extermination [utrotandet] of the Armenian nation [emphasis
added]." AnckarsvÃard's reports until 1920 persisted in the same
insight. At several occasions, the Ambassador points out that "It is
obvious that the Turks are taking the opportunity to, now during the
war, annihilate [utplåna] the Armenian nation [emphasis added] so that
when the peace comes no Armenian question longer exists." In a later
report (1917) he underlines that the massacres are not clashes between
the Muslim and the Armenian populations, but "that the persecutions of
Armenians have been done at the instigation of the Turkish Government
[emphasis added]..." As an explanation to the prevailing famine in
Turkey during 1917, the Embassy Envoy Alhgren mentions the shortage of
workers, which is claimed partly to be a result of "the extermination
of the Armenian race [utrotandet af den armeniska rasen] [emphasis
added]". Major Wirsén's reports to the General Staff concur with
Anckarsvärd's analysis. In 1942 Wirsén published his memoirs,
entitled Minnen från fred och krig ("Memories from Peace and War"),
reflecting upon his time as Swedish Military Attaché in the Balkans
and Turkey. In a chapter entitled Mordet på en nation ("The Murder of
a Nation"), Wirsén renders his observations of the Armenian massacres:
"Officially, these [deportations] had the goal to move the entire
Armenian population to the steppe regions of Northern Mesopotamia and
Syria, but in reality they aimed to exterminate [utrota] the Armenians
[emphasis added], whereby the pure Turkish element in Asia Minor would
achieve a dominating position." In the conclusion of this chapter he
recalls his conversation with the Turkish Grand Vizier Talaat Pasha
and notes: "The annihilation of the Armenian nation [emphasis added]
in Asia Minor must revolt all human feelings... The way the Armenian
problem was solved was hair-raising. I still can see in front of me
Talaat's cynical expression, when he emphasized that the Armenian
Question was solved."

The mentioned quotations are a fraction of the information presented
in the study. In addition to the mentioned archives of the Foreign
Ministry and the General Staff, the reports from the Swedish
missionaries and the Swedish newspapers were also included in the
study and concur with the same view.

The surveyed documents are mainly in regard to the Armenian Question,
but the data bed indicates that other Christian groups, such as Greeks
and Syriacs, were affected by the same fate.

The study clearly emphasises the concept of "bystander". While the word
itself implies that the bystanders do not participate in the genocide,
some contend that they are far from just a neutral viewer to the
tragedy, but passive participators in the annihilation. The British
statesman and political thinker Edmund Burke's statement captures
the essence of the bystanders to genocide: "the only thing necessary
for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." The documents
clearly indicate that the Swedish Government was well informed about
the state-orchestrated extermination of the Armenians. They also
disclose that the Government, fully in accordance with the policy
of a small state, consciously chose not to intervene in the matter,
neither during the massacres nor after when the League of Nations
suggested Sweden as a mandate power in Armenia.

While resorting to isolationism during the period of the implementation
of the genocide, Sweden followed the general stream, in particular that
of the Major Power's, during the post-war period when the question
of securing the future of the Armenian Nation was discussed. Sweden,
as all other states, chose to secure its national interests rather
than standing out from the rest by advocating Armenia's right and the
question of punishing the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide. The
present-day Swedish Government does not seem to be willing to become
involved in the question either. Just last fall, the Foreign Minister
Carl Bildt, during an interpellation in the Swedish Parliament,
refrained from officially recognising the 1915 genocide, partly
by referring to "the need of additional research about what really
transpired in the Ottoman Empire."

The surveyed documents should at least quench that need; the official
reports from the Swedish Ambassador and the Swedish Military Attache
in Constantinople are unambiguous: Armenians were subjected to
genocide.

The study in its whole is included in a master thesis paper
which will be presented in the Higher Seminar at the Uppsala
University's Department of History. It will also be available at

http://www.armenica.org

[Joseph]

Swedish Scholars and others: Announcement

http://itwasgenocide.armenica.org

In connection to the voting in the Swedish Parliament on June 11, 2008, regarding the four motions calling upon Sweden to recognize the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey. The Foreign Committee has advised rejecting the motions on the basis of "disagreement among researchers" and "the need of further research".

The Armenian Genocide, which also engulfed the Assyrians, Pontic Greeks and other minorities in the Ottoman Empire, began more than nine decades ago in 1915, but this issue gains added urgency the longer that denial of the crime continues. The genocide, or “extermination” as it was labeled by the international media and diplomatic corps, was an established fact for the world community. During the brief postwar period following the defeat of Turkey in 1918 until the rise of the Turkish Nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal, the annihilation of the Armenians was discussed openly. Turkish court martial tribunals tried political and military leaders implicated in “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.” Several of the accused were found guilty and sentenced to death or given prison terms. Post-war Turkey passed through a phrase similar to that of Germany after World War II. During these proceedings, the truth about the persecution of the minorities in the Ottoman Empire was brought to light with horrifying details.

The process did not last long, however. The rise of the Turkish Nationalist movement and rejection of the sultan’s government ultimately led to the disbanding of the tribunals and the release of most of the accused. Almost all of the remaining Christian population—Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek—was then cleansed from their homelands of several millennia. Much of the court data and protocols disappeared, and Turkey entered a period of trying to erase all traces of Armenian existence in Anatolia and the historic Armenian plateau to the east.

Nine decades later, the once so-called “forgotten genocide” is no longer forgotten and warrants growing attention among academic and political circles. It is seen as a prototype of mass killing in the twentieth century and can be viewed as one of the most successful campaigns of genocide and ethnic cleansing in all history. The victimization of the Armenians extended to the Assyrian, Greek, Yezidi, and even Kurdish population, which was subjected to extensive “social engineering” through forced relocation and resettlement. As it happened the Turkish authorities became the beneficiaries of an “Armenia without Armenians” and, despite worldwide pledges and promises to punish the perpetrators, escaped any responsibility for the crime. Today, Turkey implements an active campaign of denial. Silence and passivity on the part of the world community, including Sweden, can only aid and abet this campaign. All the arguments relating to the need for further research or lack of consensus among scholars are spurious. The archives of every major country in Europe leave no doubt about the campaign of annihilation which occurred under the cover of a world conflict. The denialist arguments are all politically motivated and have nothing to do with the historical record. They are no more credible than those of Holocaust deniers such as Robert Faurisson, David Irving, Willis Carto, and Ernst Zündel.

Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term genocide in the 1940s and was the principal author of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, was deeply aware of the Armenian calamity and the failure of the international community to intercede or at least to punish the authors of the genocide. Recent research has demonstrated how deeply he was affected by the absence of effective international machinery to intervene at the time. He was also troubled by the persecution and massacres of the Assyrians in Iraq during the 1930s. What is more, newly conducted research at Uppsala University confirms that the Swedish Foreign Department and Government, through the reports of Ambassador Per Gustaf August Cosswa Anckarsvärd’s and Military Attaché Einar af Wirsén, were well aware of the annihilation that was occurring in the Ottoman Empire.

Today, Sweden is internationally regarded as a champion of human rights. It is incumbent on the Swedish authorities to live up to this reputation and to reject any compromise with negationism and denial. The Swedish Government should attempt to assist Turkey to become a better democracy by facing its history and acknowledging the truth, not by continuing to stagger in the darkness of self-deception and pretense.

Today, the data and information about the Genocide of Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks are so extensive that no serious politician can honestly cite insufficient or inconclusive research as an excuse to avoid recognition. Refusal to recognize established fact based on qualitative and quantitative research may be regarded as being tantamount to denial. The researchers have done their job in establishing the reality of the Armenian Genocide. Now, the turn has come for the political leaders to fulfill their responsibility by recognizing this calamity for what it was.

The signatories of this letter do not consider there is any doubt that the massacres of Christians and other minorities in the Ottoman Empire during the World War I constituted genocide. Even though research must and will continue, the existing information is compelling and must be acknowledged as such.

Adam Jones
Associate Professor, Political Science, University of British Columbia Okanagan

Åke Daun
Professor Emeritus of Ethnology, particularly European, Stockholm University

Alex Grobman
President of the Institute for Contemporary xxxish Life and the Brenn Institute

Alexandre Kimenyi
Professor of Linguistics, Ethnic Studies and African Languages at California State University, Sacramento

Alexis Herr
Doctoral Student, Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University

Alfred Grosser
Professor Emeritus, the Paris Institute of Political Science, author of the preface to Vahakn Dadrian, Histoire du génocide arménien, Paris, 1996

Alfred de Zayas
Professor of international Law, Geneva School of Diplomacy
Retired Senior Lawyer with the United Nations
Former Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee
Former Chief of the Petitions Division at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
President, P.E.N. International, Centre Suisse Romand

Anatoly M. Khazanov
Ernest Gellner Professor of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Anders Hultgård
Professor Emeritus of Religious History, Faculty of Theology, Uppsala University, Sweden

Bruno Chaouat
Associate Professor of French, Center for xxxish Studies, University of Minnesota

Charles Eric Reeves
Professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts

Christian P. Scherrer
Professor of Peace Studies, Hiroshima University and Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima, Japan

Claude Mutafian
Associate Professor of Mathematics and Senior Lecturer, the Paris 13 University in Villetaneuse
Ph.D. in History, Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University

David Gaunt
Professor of History, Södertörn University College, Sweden

Debórah Dwork
Rose Professor of Holocaust History
Director, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University

xxxxran Kouymjian
Professor of History, Director of Armenian Studies Program, California State University, Fresno

Donald E. Miller
Executive Director, Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California

Douglas Greenberg
Professor of History
Executive Director, USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, Leavey Library, University of Southern California

Elizabeth R. Baer
Professor of English and Genocide Studies, Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota

Ellen J. Kennedy
Interim Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Coordinator, Genocide Intervention Network, Minnesota

Eric D. Weitz
Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Chair, History Department, University of Minnesota

Ervin Staub
Professor of Psychology and Founding Director of the Ph.D. Program in the Psychology of Peace and the Prevention of Violence, Emeritus, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Franklin Hugh Adler
G. Theodore Mitau Chair DeWitt Wallace Professor, Department of Political Science, Macalester College

George Andreopoulos
Professor of Political Science, Director of the Center for Human Rights at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York

Heidi Armbruster
Lecturer, School of Humanities, University of Southampton, UK

Helen Fein
Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Genocide, Associate of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Herb Hirsch
Professor of Political Science and co-editor, Genocide Studies and Prevention
L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond

Irving Louis Horowitz
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Hannah Arendt Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Political Science

James E. Young
Professor of English and Judaic Studies, University of Massachusetts

John K. Roth
Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
Founding Director, The Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights, Claremont McKenna College, California

Kirk C. Allison
Program Director, Program in Human Rights and Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota

Klas-Göran Karlsson
Professor of History, Lund University, Sweden

Kostas Fraggidis
Secretary, Evxinos Pontos Stockholm

Kristian Gerner
Professor of History, Lund University, Sweden

Lars M. Andersson
Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Uppsala University, Sweden

Linda M. Woolf
Professor of Psychology, Webster University, Missouri

Manus I. Midlarsky
Moses and Annuta Back Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Martha Minow
Member of the Faculty of Education
Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor, Harvard Law School

Michael Dobkowski
Professor of Religious Studies, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Michael Mann
Professor, Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles

Norman Naimark
Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor in East European Studies, Stanford University

Omer Bartov
John P. Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History, Department of History, Brown University

Ove Bring
Professor of International Law, Swedish National Defence College, Stockholm, Sweden

Paul A. Levine
Senior Lecturer in Holocaust History
Education Director, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Uppsala University, Sweden

Rachel Hadodo
Chairwoman of the Board, Union of Assyrian Associations in Sweden

Raffi Momjian
Chairman and Executive Director, The Genocide Education Project, San Francisco

Raymond Kévorkian
Professor, Institut Français de Géopolitique, Université Paris 8 Saint-Denis

Richard G. Hovannisian
Professor of Armenian and Near Eastern History, University of California, Los Angeles

Robert Melson
Cohen-Lasry Distinguished Professor, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University

Roger W. Smith
Professor Emeritus, Department of Government, College of William and Mary, Virginia
Past President, International Association of Genocide Scholars

Ronald Grigor Suny
Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Social and Political History, The University of Michigan
Professor Emeritus of Political Science and History, The University of Chicago

Rudolph Joseph Rummel
Professor Emeritus of Political Science, the University of Hawaii

Sandra Tatz
Director of the Australian Association of Holocaust & Genocide Studies

Saul P. Friedlander
Professor, Department of History, UCLA

Shelly Tenenbaum
Professor of Sociology, Undergraduate Activities Coordinator, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University

Stanley Payne
Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of Wisconsin

Steven Leonard Jacobs
Aaron Aronov Endowed Chair of Judaic Studies
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, The University of Alabama
Editor, the Papers of Raphael Lemkin
1st Vice-President, International Association of Genocide Scholars

Susan Ashbrook Harvey
Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University

Tessa Hofmann
Ph.D. in Sociology, Department of Sociology, Institute for East European Studies, Free University Berlin

Tigran Sarukhanyan
Member of International Association of Genocide Scholars
Visiting Research Fellow (PRO), Official Archives of Great Britain
Humboldrt Fellow, University of Goettingen, Germany

Tuomas Martikainen
Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher, Academy of Finland, Åbo Akademi University, Deptartment of Comparative Religion

Vahagn Avedian
Chairman of the Board, Union of Armenian Associations in Sweden
Chief Editor, Armenica.org

William Hewitt
Professor, Holocaust Genocide Program, West Chest University of Pennsylvania

Winton Higgins
Director of the Australian Association of Holocaust & Genocide Studies
Visiting Research Fellow, Institute for International Studies, University of Technology, Sydney

Wolfgang Gust
Editor of the Official Documents of the German Foreign Office on the Armenian Genocide

Yair Auron
Professor in Sociology, Head of the Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication, The Open University of Israel, Jerusalem

Yehuda Bauer
Professor Emeritus, Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Faculty of Humanities, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem

Yves Ternon
Ph.D. in History, Paris 4-Sorbonne University. HDR, Universit Paul Valéry-Montpellier 3

[Zane]

Bad news

It appears that Turkey's new tactic, stating that "more dispassionate research by both sides is needed to really understand the truth," has worked. I have to hand it to the Turks, this new excuse has now given four counties an easy opportunity to weasel out of their human rights obligations, US, UK, Denmark, and now Sweden. Moreover, it's pretty hard to convince naive parlimentarians that this nice sounding recommendation is just a ploy.


Swedish parliament refuses to recognize Armenian Genocide
12.06.2008 16:46 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On June 12, 2008, the Swedish parliament, with a vote 245 to 37 (1 abstain, 66 absent), rejected a call for recognition of the 1915 genocide in the Ottoman Empire. On June 11, a long debate took place in the Swedish Parliament in regard to the Foreign Committee report on Human Rights, including five motions calling upon the Swedish Government and Parliament to officially recognize the 1915 Armenian Genocide, head of the Armenian Associations of Sweden Vahagn Avedian told PanARMENIAN.Net.

In its answer (2007/2008:UU9), a majority consisting of the ruling alliance parties together with the Social Democrats (opposition party) proposed rejecting the motions, whereby the Green (Miljöpartiet) and the Left (Vänsterpartiet) parties announced their reservations, forcing the Parliament to have a debate in the main chamber before the proposal was voted on.

The argumentation for why recognition should be rejected was based on four main assumptions: “no particular consideration regarding the Armenian situation has ever been in form of an UN Resolution, either in 1985 or any other occasion; the Committee understands that what engulfed the Armenians, Assyrian/Syrians and Chaldeans during the reign of the Ottoman Empire would, according to the 1948 Convention, probably be regarded as genocide, if it had been in power at the time; there is still a disagreement among the experts regarding the different course of events of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The same applies to the underlying causes and how the assaults shall be classified; [in regard to the development in Turkey] in the time being, it would be venturesome to disturb an initiate and delicate national process.”

[armenica.org]

June 12, 2008
Stockholm, Sweden

Swedish Parliament Refuses to Recognize the 1915 Genocide

On June 12, 2008, the Swedish Parliament, with the votes 245 to 37 (1 abstain, 66 absent), rejected a call for recognition of the 1915 genocide in the Ottoman Empire. On June 11, a long debate took place in the Swedish Parliament in regard to the Foreign Committee report on Human Rights, including five motions calling upon the Swedish Government and Parliament to officially recognize the 1915 genocide. In its answer (2007/2008:UU9), a majority consisting of the ruling alliance parties together with the Social Democrats (opposition party) proposed rejecting the motions, whereby the Green (Miljöpartiet) and the Left (Vänsterpartiet) parties announced their reservations, forcing the Parliament to have a debate in the main chamber before the proposal was voted on. The argumentation for why a recognition should be rejected was based on four main assumptions:

• “…no particular consideration regarding the Armenian situation has ever been in form of an UN Resolution, either in 1985 or any other occasion.”
• “The Committee understands that what engulfed the Armenians,
Assyrian/Syrians and Chaldeans during the reign of the Ottoman Empire would, according to the 1948 Convention, probably be regarded as genocide, if it had been in power at the time.”
• “There is still a disagreement among the experts regarding the different course of events of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The same applies to the underlying causes and how the assaults shall be classified.”
• [in regard to the development in Turkey] “…in the time being, it would be venturesome to disturb an initiate and delicate national process.” [which could fuel the extremists in the country]

In an open letter to MPs, I pointed out some major flaws in the stated arguments, mentioning that the Foreign Committee members are either poorly informed on the existing data, reports, conventions and resolutions or they simply disregard the broad information which strongly contradicts their assertions. The UNCHR Whitaker Report from 1985, the resolutions issued by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), the UN Genocide Convention, its background and meaning, along with the petition signed by over 60 world leading Holocaust and Genocide scholars (available in 13 languages at http://itwasgenocide.armenica.org) were some of the attachments as evidence for the erroneous and misleading information the report suggested. But, the debate on June 11 proofed that the decision had nothing to do with the presented facts.

The more the debate went on, the more it was revealed that no MP could explain, less defend, any of the above mentioned arguments, save for maybe the last one. During the debate, Member of Parliament Hans Linde (Left), talking about the arguments stated in the document repeatedly asked the members of the alliance parties to explain the argumentation in the report and answer three simple and straight forward questions, namely 1) Who are these researchers disagreeing on the reality of the 1915 genocide? 2) If the 1915 genocide can not be recognized due to the chronology of the 1948 UN Convention, how come then the Holocaust is recognized? 3) Why should the fear of extremists inside Turkey dictate the freedom of speech in the Swedish Parliament? None of the defendants could give an answer. This actually might be the only light in the otherwise some what embarrassing situation that the MPs were faced with when trying to evade the questions in whole. Mats Sanders (Moderat/Conservatives) had, literally nothing to add but to refer to the report text. Alf Svensson (Christian Democrats), in regard to the “disagreement among researchers”, was asked to name only one serious researcher who renounces the 1915 genocide. He defended the proposition by stating that he “believes in the information they receive from the Foreign Services… I believe that this is the truth, and if it is proven otherwise, then I am truly sorry.” I am not quite sure if Mr.
Svensson really believes in what he stated in that sentence. But then again, who, if not a Christian Democrat would safeguard issues such as moral, human dignity, and stewardship.

Mats Pertoft (Green), one of the co-authors of the motions, pointed out that the 1915 genocide was no different from the climate issue. For couple of years ago, there was a disagreement among researchers about the global warming, but now, even though there are some who still disagree, there is a consensus on the issue among an overwhelming majority of the researchers. The same applies to the 1915 genocide. Mentioning the petition signed by genocide experts, Pertoft joined Linde in urging the MPs to at least deny recognition on political basis and refrain from abusing the name of science and renouncing facts. A day earlier, I, together with Linde and Pertoft, partook in a debate broadcasted live by the Assyrian Satellite TV Station Suroyo. The TV station had invited several other MPs representing the “no” side, but in vain. No one was willing to participate. Linde’s radio debate on the subject, scheduled for the morning of June 11, was also canceled since the MP defending the Foreign Committee proposition had backed out in last second. Maybe, just maybe, the text of the petition, sent to all members of parliament, made a difference by stating that “Today, the data and information about the Genocide of Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks are so extensive that no serious politician can honestly cite insufficient or inconclusive research as an excuse to avoid recognition.” This was at least true in the case of those who chose not participate in any of the debates, rather than compromising their honesty by being forced to follow their party line and defend their denial of a genocide.

Two politicians defied their parties. Yilmaz Kerimo (Social Democrat), an ethnic Assyrian was one. The other, Lennart Sacrédeus (Christian Democrat), going against his party line, took the podium defending a recognition of the 1915 genocide and ended his statement by adding: “I know that we will stay here again in one year debating the very same question…Turkey will be hit by bad will for every debate in every parliament where this question is deeply associated with Turkey. I think that we acknowledge and can understand the background for why the issue is locked in Turkey; but the truth will set you free and it applies to Turkey and the legacy after Atatürk.” The truth will set you free, but Swedish politicians today displayed that they are neither ready to acknowledge the truth nor willing to set Turkey free from its dark burdensome past.

The debate lasted over three hours, during which the present audience agreed upon one certainty: no one of those recommending the rejection of a recognition could, based on the alleged arguments in the report, explain, less defend their case. It was soon obvious that there simply were no sustainable arguments to be given to explain why Sweden can not recognize the 1915 genocide. The “no” was purely a political decision for maintaining good relations with Turkey, nothing else. But could such a decision actually benefit Turkey? Or Sweden? Or EU? In my opinion, similar decisions and signals are nothing but doing Turkey, and not least oneself, a disservice. What kind of message do we send to a Turkey in urgent need of reformation and democratization when we tell them that it is actually acceptable to cover up crimes and deny facts and the truth? What kind of a democracy does Sweden and EU nourish in Turkey? Notwithstanding, I can not imagine a single Armenian who would not welcome, by European measures, a reformed and democratized Turkey as their neighbor. The same would apply to Assyrians, Greeks, Kurds etc. But, the kind of signals which the Swedish Parliament today sent surely cause more damage to the Turkish process of becoming a more open society than the opposite.

Another paradox in Sweden became evident, namely the existence of the Living History Forum, a government agency created in the wake of the International and Intergovernmental Genocide Conference in Stockholm, 2004. On their web site the mission of the agency is described as following: “The Living History Forum is a government agency which has been commissioned with the task of promoting issues relating to tolerance, democracy and human rights – with the Holocaust as its point of reference. By spreading knowledge about the darkest sides of human history, we want to influence the future.” The Living History Forum lists the 1915 genocide as one of the genocides in the 20th century and educates the Swedish society about what really happened in the Ottoman Empire during WWI. It seems highly ironic that the Swedish Government and politicians do not practice what they preach. “By spreading knowledge about the darkest sides of human history, we want to influence the future.” Suddenly, Darfur makes total sense. The world which Swedish politicians, or any other politicians for that matter, shape by influencing the future with their denial of genocide is the kind where we do speak of, not a historic, but an ongoing genocide, that in Darfur; and we will most certainly experience yet many more.

The phrase: “history must be left to historians” is often used by the Turkish state and those politicians around the world who do wish to avoid treading Turkish toes by recognizing the 1915 genocide. I did not realize until today how true that phrase is. Actually, I totally agree with the Turkish state on this one: history must be written by historians, not politicians. Today, however, Swedish MPs wrote their own new version of the history, a revised alternative suiting their political agenda, denouncing a broad data and consensus put forward by the expert scholars in the field. I hope that Swedish leaders, as well as all political leaders, would in future leave the research to researchers and base their decision making on presented facts put forward by scholars. Sacrédeus’ prophecy will be fulfilled as the 1915 genocide will most certainly be discussed in the Swedish Parliament again and again. As an answer to the last question I got in the TV debate, about how we will continue when the highly expected rejection in the Parliament comes, I replied “We will go on remembering the genocide of 1915, even after its recognition. We have already started the preparation for the manifestation on April 24, 2009, which, as the last two years, will take place in front of the Swedish Parliament. But, I hope that this time, instead of calling upon the Parliament to recognize the genocide, we will thank the MPs for having recognized it.”

Vahagn Avedian
Chairman of the Union of Armenian Associations in Sweden
Chief Editor of Armenica.org

[Joseph]

A shame. They don't want to piss off Turkey {as if Turkey could do anything to Sweden}. The mood among European politicians today is to be ultra pc and very soft on both Turkey and Muslims in general. The mood of the actual people stands in sharp contrast to their elected officials. If the politicians actually allowed the people their say to democratically vote on Turkey's EU candidacy, Turkey would never become a member but these officials are afraid to because they are afraid of Turkey becoming another Iran.....

But all this begs the question; would Turkey willingly be ruled by mullahs because they are angry at the EU for denying entry. If so, let them.

[Joseph]

Furthermore, these parliamentarians have basically admitted there was a genocide of Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks but that they do not wish to anger Turkey but giving actual recognition. Very weak.

For some reason, I was under the impression that Sweden had already recognized it years ago???

[armenica.org]

Furthermore, these parliamentarians have basically admitted there was a genocide of Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks but that they do not wish to anger Turkey but giving actual recognition. Very weak.

For some reason, I was under the impression that Sweden had already recognized it years ago???

No, the "recognition" in 2000 was a report recommended in the Foreign Committee which said yes to the motion calling upon Sweden for recognition. The Parliament has never recognised it officially. Furthermore, in 2001, when they added Assyrian/Syrians and Pontic Greeks to the same recognition, the answer became "no". And they even managed to almost annul the recognition from 2000 due to "errors" in the informattion in regard to "UN having recognised the genocide in 1985".

It just shows that they absolutely don't know what they vote upon and only follow directives from Foreign Department and their Party leadership. The Christian Democrats, Liberals and (may be worst of all) Social Democrats actually said no to recognition of a genocide says it all... It is not about facts, it's about politics, profits and economics. As if to say: More Darfurs, please. We genuinly don't give a damn.