Genocide is NOT permissible
An article titled “When Genocide is Permissible,” written by Yochanan Gordon, published Sunday, Aug. 3, in the Times of Israel and posted on the paper’s website, as well as at 5TJT.com (The Five Towns Jewish Times) became a very hot issue immediately and moments later was withdrawn from both websites. The article reflected what most of us feared: A Jewish ultra-nationalist obsession to eradicate all Palestinians discriminately with a genocidal approach, very much like the Holocaust Jews were subjected to by Nazi Germany.
It is wrong, of course, to try to draw parallels between the 1940s and today, nor is appropriate to try to make a comparison between the Holocaust and the mass massacre of Palestinians by the murder machine that is the Israeli state. Yet, if a state killed almost 2,000 people, mostly civilians – small children, women and the elderly – be it in the 1940s or in 2014 and be it Turkey, Israel or Germany, it is an act of state terrorism.
If anyone is claiming, “Well, thousands of people were killed because a state was trying to fight a very venomous terrorist force; such killings were collateral damage of security operations,” the answer is simple: Is such a mentality sane?
Some of my Jewish readers wrote back complaining that in Turkey’s history, indeed in recent history, there were as well mass murders of Armenians, Greeks and still the Kurds. Even if Turkey was engaged, or still is engaged, in something horrendous, such Turkish actions cannot legitimize the Israeli genocide of Palestinians. There are, of course, a lot of ugly episodes in Turkish history. The 1915 events might still be disputable as regards to how it happened and how many Armenians perished, the Turkish losses and the Kurds’ role in it…
The Armenian issue is rather complicated and one is required to know not only Armenian claims, but also the situation in Anatolia, Turkish-Russian relations, the French, British, as well as American contributions to the already complicated situation of the time. What was Kurds’ contribution to the Armenian sufferings? Was it indeed the Kurdish volunteers’ brigade (Hamidiye Brigade) that attacked the Armenians who were subjected to the forced internal replacement by the Ottoman government because of the war’s situation? In any case, the Armenian people of this land suffered a lot and had to flee. I am not proud at all with what they were compelled to go through in the first quarter of the last century. We need to scientifically explore and come out with answers. That’s why Turkey has offered the creation of a commission of historians and has vowed to respect whatever the outcome will be. Armenia has so far refused to collaborate.
As regards Greek “mass murders” by Turks, Jewish readers might be referring to the Asia Minor catastrophe of the Greek army. Well, Greeks were the occupying force – like today’s Israel in Gaza – and Turks fought them out of their territory. No apologies for saving the homeland and that was no massacre to speak of. If, however, my friends are talking about the Sept. 5-6, 1955 events, you are perfectly right; we lost our other half by forcing the Greeks of Istanbul to immigrate to Greece. That was a shameful page on our history and one that all Turks must regret.
Turks have done many wrongdoings to the Kurds as well. We are presently in some sort of a reconciliation process that will hopefully help us overcome this hurdle and become one big family once again.
Yet, dear Jewish friends, if you come across any article by a Turk suggesting “genocide is permissible,” then I will apologize for branding Israeli attacks on Gaza with the pretext of fighting Hamas and saying they were indeed a genocidal program aimed at forcing Palestinians to surrender en masse.
Genocide can no longer be permissible.
