Anti-Armenianism

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Armenophobia (Armenian: Հակահայկականություն Hakahaykakanut'yun or հայատյացություն hayatatsutyun; also Anti-Armenianism, Anti-Armenism and Anti-Armenian sentiment) is the fear, dislike of, hatred or aversion to the Armenians, Republic of Armenia^[1] and the Armenian culture, which can range in expression from individual hatred to institutionalized persecution. Its opposite is Armenophilia.

The difficulties currently experienced by the Armenian minority in Turkey are a result of an anti-Armenian attitude by the Turkish government^[2] as well as by ultra-nationalist groups such as the Grey Wolves. According to Minority Rights Group, while the government recognizes Armenians as minorities but as used in Turkey, this term denotes second-class status.^[3] Such sentiments are also prevalent in Azerbaijan as well,^[4] where atrocities have been committed on both sides, reducing public willingness to compromise.^[5]

Modern anti-Armenianism often seems to lack a racial and cultural basis and appears to be based more on geopolitics and history, in addition to diplomatic and strategic interests, involving the modern states of Turkey and Azerbaijan, although these prejudices usually extend to the widespread Armenian Diaspora. These facts do not themselves always imply a direct hate towards Armenians as a nation or ethnic group, as they tend to reflect the various historical and political tensions between these countries. Modern Anti-Armenianism is usually associated with either extreme opposition to the actions or existence of the Armenian Republic,^[6][7] historical falsifications,^[8][9] belief in an Armenian conspiracy to fabricate history and manipulate public and political opinion for political gain.^[10]

By location

Ottoman Empire and Turkey

The Armenian people have suffered persecution by the Turkish government for over a century. Although it was possible for Armenians to achieve status and wealth in the Ottoman Empire, as a community they were never accorded more than "second-class citizen" status and were regarded as fundamentally alien to the Muslim character of Ottoman society.^[11] In 1895, revolts among the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire lead to Sultan Abdül Hamid's decision to massacre tens of thousands of Armenians in the Hamidian massacres.^[12] During World War I, the Ottoman government massacred between 1 and 1.5 million Armenians in the Armenian Genocide.^{[13][14][15][16]} The position of the current Turkish government, however, is that the Armenians who died were casualties of the expected hardships of war, the casualties cited are exaggerated, and that there was no genocide. This position has been criticized by international genocide scholars,^[17] and by several governments, which have resolutions affirming the genocide.

Alparslan Türkeş, a late Turkish politician considered by many to have fascist views,^[18] said:

Those that have torn down this nation are Greek, Armenian and Jew traitors, and Kurdish, Bosnian and Albanians… How can you, as a Turk, tolerate these dirty minorities. Remove from within the Armenians and Kurds and all Turkish enemies.^[19]

In 2004, Belge Films, the film's distributor in Turkey pulled the release of Atom Egoyan's Ararat film, about the Armenian Genocide, after receiving threats from the Ülkü Ocakları, an ultra nationalist organization in Turkey that has ties to Grey Wolves of Alparslan Türkeş.^{[20][21][22][23]}

The Ankara Chamber of Commerce included a documentary, accusing the Armenian people of slaughtering Turks, with their paid tourism advertisements in the June 6, 2005 edition of the magazine TIME Europe. Time Europe later apologized for allowing the inclusion of the DVDs and published a critical letter signed by five French organizations.^[24][25] The February 12, 2007 edition of Time Europe included an acknowledgment of the truth of the Armenian Genocide and a DVD of a documentary by French director Laurence Jourdan about the genocide.^[26]

Hrant Dink, the editor of the Agos weekly Armenian newspaper, was assassinated in Istanbul on January 19, 2007, by Ogün Samast. He was reportedly acting on the orders of Yasin Hayal, a militant Turkish ultra-nationalist.^[27][28] For his statements on Armenian identity and the Armenian Genocide, Dink had been prosecuted three times under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for “insulting Turkishness.”^[29][30] He had also received numerous death threats from Turkish nationalists who viewed his "iconoclastic" journalism (particularly regarding the Armenian Genocide) as an act of treachery.^[31]

İbrahim Şahin and 36 other alleged members of Turkish ultra-nationalist Ergenekon group were arrested on January, 2009 in Ankara. The Turkish police said the round-up was triggered by orders Şahin gave to assassinate 12 Armenian community leaders in Sivas.^[32][33] According to the official investigation in Turkey, Ergenekon also had a role in the murder of Hrant Dink.^[34]

In 2002, a monument was erected in memory of Turkish-Armenian composer Onno Tunc in Yalova, Turkey.^[35] The monument to the composer of Armenian origin was subjected to numerous vandalism over the course of the years, then unidentified people had taken out the letters on the monument. In 2012 Yalova City Hall completely disassembled the monument.^[36][37][38]

Azerbaijan

Armenians had long been victims of persecution in Azerbajian.Many were massacred in the 1920s and some suspect that foreign oil interests formented anti-Armenian sentiment among Azeris against Armenians because Armenians played a major role in developing oil discovery and oil extraction. Before and during the Revolution anti-Armenianism was the basis of Azeri nationalism, and under the Soviet regime Armenians remain the scapegoats who are responsible for every failure.^[39] During the Soviet era, the Russians tried to create peaceful co-existence but the Azeris always resented the Armenians as being the intelligentsia of Azerbaijan. When the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh broke out, however, this changed radically. During the war, atrocities have been committed on both sides, reducing public willingness to compromise.^[5]

In 2004, Azerbaijani lieutenant Ramil Safarov murdered the Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Markaryan in his sleep at a Partnership for Peace NATO program. Safarov's crime resulted in contradictory reactions in his home country: some propagated granting him the status of a national hero, while others expressed severe criticism and condemned Safarov for murder.^[40]

Starting in 1998, Armenia began accusing Azerbaijan of embarking on a campaign of destroying a cemetery of finely carved Armenian khachkars in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.^{[41][dead link]} On May 30, 2006, Azerbaijan barred the European Parliament from inspecting and examining the ancient burial site. Charles Tannock, British Conservative Party foreign affairs spokesman in the European parliament, stated: "This is very similar to the Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban. They have concreted the area over and turned it into a military camp. If they have nothing to hide then we should be allowed to inspect the terrain." Hannes Swoboda, an Austrian Socialist MEP and member of the committee barred from examining the site, said he hopes a visit can be arranged in the autumn. He stated that "if they do not allow us to go, we have a clear hint that something bad has happened. If something is hidden we want to ask why. It can only be because some of the allegations are true." He also warned: "One of the major elements of any country that wants to come close to Europe is that the cultural heritage of neighbors is respected."^[42] The seething anti-Armenian sentiment present in much of Azerbaijan, and which likely enabled the khachkar destruction, can perhaps best be sensed in the response that the leader of Azerbaijani national chess team, Teimour Radjabov, gave to a question on how he felt about playing against the Armenian team: "[the] enemy is the enemy. We all hate them."^[43]

Armenian youths protest Anti-Armenian violence in Russia.

Russia

A 19th century Russian chauvinist, Vasili Lvovich Velichko, who was active during the period when the Russian tzarizm carried out a purposeful anti-Armenian policy,^[44] wrote:

"Armenians are the extreme instance of brachycephaly; their actual racial instinct make them naturally hostile to the State".^[45]

The Second Chechen War and the associated Chechen terrorism in Russia served as major factors in the growth of intolerance, xenophobia and racist violence in Russia, directed in a great part against the people from the Caucasus.^[46] These include Chechens, Azerbaijanis and Armenians. Six Armenians were killed as a result of racially motivated attacks on non-Slavic immigrants in 2006.^[47] So far the reaction of the Russian government to these murders has been subdued, often failing to term the incidents hate crimes and declining to strongly condemn them.

Georgia

In 2007, the Georgian media began running several stories on the March 5 parliamentary elections in Abkhazia, claiming that ethnic Armenians in the area, who make up roughly 20% of the local population, would be controlling the elections.^[48] The Georgian newspaper Sakartvelos Respublika predicted that much of the parliament would be Armenian and that there was even a chance of an Armenian president being elected.^[49] The paper also reported that the Abkazanian republic might already be receiving financial assistance from Armenians living in the United States.^[49] Some Armenian groups believe such reports are attempting to create conflict between Armenians and ethnic Abkhazians to destabilize the region.^[49] The Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, which is believed by many Georgians to have been backed by Russia with Armenian assistance, has caused many problems for Georgia, as the Abkhazian separatist resulted in thousands of ethnic Georgians killed and displaced, and Armenians living in Abkhazian region did side with local Abkhazians. Reports such as these suggest growing animosity towards Armenians in the country.

Georgia has also actively pursued a policy of desecration of Armenian spiritual-cultural values, churches and historical monuments on the territory of Georgia.^[50] On November 16, 2008, Georgian monk Tariel Sikinchelashvili instructed workers to raze to the ground the graves of patrons of art Mikhail and Lidia Tamamshev.^[51] The Armenian Church of Norashen in Tbilisi, built in the middle of the 15th century, has been desecrated and misappropriated by the Georgian government despite the fact that both Armenia's and Georgia's Prime-Ministers have reached an agreement on not to maltreat the church.^[52][53][54] Due to no law on religion, the status of Surb Norashen, Surb Nshan, Shamhoretsor Surb Astvatsatsin (Karmir Avetaran), Yerevanots Surb Minas and Mugni Surb Gevorg in Tbilisi and Surb Nshan in Akhaltsikhe is unknown since being confiscated during the Soviet era. Since independence in 1991, Georgian clergy have occupied the Armenian churches.^[55] Armenians in Georgia and Armenia have demonstrated against the destruction. On November 28, 2008, Armenian demonstrators in front of the Georgian embassy in Armenia demanded that the Georgian government immediately cease encroachments on the Armenian churches and punish those guilty, calling the Georgian party's actions White Genocide.^[56]

In August, 2011, Georgia's culture minister Nika Rurua sacked director Robert Sturua as head of the Tbilisi national theatre for "xenophobic" comments he made earlier this year, officials reported. "We are not going to finance xenophobia. Georgia is a multicultural country," Rurua said.^[57] Provoking public outrage, Sturua said in an interview with local news agency that "Saakashvili doesn't know what Georgian people need because he is Armenian." "I do not want Georgia to be governed by a representative of a different ethnicity," he added.^[57][58]

United States

While prejudice against ethnic Armenians in the United States is not widespread today, three notable cases do exist. In April 2007, Los Angeles Times' Managing Editor Douglas Frantz blocked a story on the Armenian Genocide written by Mark Arax, allegedly citing the fact Arax was of Armenian descent and therefore had a biased opinion on the subject. However, other sources say that Frantz blocked Arax from completing the story not because of his descent, but rather because of his publicly political involvement in the topic and company policy that prohibited journalists from writing pieces on topics they were activists for in order to maintain the integrity of the paper that is closely linked with neutrality and unbiased journalism.^{[citation needed]} Arax, who has published similar articles before^[59] has lodged a discrimination complaint and threatened a federal lawsuit. Frantz, who did not cite any specific factual errors in the article, is accused of having a bias obtained while being stationed in Istanbul, Turkey. Harut Sassounian, an Armenian community leader accused Frantz, of having expressed support for denial of the Armenian Genocide and has stated he personally believed that Armenians rebelled against the Ottoman Empire, an argument commonly used to justify the killings.^[59] Although Sassounian was unable to provide any proof of his allegations. Frantz resigned from the paper not long afterward, possibly due to the mounting requests for his dismissal from the Armenian community.^[60] Frantz however has also been stated to have been upholding company policy that prohibited journalists from doing articles on topics in which they have publicly expressed a bias or been involved in political activity concerning the issue, like the case for the article at hand, because journalists are meant to maintain an air of unbiased professionalism. Another incident that received less coverage was a series of hate mail campaigns directed at Paul Krekorian, a city council candidate for Californian Democratic Primary, making racist remarks and accusations that the Armenian community was engaging in voter fraud.^[61]

The third act of alleged ethnic bias towards Armenians was on a KFI radio show with Bill Handel, who in attempt at humour said that Glendale should be sold to provide more money for the US economy due to the medical budget issue. When a listener replied to him via mail and said his actions were racist, a co-host replied "What the Turks started, Bill Handel will finish", the show was shortly afterwards made to apologize and has had subsequent Armenians whom they have interviewed.

On April 24, 2010, the day the Armenians mark the genocide of 1915, a group of Turkish-American protesters gathered in front of the Turkish Embassy in Washington and protested the commemoration of the genocide, or what they call "Armenian Lies", in a celebratory way. One sign at the protest read "Armenian Girls Like Turkish Guys"^[62]

Other countries and regions

• When the Nagorno Karabakh war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, some Armenians settled in Tajikistan. In the 1990s Pan-Turkish extremists from Turkey had entered many Central Asia republics had had started spreading anti-Christian Anti-Armenian propaganda.According to rumour that was widespread that Armenians allegedly were being resettled in new housing in Dushanbe experiencing acute housing shortage at that time.Similar false accusations had been made against Armenians which sparked the Sumigait Massacre. Despite the fact that Armenian refugees resettled not in public housing but with their relatives. This led to an Anti-Armenian pogrom by Dushanbe riots which targeted both government and Armenians.^[63] More than 20 people were killed, more than 500 were injured during the events.^[64]
• Soon after the events in Tajikistan, Anti-Armenian towards started to widespread in other Central Asian countries such as in Turkmenistan.^[65]
• Ethnic conflict in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) there was murder of a Ukrainian which was blamed on an Armenian individual and this provoked a fight between the Ukrainians and Armenians in the cafe "Scorpion".^[66] This event turned into riots and pogroms against Armenians, accompanied by the burning of houses and cars, which led to the exodus of Armenians from the city.^[67] This event occurred around a period where relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine were very close.
• In a telephone interview on 24 May 1995, broadcaster with Radio Free Europe, Estonia Service in Prague, stated that in February and March 1995, there have been several bomb attacks on Armenian-owned kiosks in the capital city Tallinn. The editor added that the identity of the perpetrator(s) of these acts remains unknown.^[68]
• According to the poll conducted by CBOS in Poland 2010 showed that 23% of Poles declare negative attitude towards Armenians.^[69] Among the nations that was asked, Armenians were one of the least liked ones.
• George Orwell's quote Trust a snake before a Jew and a Jew before a Greek, but don't trust an Armenian. turned as a known saying, particularly in France.^[70]
• According to Thomas Lahusen, the building of the Armenian Church changed hands and became the property of the Chinese Government in 1959, which in turn used it for a textile factory. In August 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, all churches in Harbin were demolished and all the treasures of the Armenian Church including icons and elaborate vestments were destroyed.^[71]
• Pakistan refuses to recognize Republic of Armenia because of their occupation of Nagorno Karabakh.^[72]

By individuals

For several months in 1994, someone posted messages under the alias Serdar Argic claiming that the Armenian Genocide did not happen or that Armenians massacred Turks, on Usenet newsgroup threads mentioning the word Turkey.^[73]

Samuel Weems published the book Armenia: The Secrets of a "Christian" Terrorist State in May 2002. Weems has made such claims as the "number one export of Armenia is terrorism" and that there was no Armenian Genocide.^[74]

American historian Justin McCarthy is known for his controversial view that no genocide was intended by the Ottoman Empire but that both Armenians and Turks died as the result of civil war. Some attribute his denial of the Armenian Genocide^[75] to anti-Armenianism, but there is no independent evidence that he holds anti-Armenian views.

On more than one occasion, modern Azerbaijani historian Farida Mammadova has made anti-Armenian statements.^[76] During one interview, she stated "it is known, that on the whole planet it is exactly the Armenian people who are distinguished by their absence of spiritual and other human values", in reference to supposed destruction of an Azeri holy sanctuary, Aga-Dede^[77] south of Yerevan by Armenians in late 2005.^[78]

Barbaros Agri uses the social networking site Facebook to advocate anti-Armenianism by being the creator of "The Biggest Lie Ever Told: The Armenian Genocide".^[79] The cause has 93,000 plus members. Agri's final comment was, "After years of research I have come to the conclusion that there was an Armenian genocide. I can not with a clear conscience continue this cause."

Monitoring Anti-Armenian Activities

With the recent rapid increase in anti-Armenian propaganda, the need for a constant monitoring has emerged.

In December 2009, the Ardarutyun (Justice)^[80] project was launched (in Armenian, Russian and English) with the purpose of defending Armenian national dignity by thoroughly identifying, adequately countering and further neutralizing the consistent ideological hate campaigns, namely the malicious disinformation and defamation, inciting of intra-Armenian rivalry, crude falsification of Armenian history in its entirety, including the denial of the Armenian Genocide.

See also

• List of Armenian massacres
• September Days
• White Genocide
• Anti-Turkism

References

Further reading

• Hilmar Kaiser: Imperialism, Racism, and Development Theories. The Construction of a Dominant Paradigm on Ottoman Armenians, Gomidas Institute, Ann Arbor (MI) 1997