Part of my ancestral heritage is of the Armenian tradition. My mother's side of the family were Hay (pronounced "hi"), what Armenians refer to each other as. It's shortened version of "Hayastan" (like KurdiSTAN and AfghaniSTAN). Hayastan is the romanized transliteration of "Armenia". I know. Very confusing.
Regardless, yesterday, I saw in the Wall Street Journal that POTUS is going to officially proclaim the deportation, starvation, and massacres of the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Turks just over a century ago as GENOCIDE.
Now mind you, here in the USA, we, the people, recognized the genocide in late 2019. The people. The House and Senate via HR296 and SR150.
Not POTUS. The resolutions from Congress are symbolic and appropriate signaling of virtuous intent. But that's it.
Ronald Reagan described the events as genocide in the summer of '81 in one of his speeches but because there was no proclamation, it amounted to political rhetoric. And every since, we have either ignored it or come right up to, but just shy of a proclamation.
Most nations have proclaimed it as genocide: Venezuela, Syria, Sweden, Russia, Portugal, Poland, Lebanon, Libya, Germany, Chile, France, Greece, Italy, Austria, Belgium--shoot, even Iran!
Turkey (formeraly, the Ottomans) has not. Their position is that it was World War I and yes, bad things happened, but that's war for 'ya. No systemic murder of an entire ethnicity (estimates are 'round 1.5M dead).
So why haven't we done the right thing? Economics and war. Turkey is still our ally, just like Saudi Arabia is. We have massive trade agreements in place with these governments as well as military base agreements. The USA can access Georgia, Azerbaijan, Syria, Iran, and Iraq on land via Turkey.
Well, it sounds like THIS SATURDAY, Joe Biden is going to do it. Damned the threats of economic and diplomatic retaliation from Turkey (because, c'mon, give me a break. As if the USA needs Turkey more than Turkey needs the USA...).
Now you may ask, why? It's not a binding procolmation. All it would do is just strain our already strained relationship with Turkey. If everyone already knows and recognizes the genocide, why do we need to alienate our allies, especially now when the USA isn't exactly that beacon of hope and democracy it once was?
I say, because if we DON'T, if we prioritize money and power over humanity, then it's just a matter of time before we eat each other alive. If we, as Americans, equivocate the slow burning and torture of 1.5 million families in the name of our strategic economic and military interests--whenever they occur(ed)--then what is referred to as human is just not what we are. If we DON'T, then we were bullied into keeping our mouths shut. If we DON'T, then if (when?) it happenes again, maybe right here in America even, it'll be everyone for themselves. If we DON'T, then we have an ethical compass aligned to slavery (guised as "American Values").