Resolution on Genocide Committed by Ottoman Empire International Association of Genocide Scholars

resolution-genocide-committed-ottoman-empire.jpgWHEREAS the denial of genocide is widely recognized as the final stage of genocide, enshrining impunity for the perpetrators of genocide, and demonstrably paving the way for future genocides;

WHEREAS the Ottoman genocide against minority populations during and following the First World War is usually depicted as genocide against Armenians alone, with little recognition of the qualitatively similar genocide against other Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire;

BE IT RESOLVED that it is the conviction of the International Association of Genocide Scholars that the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted a genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Association calls upon the government of Turkey to acknowledge the genocide against these populations, to issue a formal apology, and to take prompt and meaningful steps toward restitution.

July 13, 2007

Special recognition: Ms. Thea Halo (Assyrian & Pontian Greek descent), author of “Not Even My Name,” who presented papers, attended panels, was denied, but resisted and fought to earn recognition and help pass the resolution instated by the IAGS acknowledging the Assyrian genocide.

Presented by: Helen Talia, Chicago (August 7, 2009)