France urges Turkey to recognize Armenian genocide

[Bosonic]

Source: AP

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Turkey to recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide in remarks Friday that drew sharp criticism from Ankara.

"Turkey, which is a great country, would honor itself by revisiting its history like other countries in the world have done," Sarkozy said during his visit to the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

The killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire has been the main barrier to the ex-Soviet republic's reconciliation with Turkey. Armenians have long fought to persuade other governments to call the killings a genocide.

Turkish leaders have rejected the term, contending the figures are inflated and saying there were many deaths on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed during World War I.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h7yS6SIMzs_Kb26ICHPHV4hLLB9Q?docId=416716f12e9a4afea1f2b58507e853a5

[vminfla]

1. Interesting Claim: As far as Genocides go, Ours was not that bad

Granted, the word never existed before Turkey.

[mojowork_n]

2. Ours? That would be...

...the story of the America's?

On the TV the other night, the History Channel ran
"The Story of Life in Two Hours," or whatever it
was called.

They said after Columbus "95% of the native
population" was wiped out by force,
or by disease.

In North America, disease may have been less lethal.

Which genocide, exactly, was "not that bad?"

....Not trying to pick nits, but comparing the
lethality of genocide, one to the next, doesn't
seem like the best of responses.

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Wrong. The word genocide only came into being long after the Armenian holocaust...

Raphael Lemkin came up with the word in 1944 to describe what had until then not been something defined as a crime against humanity - the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis. Until that time, while genocide had happened many times in the past (Armenians, Tasmanian Aboriginals etc), it hadn't been given a name. Not that giving it a name helped much. For many years, countries like the US refused for many years to ratify Lemkin's Genocide Resolution in the UN...