The Armenian genocide took place nearly 100 years ago. In the latter stages of WWI, the Ottoman Turks systematically slaughtered 1.5 million nearly helpless Armenians in a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing that cleared out many millions more from their homeland of a thousand years in eastern Anatolia. Today, the Turkish government continues to deny this holocaust and threaten any nation that uses the term "genocide" in a shallow attempt to avoid responsibility. Note that Hitler was quoted as saying, "Who remembers the Armenian genocide today?" before the Nazi slaughter of Jews in WWII (a mere generation later).Congratulations to the French, for having the strength of character to stand up to this bullying by passing a law which makes it as much of a crime to deny the Armenian genocide as it is to deny the Jewish genocide. How can the Turks wonder why there is such fierce resistance to let them join the EU when they continue to deny this?
A great independent film on this subject is highly recommended. Ararat (2002)
