Genocide Resolution Eyed
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
April 21, 2003
PLEASANT HILL -- Karen Yapp, who is half-Armenian, wants the city to acknowledge the darker side of its Turkish sister city.
In her view, the city should commemorate April 24, 1915, as the start of the "Armenian Genocide," referring to the killings of more than a million Armenians by Ottoman Turks in a sweeping campaign of death.
"The use of the word genocide is very important," she said.
Turkey has long denied a genocide, saying many Armenians died fighting during a civil war.
The City Council tonight will consider a resolution that seeks to recognize April 24 as the beginning of the genocide, "masterminded by the Young Turks."
Yapp, 49, helped craft the resolution with Councilwoman Terri Williamson.
The 185-word declaration condemns the "Young Turks," a political group who rose to power between 1915 and 1923, for their "extreme form of nationalism."
Other cities, including Berkeley, have accepted the genocide as historical fact. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or driven out of what is now Turkey.
"We have an official position on the Armenian genocide, which is we don't recognize it," said Ozgur Kivanc Altan, acting consul general of Turkey in Los Angeles.
He said World War I was a tragedy for all people of the Ottoman Empire -- "be it Turkish, Armenian, Muslim, Christian or Jew."
Nonetheless, "we think the events do not match the specific definition of genocide," Altan said.
Pleasant Hill adopted Merzifon -- a growing city of 45,000 in northern Turkey -- as its second sister city in 2000.
Councilman David Durant, who voted to accept Merzifon, said he did not support the resolution because it would set a precedent for "entertaining" other foreign policy issues.
"It's not the City Council's role," he said. "It's a game I don't think we should be involved in."
Mayor Sue Angeli said she would support the resolution out of "treating everyone equally" on each side of the genocide debate.
The sister-city relationship has survived a few body blows.
In 2001, opponents urged the city to cuts its ties to Merzifon, citing Turkey's human rights violations and the genocide.
In response, the City Council voted to keep intact relations with its second sister city arguing that there are two sides to the controversial issue.
Yapp, whose grandfather and his brother escaped Turkey in the bottom of hay wagons as teens, said no one else from his extended family survived the genocide.
She said her ancestors did not die as rebels in a civil war, and urged the city to accept the truth.
"It just doesn't make sense that anyone could believe that a civil war could wipe out mass numbers of old people and children -- and leave no one behind," Yapp said.
Contra Costa Newspapers
April 21, 2003
PLEASANT HILL -- Karen Yapp, who is half-Armenian, wants the city to acknowledge the darker side of its Turkish sister city.
In her view, the city should commemorate April 24, 1915, as the start of the "Armenian Genocide," referring to the killings of more than a million Armenians by Ottoman Turks in a sweeping campaign of death.
"The use of the word genocide is very important," she said.
Turkey has long denied a genocide, saying many Armenians died fighting during a civil war.
The City Council tonight will consider a resolution that seeks to recognize April 24 as the beginning of the genocide, "masterminded by the Young Turks."
Yapp, 49, helped craft the resolution with Councilwoman Terri Williamson.
The 185-word declaration condemns the "Young Turks," a political group who rose to power between 1915 and 1923, for their "extreme form of nationalism."
Other cities, including Berkeley, have accepted the genocide as historical fact. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or driven out of what is now Turkey.
"We have an official position on the Armenian genocide, which is we don't recognize it," said Ozgur Kivanc Altan, acting consul general of Turkey in Los Angeles.
He said World War I was a tragedy for all people of the Ottoman Empire -- "be it Turkish, Armenian, Muslim, Christian or Jew."
Nonetheless, "we think the events do not match the specific definition of genocide," Altan said.
Pleasant Hill adopted Merzifon -- a growing city of 45,000 in northern Turkey -- as its second sister city in 2000.
Councilman David Durant, who voted to accept Merzifon, said he did not support the resolution because it would set a precedent for "entertaining" other foreign policy issues.
"It's not the City Council's role," he said. "It's a game I don't think we should be involved in."
Mayor Sue Angeli said she would support the resolution out of "treating everyone equally" on each side of the genocide debate.
The sister-city relationship has survived a few body blows.
In 2001, opponents urged the city to cuts its ties to Merzifon, citing Turkey's human rights violations and the genocide.
In response, the City Council voted to keep intact relations with its second sister city arguing that there are two sides to the controversial issue.
Yapp, whose grandfather and his brother escaped Turkey in the bottom of hay wagons as teens, said no one else from his extended family survived the genocide.
She said her ancestors did not die as rebels in a civil war, and urged the city to accept the truth.
"It just doesn't make sense that anyone could believe that a civil war could wipe out mass numbers of old people and children -- and leave no one behind," Yapp said.
posted by Corey at 4:03 PM
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