Difference between revisions 119999541 and 119999542 on dewiki

[[Image:Armeniangenocide deadpeople.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Bodies of Armenians killed during the 1915 [[Armenian Genocide]].]]

'''Anti-Armenianism''' (also '''Anti-Armenism''' and '''Anti-Armenian sentiment''') is hostility toward or [[prejudice]] against [[Armenians| Armenian people]], [[Culture of Armenia|Armenian culture]] and the [[Armenia|Republic of Armenia]], which can range in expression from individual [[hatred]] to institutionalized [[persecution]].  Several organizations have stated that difficulties currently experienced by the [[Armenians in Turkey|Armenian minority in Turkey]] are a result of an anti-Armenian attitude by the [[Turkey|Turkish]] government<ref>[http://www.armenian.ch/asa/Docs/faae02.pdf  Armenian] Swiss website.</ref> as well as by [[Turkish nationalism|ultra-nationalist]] groups such as the [[Grey Wolves]]. Such sentiments are also prevalent in [[Azerbaijan]] as well because of stem from the loss of the [[Nagorno-Karabakh War]] and also for political reasons.

Modern anti-Armenianism often seems to lacks a racial and cultural basis and appears to be based more on geopolitics and history, in addition to diplomatic and strategic interests, involving the modern states of Turkey and Azerbaijan, although these prejudices usually extend to the widespread [[Armenian Diaspora]].  The controversy and emotions surrounding the [[Armenian Genocide]] and [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] are two examples of intense anti-Armenianism in both countries. These facts do not themselves always imply a direct hate towards Armenians as a nation or ethnic group, as they tend to reflect the various historical and political tensions between these countries. Modern Anti-Armenianism is usually associated with either extreme opposition to the actions or existence of the Armenian Republic, belief in an Armenian [[Armenian conspiracy theory|conspiracy]] to fabricate history and manipulate public and political opinion for political gain, or belief that Armenia is attempting to unfairly annex land from neighboring states.

{{Armenians}}
{{Discrimination2}}
== Persecution under Ottoman Empire and Turkey ==
The Armenian people have suffered persecution by the Turkish government for over a century. Although it was possible for Armenians to achieve status and wealth in the [[Ottoman Empire]], as a community they were never accorded more than "second-class citizen" status and were regarded as fundamentally alien to the Muslim character of Ottoman society <ref>Communal Violence: The Armenians and the Copts as Case Studies, by Margaret J. Wyszomirsky, World Politics, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Apr., 1975), p. 438</ref>. In 1895, revolts among the Armenian subjects of the [[Ottoman Empire]] lead to [[Abdul Hamid I|Sultan Abdül Hamid]]'s decision to massacre tens of thousands of Armenians in the [[Hamidian massacres]]<ref name = "Hamidia">[http://www.armenian-genocide.org/hamidian.html  Hamidian Massacres], Armenian Genocide.</ref>. According to Armenian and most Western scholars, during [[World War I]], the Ottoman government massacred up to 1.5 million Armenians in the [[Armenian Genocide]]<ref>[http://www.armenocide.am/  Armenian Genocide Institute].</ref>. The position of the current Turkish government is that the Armenians who died were casualties of the expected hardships of war, the casualties cited are exaggerated, and that there was no genocide.

[[Alparslan Türkeş]], a late Turkish politician considered by many to have [[fascist]] views<ref>[http://www.aihgs.com/kemal.htm The Practice of a Century<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>,
said:

<blockquote>
Those that have torn down this nation are Greek, Armenian and Jew traitors, and Kurdish, Bosnian and Albanians…  How can you, as a Turk, tolerate these dirty minorities. Remove from within the Armenians and Kurds and all Turkish enemies.<ref name = "EPP-ED">[http://euromed.epp-ed.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=53&Itemid=216 EPP-ED Group: The Republic of Turkey]</ref>
</blockquote>

In [[2004]], Belge Films, the film's distributor in [[Turkey]] pulled the release of [[Atom Egoyan]]'s ''[[Ararat (movie)|Ararat]]'', a film about the Armenian Genocide, after receiving threats from the [[Ülkü Ocakları]], an ulta nationalist organization in [[Turkey]] that has ties to [[Grey Wolves]] of Alparslan Türkeş.<ref> {{Cite news | title=Egoyan award winning film not shown yet in Turkey | accessdate= May 6, 2006 | publisher=[[Toronto Star]] | url= http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/pen-l/2004w01/msg00066.htm}}</ref><ref name = "Gray Wolves">[http://adl.hayway.org/default_zone/gb/html/page3590.html Gray Wolves Spoil Turkey's Publicity Ploy on ''Ararat'']</ref><ref>{{tr icon}} [http://www.bozkurt.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1934 Ülkü Ocaklari: Ararat Yayinlanamaz].</ref><ref>{{tr icon}} [http://www.bozkurt.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1905 Ülkü Ocaklari: ARARAT'I Cesaretiniz Varsa Yayinlayin !]</ref>

The [[Ankara Chamber of Commerce]] included [[DVD]]s, accusing the Armenian people of slaughtering Turks, with their paid tourism advertisements in the [[June 6]], [[2005]] edition of the magazine [[Time (magazine)|TIME Europe]]. Time Europe later apologized for allowing the inclusion of the DVDs and published a critical letter signed by five French organizations. <ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/29/AR2005092902240.html In Turkey, a Clash of Nationalism and History</ref><ref>http://www.financialmirror.com/more_news.php?id=5997  TIME carries documentary, adopts policy on Armenian Genocide</ref> The [[February 12]], [[2007]] edition of Time Europe included an acknowledgment of the truth of the Armenian Genocide and a DVD of a documentary by French director Laurence Jourdan about the genocide. <ref>http://news.pseka.net/index.php?module=article&id=6444 TIME MAGAZINE: Carries documentary, adopts policy on Armenian Genocide</ref>

[[Hrant Dink]], the editor of the ''[[Agos]]'' weekly Armenian newspaper, was assassinated in Istanbul on January 19, 2007, allegedly by [[Ogün Samast]]. He was reportedly acting on the orders of [[Yasin Hayal]], a militant Turkish ultra-nationalist.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6369111,00.html
| title = Suspect in Journalist Death Makes Threat | accessdate = 2007-01-24 | author = [[Associated Press]]| last = Harvey| first = Benjamin| date = 2007-01-24| publisher = [[Guardian Unlimited]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6279241.stm | title="Turkish-Armenian writer shot dead" |accessdate=2007-01-19 | publisher= [[BBC News]]}}</ref> For his statements on Armenian identity and the Armenian Genocide, Dink had been prosecuted three times under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for “insulting Turkishness.”.”<ref name="CPJ06SP">{{cite web | title = Bad blood in Turkey | author = By Robert Mahoney | authorlink =  | publisher = Committee to Protect Journalists | format = PDF | accessdate = 2007-01-17 | date = 2006-06-15 | url = http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2006/DA_spring_06/DA_spring_06.pdf}}</ref><ref name="HRW070120"/><ref name="IPI070122">{{cite web|url=http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/statements_detail.html?ctxid=CH0055&docid=CMS1169459655335 |title=IPI Deplores Callous Murder of Journalist in Istanbul|publisher=[[International Press Institute]] | date=2007-01-22|access-date=2007-01-24}}</ref> He had also received numerous death threats from Turkish nationalists who viewed his "iconoclastic" journalism (particularly regarding the Armenian Genocide) as an act of treachery.<ref name="CPJ070119quote">{{cite web|url=http://www.cpj.org/news/2007/mideast/turkey19jan07na.html | title= Turkish-Armenian editor murdered in Istanbul | author = [[Committee to Protect Journalists]] | date=2007-01-19| accessdate=2007-01-24 | quote =Dink had received numerous death threats from nationalist Turks who viewed his iconoclastic journalism, particularly on the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century, as an act of treachery.}}</ref>

== Persecution in the Republic of Azerbaijan  ==
During the Soviet era, Armenians and Azerbaijanis coexisted peacefully.  When the conflict over [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] broke out, however, this changed radically.  There is an opinion that much of the anti-Armenian sentiments among the Azeri people today stem from the loss of the [[Nagorno-Karabakh War]] and the [[Khojaly Massacre]] ([[1992]]) perpetrated by Armenian irregulars against the Azeris during the war.  However, it should also be noted that among the events precipitating the conflict were [[pogrom]]s perpetrated by Azeris against ethnic Armenians in the Azeri towns of [[Sumgait pogrom|Sumgait]] ([[1988]]), [[Kirovabad pogrom|Kirovabad]] ([[Ganja]]) ([[1988]]) and [[Baku]] ([[1990]])<ref name = "pogroms">[http://www.geocities.com/master8885/DPolicy/bakusumgait.html  Pogroms].</ref> and that the Azeris themselves committed atrocities against Armenians during the war, such as the attack on the town of [[Maraghar Massacre|Maraghar]] ([[1992]]).<ref name = "Maraghar">[http://www.geocities.com/master8885/Cox/baroness_caroline_cox.html  Survivors of the Maraghar Massacre], Christianity Today.</ref>
 
In 2004, Azeri lieutenant [[Ramil Safarov]] murdered the Armenian lieutenant [[Gurgen Markaryan]] in his sleep at a [[Partnership for Peace]] [[NATO]] program.  Safarov's crime resulted in contradictory reactions in his home country: some propagated granting him the status of a national hero, while others expressed severe criticism and condemned Safarov for murder.<ref name = "War and Peace">[http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=261218&apc_state=henicrs200604  Murder Case Judgment Reverberates Around Caucasus], War and Peace Reporting.</ref>. 

Starting in 1998, Armenia began accusing Azerbaijan of embarking on a campaign of destroying a cemetery of finely carved Armenian [[khachkar]]s in the [[Nakhchivan|Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic]].<ref>[http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article01.asp?id=281 World Watches In Silence As Azerbaijan Wipes Out Armenian Culture].</ref> On [[May 30]], [[2006]], Azerbaijan barred the [[European Parliament]] from inspecting and examining the ancient burial site.  [[Charles Tannock]], British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] foreign affairs spokesman in the European parliament, stated: "This is very similar to the [[Buddhas of Bamiyan|Buddha statues]] destroyed by the [[Taliban]]. They have concreted the area over and turned it into a military camp. If they have nothing to hide then we should be allowed to inspect the terrain."  [[Hannes Swoboda]], an Austrian Socialist MEP and member of the committee barred from examining the site, said he hopes a visit can be arranged in the autumn.  He stated that "if they do not allow us to go, we have a clear hint that something bad has happened. If something is hidden we want to ask why. It can only be because some of the allegations are true."  He also warned: "One of the major elements of any country that wants to come close to Europe is that the cultural heritage of neighbors is respected."<ref name = "PanArmenian">[http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=18235  PanArmenian].</ref> The seething anti-Armenian sentiment present in much of Azerbaijan, and which likely enabled the khachkar destruction, can perhaps best be sensed in the response that the leader of Azerbaijani national chess team, [[Teimour Radjabov]], gave to a question on how he felt about playing against the [[Sport_in_Armenia#Chess|Armenian team]]"''..[the] enemy is the enemy. We all hate them''".<ref>[http://sport.apa.az/ru/news.php?id=33265  Teymur Rajabov: The enemy is the enemy, we hate Armenians]</ref>


[[Image:Youthsrusak.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Armenian youths protest Anti-Armenian violence in [[Russia]].]]

== Anti-Armenianism in Russia ==
{{seealso|Anti-national sentiment in Russia}}
A 19th century [[Russia]]n chauvinist, [[Vasili Lvovich Velichko]], who was active during the period when the Russian tzarizm carried out a purposeful anti-Armenian policy<ref>[http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/albanskymif.html "Albanian Myth" (in Russian) / V.A. Shnirelman, "Voyni pamyati. Mifi, identichnost i politika v Zakavkazye", Moscow, Academkniga, 2003]</ref>, wrote:
<Blockquote>"Armenians are the extreme instance of brachycephaly; their actual racial instinct make them naturally hostile to the State".<ref>Benthall, Jonathan (ed.), The best of Anthropology Today, 2002, Routledge, ISBN 0415262550, p. 350 by Anatoly Khazanov</ref></blockquote>
The [[Second Chechen War]] in Russia served as major factors in the grow of [[intolerance]], [[xenophobia]] and [[racism|racist]] violence in Russia, directed in a great part against the people from Caucasus.<ref>[http://economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9254176 The Economist: Russia and Chechnya: The warlord and the spook]</ref>  These include [[Chechens]], [[Georgian people|Georgians]], [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijanis]] and [[Armenians]].  Six Armenians  were killed as a result of racially motivated attacks on non-Slavic immigrants in [[2006]]<ref name = "Jamestown">[http://www.jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2371221  Jamestown].</ref>. So far the reaction of the Russian government to these murders has been subdued, often failing to term the incidents hate crimes and declining to strongly condemn them.

== Anti-Armenianism in Georgia ==
In 2007, the [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]n media began running several stories on the March 5th parliamentary [[elections]] in [[Abkhazia]], claiming that ethnic Armenians in the area, who make up roughly 20% of the local population, would be controlling the elections. The Georgian newspaper ''Sakartvelos Respublika'' predicted that much of the parliament would be Armenian and that there was even a chance of an Armenian president being elected. The paper also reported that the Abkazanian republic might already be receiving financial assistance from Armenians living in the [[Armenian Americans| United States]].<ref name="Abkhaz">[http://armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&AID=1977&CID=2055&IID=&lng=eng Focus on Faction: Georgian media stirs Abkhazian-Armenian "conflict"]</ref> 
Some Armenian groups believe such reports are attempting to create conflict between Armenians and ethnic [[Abkhazians]] to destabilize the region. <ref name="Abkhaz" /> The [[Georgian-Abkhazian conflict]], which is believed by many Georgians to have been backed by Russia with Armenian assistance, has caused many problems for  Georgia, as the [[War in Abkhazia|Abkhazian separatist]] resulted in many ethnic Georgians killed and displaced. Reports such as these suggest growing animosity towards Armenians in the country.

== Anti-Armenianism in the United States ==
While prejudice against ethnic Armenians in the United States is not widespread, two notable cases do exist. In  April of 2007, [[Los Angeles Times]]' Managing Editor Douglas Frantz blocked a story on the [[Armenian Genocide]] written by Mark Arax, citing the fact Arax was of Armenian descent and therefore had a biased opinion on the subject. Arax, who has published similar articles before<ref name="Roderick">[http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2007/04/armenian_genocide_dispute.php LA Observed: Armenian genocide dispute erupts at LAT<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> without issue, has lodged a discrimination complaint and threatened a federal lawsuit. Frantz, who did not cite any specific factual errors in the article, is accused of having a bias obtained while being stationed in [[Istanbul]], Turkey. According to Harut Sassounian, an Armenian Community Leader, Frantz has expressed support for denial of the Armenian Genocide and has stated he personally believed that Armenians rebelled against the Ottoman Empire, an argument commonly used to justify the killings.<ref name="Roderick"/>. Frantz resigned from the paper not long afterward, possibly due to the mounting requests for his dismissal.<ref>[http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=1220 Genocide Controversy Leads L.A. Times Managing Editor To Resign<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Another incident that received less coverage was a series of [[hate mail]] campaigns directed at Paul Krekorian, a  city council candidate for [[California]]n [[Democratic]] Primary, making racist remarks and accusations that the Armenian Community was engaging in [[voter fraud]].<ref>[http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=959 Armenian Community Condemns Anti-Armenian Attacks During California Democratic Primary Election<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

== Anti-Armenianism by individuals ==

For several months in [[1994]],[[Serdar Argic]] posted thousands of messages, claiming that the Armenian Genocide didn't happen or that Armenians massacred Turks, on Usenet [[newsgroup]] threads mentioning the word Turkey. [[Samuel Weems]] published the book [[Armenia: The Secrets of a "Christian" Terrorist State]] in [[May]] of [[2002]]. Weems has made such claims as the "number one export of Armenia is terrorism" and that there was no Armenian Genocide.<ref name = "Tall Tale">[http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/interview-weems.htm#sw  Weems Interview], Tall Armenian Tale.</ref>  American historian [[Justin McCarthy (American historian)|Justin McCarthy]] is known for his controversial support of Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide.<ref>{{cite news | title=A PBS Documentary Makes Its Case for the Armenian Genocide, With or Without a Debate | publisher =[[The New York Times]] | url= http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/arts/television/17stan.html?ex=1302926400&en=42703f4960edef66&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss | date=April 17, 2006 | accessdate= 2006-09-02}}</ref> [[Murad Gumen]] is another individual who espouses anti-Armenian rhetoric in his website "Tall Armenian Tale."
{{Discriminationfooter}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== See also ==
⏎
⏎
* [[Adanakhojaly massacre]]
* [[Denial of the Armenian Genocide‎]]
* [[Gurgen Markaryan]]
* [[Hrant Dink]]
* [[Justin McCarthy (American historian)|Justin McCarthy]]
* [[Sumgait pogrom]]
* [[Maraghar Massacre]]
* [[September Days]]
* [[Serdar Argic]]
* [[White Genocide]]

[[Category:Anti-Armenianism| ]]

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[[ru:Армянофобия]]
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