RFI Interview: Armenian Genocide Descendant Warns Political Motives Hinder Genocide Recognition

In 1915, the Ottoman Empire initiated the systematic deportation and mass killing of its Armenian population, resulting in the deaths of up to 1.5 million people. Historians widely recognize this as the 20th century’s first genocide, a term later coined to describe the atrocities. Stephan Pechdimaldji, grandson of two survivors, spoke with RFI on why the crime’s recognition remains vital today.

Turkey acknowledges the mass deaths during the 1915-1917 events but formally rejects the designation of genocide, having lobbied internationally for nearly a century to prevent such recognition.

As of now, 35 countries, including France, have formally recognized the Armenian Genocide. Israel was set to add its voice this year, but intense pressure from Azerbaijan — a close Turkish ally and key Israeli oil supplier — prompted the Israeli parliament to indefinitely postpone the vote.

Stephan Pechdimaldji, an Armenian-American activist and descendant of genocide survivors, has become a prominent voice in the ongoing fight for formal recognition.

RFI: Stephan, your grandfather survived the Armenian Genocide, can you tell us his story? 

Stephan Pechdimaldji: My grandfather was born in 1900 in Yozgat, in modern-day Turkey, so he was 15 when the genocide started. His father and brother were taken by Turkish soldiers and were never seen again.

He escaped, fled Turkey, ended up in Aleppo in Syria, and finally settled in Egypt. My grandmother was from Smyrna, now Izmir. She also fled the persecution and settled in Egypt, and that’s where my grandparents were married.

RFI: Did he talk to you about what had happened to him? 

SP: He never really talked about it. He was a very quiet, introverted person. I think he just compartmentalised it.

But my mother imparted a lot of it to me, and as I became older I became an advocate for recognition. I felt it was my duty as a descendant to keep his memory alive, so that it doesn’t get lost to the dust bin of history.

No one else is going to talk about it, it’s just going to disappear.

RFI: Are there any lesson from him that have stayed with you?

SP: My grandfather said never to hate the Turks. That’s pretty strong of him to say. I have no issue with Turkish people – it’s the government I have my issues with.

In a lot of ways I feel bad for many Turks, because they don’t know what they don’t know. They were never taught the correct history. That stayed with me. It keeps me grounded – this is an educational endeavour.

RFI: What did you think when Israel’s foreign minister announced that Israel would recognise the genocide?

SP: I rolled my eyes, quite frankly. We’ve seen this before from Israel – they’ve threatened to recognise the genocide any time there’s been tension with Turkey. There was a motive there, and it has more to do with Gaza and tensions between Netanyahu and Erdogan.

I just saw them using it as another lever to score a political point against Turkey.

RFI: The Israeli parliament then suspended the vote indefinitely…

SP: You soon saw Azerbaijan put pressure on Israel to revoke it. And that, I think, is why the parliament suspended the vote.

Azerbaijan’s most important ally is Turkey – they often say they’re one nation, two states. Israel gets close to 50 per cent of its oil from Azerbaijan, and with Israel at war with Iran, Azerbaijan sits strategically on Iran’s border.

And Azerbaijan has launched a campaign to rewrite history. Aliyev, their autocratic leader, has often said that Armenia is “western Azerbaijan”. In Karabakh they are destroying Armenian churches, monuments and artefacts to wipe out our existence in the region.

They don’t want people to recognise the genocide, because it distorts the history they want to write.

RFI: What would genuine recognition look like?

SP: It’s not a press release, it’s not a statement – it’s actions. If Turkey and Azerbaijan can’t acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, how can we expect them to honestly confront their actions towards Armenians today?

When [former United States president] Joe Biden recognised the genocide, that was great. But he soon followed that by allowing Azerbaijan to ethnically cleanse 120,000 Armenians from the region, and did absolutely nothing to stop them. Words mean nothing without actions.

RFI: Only 35 countries recognise the Armenian Genocide, most of them since the turn of the millennium. Why has this taken so long?

SP: Because of Turkey. Turkey has [been working diligently for a long time at] pressuring countries not to do it. During the Cold War they used their position in NATO to their advantage, threatening to close military bases and what have you.

After 9/11, Turkey started to flex its muscles again, and you saw countries acquiesce to their wishes. It’s geopolitics, unfortunately. France, I would say, has taken more of a moral leadership role in this.

I don’t think it is past us at all.

RFI: Is the memory of the genocide still important for younger generations of the Armenian diaspora?

SP: The genocide, sadly, really defines us as a people. Every 24 April, when we commemorate it, you’ll see a lot of youth at the rallies – in the Bay Area [around San Francisco], at Times Square [in New York], in Washington DC.

Every Armenian takes up this cause, because they’ve been touched by it. In a lot of ways we’re in the United States because of the genocide – I’m here because of it. History is sadly repeating itself.

RFI: What would you want people outside the Armenian community to understand about the genocide?

SP: That my grandfather was telling the truth. This is historical fact, and if we can’t learn from that history, as the old saying goes, we’re doomed to repeat it. We’re seeing two genocides happen right now in real time, in Gaza and in Sudan. We always invoke the term “never again”, but it’s meaningless if you can’t take up other people’s causes.

It’s [incredible] to me that a country founded in the wake of a genocide continues to deny one. I just wish people could learn from my grandfather’s story.

REMARK by Stephen Pachdimaldji

Jan van der Made

Source link