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Truth, lies and the responsibility for Glendale’s future

When I read Dan Kimber’s article, “Arriving at that elusive ‘truth,’

” I went into a sort of shock. His article appeared right under

another article about commemorating the Armenian Genocide on April

23.

This article was not one of the News-Press’ weekly bigoted letters

to the editor that I have become accustomed to. You know, the ones

that call Armenians hillbillies who have infested this fine city or

trivialize the cataclysmic nature of the Armenian Genocide by

claiming that all people have suffered and Armenians need to stop

complaining and “just get over it,” etc.

These types of letters infuriate all decent people, but Mr.

Kimber’s article was different than these letters. Mr. Kimber is not

an ignorant and bigoted man. He is an educator. One who I believe

cares about his students and his community. This is what is so

upsetting. How is it possible that he could write an article calling

the genocide an elusive “truth”? How could he quote a genocide denier

and present the “other side” of genocide?

Without any fact checking, Mr. Kimber makes reference to

unsubstantiated claims that try to blame the victims of an organized

and premeditated attempt at the annihilation of an entire ethnic

group. By including these outrageous claims in his article, Mr.

Kimber has allowed himself to be used in the campaign of denial.

I will not engage in a debate about the genocide. The evidence is

overwhelming. There is no debate on this issue, just a well-funded

campaign of historical revisionism by the Republic of Turkey and the

politicians and historians who are supported financially for their

part in genocide denial. The Armenian Genocide is a historical fact,

like the Holocaust or the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda.

Although history is an art that requires interpretation, there are

not “two sides” to everything in history. Everything is not morally

ambiguous and relative. For example, the Holocaust occurred. The

Nazis were the perpetrators and Jews, gays, and other Eastern

Europeans were the victims. No responsible educator would deny these

facts. No responsible newspaper would publish an article denying

these facts. Mr. Kimber’s article was an offense to all people who

believe that there are moral truths in this world.

There are events that happen in history that are morally

reprehensible and are a threat to the survival of the species. When

the Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million Armenian people, it was indeed a

crime against humanity and a prototype for genocide in the 20th

century.

Mr. Kimber did not blatantly deny the Armenian Genocide occurred.

However, he implied that the “truth” about the genocide was “elusive”

because Armenians allegedly committed equivalent atrocities against

Azerbaijanis and Turks. These allegations twist the truth so severely

that they become Orwellian in nature.

Let’s look at it this way: Let’s imagine that on April 18, which

is Holocaust Remembrance Day, that a local newspaper in a highly

populated Jewish community published an article about commemorating

the Holocaust. Let’s [call] this article “A Night to Never Forget.”

Tell me this, on that same page, would an article be published by a

local history teacher that discussed the “elusive truth” of the

Holocaust? Obviously not. The article would never be published, but

for the sake of argument, let’s say it was published. What do you

think might happen? I say letters would come pouring in from

horrified and angry people of all backgrounds. There might be

boycotts, a definite retraction and an apology from the newspaper,

even national news coverage ... it would so outrage everyone. Yet,

here in Glendale, Mr. Kimber and others like him feel free to

question the Armenian Genocide during the April 24 commemoration.

It is the ease and comfort with which people feel free to write

bigoted and hateful letters and articles that truly frightens me.

There is something happening in our community that goes far beyond

offensive articles and ignorant comments. There is a reemergence of a

climate of hate and intolerance that I want us to be aware of.

Two issues that seem to have exasperated the intolerance and

polarized this city were the lowering of the American flag on April

24 and the school district’s academic calendar. Whatever one’s

feelings about these issues, there is no excuse for attacking the

character of an entire ethnic group and questioning the validity and

significance of the Armenian Genocide.

Glendale must become a city where we can have healthy debates and

disagreements with each other without viciously attacking and

insulting each other. I am asking all of us to take responsibility

for the future of Glendale. Don’t do it for your Armenian-American

neighbors, do it for yourselves. What is really at stake here is the

soul of this city.

TALIN TAMZARIAN

Glendale

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