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Full-page WSJ ad denying Armenian Genocide Spurs Anger

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Somehow I missed this.
A full-page ad denying the Armenian genocide spurred anger Wednesday, appearing in The Wall Street Journal just days before the 101st anniversary of the event’s start on April 24, 1915.

“Truth = Peace,” the ad declared in large font at the center of the page. At the top, in smaller letters, it said, “Stop the allegations,” and directed readers to a website called Fact Check Armenia, which declares as false the idea that “the events of 1915 constitute a clear-cut genocide against the Armenian people” and calls efforts of the Armenian diaspora to gain recognition of the genocide “propaganda.”
CgfZOrPW8AA_04w.jpg

Pretty angering with the anniversary tomorrow.

Link: http://www.newsweek.com/full-page-wsj-ad-denying-armenian-genocide-spurs-anger-450971
 
Wasn't the word genocide coined/created to describe exactly this event though, the Armenian massacres by the ottoman empire?
 
What's the end goal of this? It happened a 100 years ago, how many people who read the Wall Street Journal will be concerned about this?
 
Wasn't the word genocide coined/created to describe exactly this event though, the Armenian massacres by the ottoman empire?
Lemkin coined the word to describe Nazi actions in the '40s, but I believe he came up with it after thinking about the Armenians as well.
What's the end goal of this? It happened a 100 years ago, how many people who read the Wall Street Journal will be concerned about this?

20150424RC.Armenian036.JPG


At least plenty of people will be outraged by the absurdity.
 

mikeGFG

Banned
Speaking as an Armenian-American: Shame on WSJ. The idea of money exchanging hands to make this ad happen just makes me sick.
 
how did the WSJ let this slip in?

this is really really bad and full of double standards too
The WSJ's spokesperson gave a real dumb rationale:
We accept a wide range of advertisements, including those with provocative viewpoints. While we review ad copy for issues of taste, the varied and divergent views expressed belong to the advertisers.
I mean, "provocative" describes a racy ad or something. Not something that denies genocide. It doesn't seem tasteful either.

I mean the free exchange of ideas, even denying genocide, may be allowable legally and I can live with that. But it doesn't mean the WSJ has to give space to them.
 

Empty

Member
The WSJ's spokesperson gave a real dumb rationale:

I mean, "provocative" describes a racy ad or something. Not something that denies genocide. It doesn't seem tasteful either.

I mean the free exchange of ideas, even denying genocide, may be allowable legally and I can live with that. But it doesn't mean the WSJ has to give space to them.

they'd never in a million years print an advert making the same argument from holocaust deniers and rightly so
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
Maybe the idea is to allow the ad to express the views of people denying Armenian Genocide, to get more recognition to the fact that the Turkish government's attitude towards it.
 
Apparently The Post ran a similar full page ad denying the genocide:
"No academic consensus" my ass.

Props to the NYT for apparently rejecting the ad and having guidelines that reject “advertising that denies great human tragedies.”
Maybe the idea is to allow the ad to express the views of people denying Armenian Genocide, to get more recognition to the fact that the Turkish government's attitude towards it.
It might not be as terrible of a thing if they wrote an editorial condemning Turkey and Armenian genocide deniers. But they didn't do anything like that as far as I know, and just gave open space to a ridiculous ad.
 

Lime

Member
Infuriating that this got through the advertisement board at WSJ. And it reminds me of how terrible Turkey is when it comes this thing. It bothers me a great deal.

I don't entirely understand what this is trying to achieve. A government not taking responsibility is one thing, there's at least incentive there to be awful. Why would someone pay for this? And under the banner of "reconciliation" when no Armenian would be able to look at this without vomiting?

They're poking them in the eye with a stick 100 years later. And paying for ad space to do it. Why?

Cultural memory politics. It's important to influence how we understand each other's atrocities in the past.
 

Lime

Member
It's amazing that Turkey committed like four genocides and there's almost no worldwide recognition or memory of those events.

Awful.

I think the 100 year "anniversary" really made waves to in our collective consciousness and Turkey's denial of it just reinforced this awareness (Streisand effect).

The different genocide museums I've been to (Kigali in Rwanda, Berlin in Germany) also tell the story of the Armenian genocide

Here in Denmark last year we talked a lot about it as well because of a monument the government put up to commemorate the anniversary and the Turkish ambassador got extremely angry and upset, which just highlighted the importance of this even more. That also made the media talk a lot more about it.
 

Azoor

Member
I lost a Turkish friend of mine because he refused to believe the genocide actually existed.

Poor him for living in that delusion.
 

Cyan

Banned
Maybe the idea is to allow the ad to express the views of people denying Armenian Genocide, to get more recognition to the fact that the Turkish government's attitude towards it.

That might be the ultimate effect of the ad, but I really don't think that's the intent.
 

milkham

Member
Is this paid for by the Turkish government? If not, who is so vested in the denial to pay for this? I mean, I as a private citizen would not form an organization to deny shit that people think the United States did, whether they actually did it or not.
 

Cyan

Banned
It looks like this also happened last year: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2015/05/14/armenian-genocide-denial-website-advertisments/

Last month, The Boston Globe’s editorial board delivered a 366-word piece calling on the U.S. government to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. The article, published in print on April 24, notes that 100 years ago to the day, “Armenian intellectuals and public figures were detained and summarily executed in Constantinople—the beginning of the systematic purge of the Armenian population at the hands of the Ottoman government. By 1917, 1.5 million Armenians were murdered.”

Yet just a few pages over from the Globe’s evocative editorial sat a full-page advertisement for FactCheckArmenia.com, a controversial website that claims there never was an Armenian Genocide. The website accuses a “well-funded Armenian diaspora” of pushing propaganda aimed at implicating Turkey in a genocide of the Armenian people. “There was no massacre or bloodshed on April 24, 1915,” the website states, standing in stark contrast to the Globe’s argument.

Last year's campaign also included billboards.

FactCheckArmeniaBillboard11.jpg
 

Kinyou

Member
The WSJ's spokesperson gave a real dumb rationale:

We accept a wide range of advertisements, including those with provocative viewpoints. While we review ad copy for issues of taste, the varied and divergent views expressed belong to the advertisers.

I mean, "provocative" describes a racy ad or something. Not something that denies genocide. It doesn't seem tasteful either.
So next they'll run an ad for holocaust deniers? I mean it would seemingly be within the criteria
 
It looks like this also happened last year: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2015/05/14/armenian-genocide-denial-website-advertisments/

Last year's campaign also included billboards.

FactCheckArmeniaBillboard11.jpg
At least they had the common sense to run an editorial against the deniers to clearly make a statement.
I think the 100 year "anniversary" really made waves to in our collective consciousness and Turkey's denial of it just reinforced this awareness (Streisand effect).

The different genocide museums I've been to (Kigali in Rwanda, Berlin in Germany) also tell the story of the Armenian genocide

Here in Denmark last year we talked a lot about it as well because of a monument the government put up to commemorate the anniversary and the Turkish ambassador got extremely angry and upset, which just highlighted the importance of this even more. That also made the media talk a lot more about it.
I'm not surprised that genocide museums would at least remember the events.

That's at least why I always take these denials of the Armenian Genocide pretty personally, even though I'm not Armenian. Part of my family were Pontian Greeks and they were cut down by the Turks as well. It's disgusting that Turkey still won't own up to it 100 years later.

I'm glad that Denmark put up that statue though and that the100th anniversary at least sparked some more interest and knowledge about the Genocide.
 
The WSJ's spokesperson gave a real dumb rationale:

I mean, "provocative" describes a racy ad or something. Not something that denies genocide. It doesn't seem tasteful either.

I mean the free exchange of ideas, even denying genocide, may be allowable legally and I can live with that. But it doesn't mean the WSJ has to give space to them.

Any Holocauste denying ad put forth would have been batted away in an eye blink .

Same standard should apply for any genocide denying ad
 
Any Holocauste denying ad put forth would have been batted away in an eye blink .

Same standard should apply for any genocide denying ad
That's true and arguably a reason they'd be turned away is that people know and care about the Holocaust.

Can we say the same thing for what happened to the Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and Kurds? I don't think so.
 

ActWan

Member
Horrible. And too bad there's not enough awareness on the subject. I was legit shook when I found out about it (through System of a Down songs of all things)
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Horrible. And too bad there's not enough awareness on the subject. I was legit shook when I found out about it (through System of a Down songs of all things)

Serj Tankian was and remains a massive activist for the recognition of the genocide.
 

Beach

Member
Horrible. And too bad there's not enough awareness on the subject. I was legit shook when I found out about it (through System of a Down songs of all things)
In Southern California awareness is everywhere the end of April approaches. Armenian Student organizations in colleges like UCSD, CPP, CSUN, UCLA, etc. all have deviated memorials and seminars on the topic. You will see Armenian flags almost every where in Glendale, NoHo, and Burbank. And of course the protests in front of the Turkish Embassy every 24th.

The Armenian population will definitely not quit and deservedly so.
 

Condom

Member
I don't really understand why countries are so reluctant to acknowledge stuff that happened a long time ago.
 

zer0das

Banned
Thing that annoys me about the ads is the implication is that the Armenians are at fault for the lack of peace. We're peaceful genocide denying Turks, why can't you coexist with us, Armenians? Really disgusting.
 

Walshicus

Member
Not sure what else we'd expect from fucking Turkey of all places these days.

Hopefully the arrests and bad publicity will take a dent in their tourism industry. Plenty of alternatives for travellers.
 
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