L'Ombre de l'Olivier

The Shadow of the Olive Tree

being the maunderings of an Englishman on the Côte d'Azur

14 October 2006 Blog Home : October 2006 : Permalink

Armenian Massacres Not Genocide

This blog is now in danger of breaking the law in France.

There can be no doubt that the Ottoman empire killed over a million Armenians from 1915 onwards. The question is whether this is genocide or not. In France the parliament has passed a law stating that it is and that anyone denying this (or as I understand even questioning it) is breaking the law if this law also passes the senate (which it probably won't).

I declare that genocide requires the death of at least two million people. Most estimates of Armenian deaths in are 1.5 million range. Hence the event was not genocide. Hence I am breaking the law.

[ Note that I am not denying that the deaths occured, merely that they constitute genocide. If any French authority wants to argue this with me I'll change my defnition of genocide.]

However, under my definitions both the USSR under Stalin and the PRC under Mao are guilty of genocide under my definition, but I bet that stating either of those claims in a widely read/watched/listened place would result in howls of protest from many of the people who proposed the Armenian Genocide bill



I despise l'Escroc and Vile Pin