Since its foundation 100 years ago, the Republic of Turkey has refused to recognize the death, displacement, and genocide that it and its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, wrought on the Armenian people. Turkey’s defense that such events took place only under the fog of World War I defies credulity given the substantial evidence of a systematized approach to mass movement of people and destruction of livelihoods in the pursuit of territorial occupation. Armenian families living in eastern Anatolia under Turkish rule have been and continue to be subject to imprisonment, forced conversion to Islam, and persecution for the use of their own language and cultural rites.
Turkey has used its position as an erstwhile NATO ally to stifle examination of its historic and ongoing role in tyrannizing the Armenian people within its borders. The New York Young Republic Club condemns Turkey’s efforts to inhibit discussion on its historic role in terrorizing the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian people and supports recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United States and the international community at large.