Talk Elections

Inspired by the Holocaust thread.

Yes. Denying any historically proven genocide should be a criminal offense.

No, because locking people up for saying the wrong words or thinking the wrong thoughts, when not in the context of a revolution or civil war, is stupid.

In the USA?  No.

In Turkey? ...Yeah, probably.

I think I agree with Train on this one.

Well good point.

Plus the Armenian Genocide really isn't relevant to anything related to the United States, as awful as it was. Why should people be jailed over denying something that is rarely discussed by the mainstream public anyway?

The US has had a pretty significant Armenian population historically.

Doesn't justify locking people up for saying words and thinking thoughts.

This. It amazes me how segments of the European Left are more then willing to utterly throw away the right to free speech when it disagrees with them politically.

I think train has a decent point about Turkey, since Armenian Genocide denial in Turkey tends to be a form of hate speech (which I for the record think is fine to ban, as much of a liberal as I am generally).

But I think the notion of governments defining truths that cannot be denied without getting thrown in jail is scary as fck. No thanks.

Isn't the Turkish argument basically that it wasn't a genocide because they were never interested in totally eliminating the Armenian people, just the ones who lived in Turkey?

No the Turkish view is it didn't happen/it happened, but it was the Kurds who did it/It happened, but it was self defence/The Armenians really asked for it/the Turks was the real victims.

The view you present, are the view of Turkish/Ottoman apoligists in the West, because they know that the above talking point would really not play well in the West. The truth are that Turkey and the Turks see themselves as historical victims of all those ungrateful subject people, who rebelled against the benevolent Ottoman Empire (who spread the light of civilisation to the barabarians) because they was subhuman scum, and yes of course there's people in Turkey who disagree with this view, but Turkey are truly a post imperial state with a victim complex, and let be honest it was not like their settlers and collabators in their former empire was treated well after the Ottoman Empire lost control over their non-Anatolian possessions, and many Turks are descendent of expelled people from the Balkans, Ukraine and southern Russia.

Of course, I believe those who do deny the Armenian Genocide (and any genocide) should be condemned strongly. They just shouldn't be criminally prosecuted.

No doubting that, but as TNF noted, there is no reason for jailing people over an issue that is only important to one sector of the population.

There's a slippery slope there.

No.

But that means Obama is a criminal.

Time to lock Obama up.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150422/us-obama-armenia-d160258114.html

Well, with a very clear campaign promise and little time left in office this was the man and the moment Now it looks like it will only be after Turkey itself finally gives in.

Wonder if we will see all 50 states recognizing before the federal government, that would be a bizarre situation. Only seven left.

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