Recent news commentary regarding H. Res. 106, the non-binding resolution affirming the Armenian genocide, has included the question: "Is it the right time to affirm the Armenian genocide?" The answer is simple...it is always the right time to stop the denial of genocide.

According to Dr. Gregory Stanton, a professor at Mary Washington University and the president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the last stage of genocide is denial. Denying genocide sends a message to the world, that the organized attempt to obliterate an entire people by a government is acceptable.  This is not an acceptable position. Genocide has plagued our world for over a century and we must start taking the appropriate actions to end the cycle of genocide. Fortunately, organizations like the International Association of Genocide Scholars, who have affirmed the truth of the Armenian genocide, provide a platform for scholars to share historical research on the Armenian case as well as other genocides.

The Turkish government has continued a national policy of denial regarding the Armenian genocide for decades, despite the repeated consensus of scholars from around the world—including Turkish scholars that affirm it was genocide. The Turkish government has gone as far as to prosecute Turkish citizens who affirm the Armenian case as genocide, under Article 301 in Turkey's 2005 penal code, which penalizes citizens (even those living outside Turkey) for "insulting Turkishness." To top that, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has said that instead of nations speaking out about the Armenian Genocide, a Turkish-Armenian commission should study it. This attempt to revert the historical fact to a historical question is the epitome of denial.

Ironically, the genocide which prompted Lemkin's study is still denied. Raphael Lemkin, a legal scholar of Jewish decent, studied the Armenian case in the 1930s, while witnessing the effects of the Nuremberg Laws. Although he was able to escape, Lemkin lost most of his family in the Holocaust. Based on his study of the Armenian and Jewish cases, he created a word for this "crime without a name"—genocide. By 1948, the United Nations passed his draft of the Genocide Convention, including laws designed to respond to genocide.

There are only a handful of survivors of the Armenian genocide. Their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren pray that the next generation of Armenians may have the fortune of entering a world that affirms their history, and that humanity will take the high road when faced with genocide. Armenians pray that no one else should know the anguish of genocide and the bitter aftermath of denial.

Does this sound too idealistic for us to stomach in this Post-September 11 era?  It shouldn't. We have made righteous decisions in the past and can do so now. From the pulpit in Montgomery, AL, Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1957, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." King, a true American hero, understood intimately that hate breeds hate. We should no longer be "silent friends" and instead become compassionate advocates in this struggle against denial.

In 1939, Hitler took advantage of the world's forgetfulness.  He was quoted as saying "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" What followed is telling:

     By 1945, 6 million Jews of Europe were murdered.
     By 1979, 1.7 million Cambodians fell victim to genocide.
     By 1994, 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis died at the hands of the Hutu government.

And, in 2007, the people of Darfur are still dying. The body count grows each day.

Americans have a unique opportunity to set the record straight on the Armenian genocide. To do so, would liberate Armenian Americans from the scourge of denial and begin the process of taking the first steps to end genocide today. We are a proud nation built on idealism and hope. It is always the right time to stand up for justice.