The Associated Press this week ran a story from Ankara in which its reporter, Selcan Hacaoglu, repeated the same old mantra about there being a "bitter dispute" between Armenia and Turkey over the 1915 slaughter, in which Turkey "vehemently denies that the killings were genocide." When will the Associated Press wake up and cut this cowardly nonsense from its reports? Would the AP insert in all its references to the equally real and horrific murder of six million European Jews that right-wing Holocaust negationists "vehemently deny" that there was a genocide? No, they would not. —Robert Fisk whose book containing a chapter entitled "The First Holocaust" is to be published "quietly" in Turkey

While a number of European nations have outlawed the denial of the Jewish Holocaust, Turkey has effectively made it illegal for its citizens to assert that an Armenian Holocaust occurred. (On an international level it has denied the holocaust with the assistance of Israel, by the way.)

Interesting how that plays out in the press. It makes one think of the obligatory, almost ceremonial reporting of the lies of the Bush administration by the American media.

After today's march on the Pentagon, expect a great deal more "balanced reporting."

Related posts
Insurer pays Armenians—90 years later (1/27/05)
German state cooperates with Turkey to deny Armenian genocide (2/1/05)
A novelist of the Armenian holocaust (4/18/05)

Tags: * media press balanced reporting genocide Holocaust Armenian genocide Armenia Turkey