唐纳德·特朗普的顾问向他提供了几个选项，旨在满足他的愿望，即在不允许土耳其开始入侵的情况下，撤回在叙利亚的美军。一名国家安全委员会官员表示，摆在桌面上的一个策略是:威胁承认奥斯曼帝国统治下数百万亚美尼亚人和其他少数民族成员的死亡是种族灭绝新闻周刊。
1915年至1923年间，多达150万亚美尼亚人、数十万希腊人和亚述人的死亡是否应被称为“种族灭绝”，这是国际关系中一个有争议的话题。奥斯曼帝国的现代继承者土耳其否认这些事件构成了一场屠杀少数民族的系统性运动，但30多个国家和政府公开表示确实如此。
美国政府没有加入他们。尽管美国49个州——密西西比州是唯一的例外——已经正式承认亚美尼亚的种族灭绝，但联邦立法从未成功过。
4月24日，亚美尼亚总统阿尔门·萨尔基相、总理尼科尔·帕欣扬、天主教加列金二世、亚美尼亚使徒教会负责人和其他官员在埃里温的Tsitsernakaberd纪念馆参加了纪念奥斯曼军队屠杀150万亚美尼亚人104周年的仪式。
这个问题有高调的支持者。今年四月，新泽西州参议员鲍勃·梅嫩德斯和得克萨斯州参议员特德·克鲁兹介绍了一项决议"申明美国承认亚美尼亚种族灭绝."民主党总统候选人伊丽莎白·沃伦和卡马拉·哈里斯签署了协议，众议院议员图西·加巴德也签署了协议。
就在上周，也就是10月11日，金·卡戴珊，她父亲是亚美尼亚血统，她上传了自己在亚美尼亚接受孩子圣女洗礼的照片，圣女3岁，芝加哥1岁，圣歌5个月。(大女儿诺斯于2015年在以色列的亚美尼亚教堂接受洗礼。)
她在推特上写道:“感谢亚美尼亚给了我如此难忘的一次旅行”，并称自己是“幸运的”
2018年4月，这位真人秀明星在推特上呼吁美国承认种族灭绝。
两年前，也就是2016年4月，她在自己的应用程序上写了一封公开信给否认种族灭绝的人，亚美尼亚教育协会在那年9月的《纽约时报》上转载了一整页广告。
叙利亚的库尔德武装现在指责土耳其及其叛军盟友对他们推行种族灭绝政策。
如同新闻周刊周三报道总统的高级官员向他提交了一系列计划，以实现他从饱受战争蹂躏的叙利亚撤军的愿望。在叙利亚，美国领导的联盟在叙利亚民主力量的帮助下，在很大程度上击败了伊斯兰国激进组织。叙利亚民主力量是一个库尔德人领导的民兵组织，其中包括被北约盟友土耳其视为恐怖分子的分离主义组织。这些策略包括经济和政治压力举措，但特朗普选择了匆忙离开，以避免美国认为友好的两股力量之间即将爆发的冲突。
当叙利亚民主力量警告土耳其计划对该地区的另一个少数民族库尔德人进行新的种族清洗运动时，美国的计划就会出台。库尔德人的家园横跨伊朗、伊拉克、叙利亚和土耳其的部分地区，所有这些地方都与在所有四个国家寻求某种形式自治的当地社区有着复杂的关系。
土耳其与一个被称为库尔德斯坦工人党(PKK)的组织进行了长达30年的叛乱斗争，该组织在国内和美国都被视为恐怖组织。该组织曾在叙利亚寻求庇护，但该非法组织的领导人被驱逐，并最终在肯尼亚被捕，因为大马士革希望改善与安卡拉的关系。
10月13日，在叙利亚东北部库尔德城镇德里克，库尔德人领导的战士们参加了库尔德政治领袖赫夫林·哈拉夫和其他人的葬礼，包括据报道被土耳其支持的叙利亚叛军杀害的平民和库尔德战士。土耳其否认了其军队或叙利亚盟军在袭击库尔德人领导的军队控制的城镇时犯下暴行的指控。
2011年叙利亚全国起义后，库尔德人与政府军并肩作战，从上周开始，随着美国撤出这个饱受战争蹂躏的国家，库尔德人最终选择站在政府军一边。构成反对派的大部分逊尼派穆斯林阿拉伯反叛分子和圣战分子曾是美国反对叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德政权更迭的合作伙伴，巴沙尔·阿萨德是俄罗斯和伊朗的盟友，他们强烈反对库尔德自治的努力，现在组成了动员土耳其在土耳其和叙利亚边境建立一个大约20英里的“安全区”的部队。
叙利亚民主力量的政治分支——叙利亚民主委员会(Syrian Democratic Council)周三在一份声明中表示:“土耳其附属部队的做法类似于伊斯兰国，尽管这些部队的名字不同。”发送至的声明新闻周刊。“土耳其国还试图利用难民问题进一步占领叙利亚地区，并实施人口变化政策，就像它在非洲和叙利亚其他土耳其控制地区所做的那样。"
声明补充说:“自治政府重申，土耳其的所作所为等同于种族灭绝和占领行为。”。
同一天，土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安否认了他的军队过去或现在犯下暴行的报道，他在执政的正义与发展党的一次议会会议上说，“土耳其在其整个历史上从未犯下任何平民屠杀，也永远不会，无论是我们的信仰，还是我们的文化或道德价值观都不允许这样做。”
特朗普最终不同意，威胁对“可能参与严重侵犯人权、阻碍停火、阻止流离失所者返回家园、强行遣返难民或威胁叙利亚和平、安全或稳定的”土耳其官员实施制裁他还警告说，钢铁关税将上调，1000亿美元的贸易谈判将暂停，但他没有使用亚美尼亚种族灭绝问题的外交手段。
10月16日，土耳其支持的叙利亚反对派在叙利亚阿勒颇省北部曼比杰西北的阿尔甘杜拉村外的一个阵地上展示胜利姿态，该阵地靠近与叙利亚军方结盟的叙利亚库尔德人领导的部队的前线。
然而，周四，由副总统迈克·彭斯和国务卿麦克·庞贝率领的特朗普政府代表团与埃尔多安及其官员举行会谈，达成了美国称之为“停火”的协议。该协议似乎确认了安卡拉对“安全区”的渴望，以及土耳其与PKK有关联的叙利亚民主力量民兵人民保护部队(YPG)的撤出。
这两个交战派别本身似乎出现了有不同的理解正如土耳其外交部长梅夫鲁特·卡沃苏格鲁(Mevlut Cavusoglu)宣称的那样，“这不是停火”，而是“暂停”，叙利亚民主力量指挥官马祖姆·科巴尼(Mazloum Kobani)辩称，该协议仅适用于拉斯艾因和泰勒阿比耶德之间的一个小边境地区。
担心历史重演的人也对这一举措持谨慎的怀疑态度。在发送给新闻周刊美国亚美尼亚大会呼吁国会承认亚美尼亚的种族灭绝，称其“加入了国会领导人对土耳其入侵叙利亚的合理担忧，这使美国的库尔德盟友以及包括亚美尼亚人和亚述人在内的其他少数民族处于岌岌可危的境地。”
“土耳其对无辜平民的袭击太熟悉了，”它补充道，指责埃尔多安寻求“奥斯曼帝国的延续”和“公开支持叙利亚的伊斯兰国”。“国际社会不应袖手旁观，看着土耳其再次使叙利亚的族裔和宗教少数群体遭受可怕的暴行。保护生命受到威胁的人是我们的遗产，我们有责任防止暴行发生。”
与此同时，该协议是在叙利亚和俄罗斯军队——两国都承认亚美尼亚的种族灭绝——在一度由美国军队占据的一些阵地加入库尔德人领导的部队之后达成的，其中一些阵地位于计划中的“安全区”内埃尔多安前往俄罗斯，在黑海城市索契会见俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔普京(Vladimir Putin)时，很可能会讨论这一议题。此前，索契曾与伊朗总统哈桑鲁哈尼(Hassan Rouhani)一起主办了旨在结束叙利亚多方面战争的三方和平会谈，双方还开启了另一条战线。
据英国广播公司国际卫生系统马克特报道，一张地图显示，截至10月7日，叙利亚的领土由各派控制，西南部未着色的戈兰高地自1967年以来一直在以色列控制之下。土耳其支持的叙利亚叛军已经在北部边境的中部取得了进展，因为叙利亚政府军得到了前美国支持的库尔德人领导的部队的援助。
这篇文章已经更新，包括美国亚美尼亚大会的声明。
TRUMP'S ADVISERS GAVE HIM OPTION TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AS TACTIC TO PRESSURE TURKEY
Donald Trump's advisers offered him several options aimed at fulfilling his desire to pull back U.S. troops in Syria without allowing Turkey to commence its incursion. One tactic on the table: threatening to recognize the deaths of millions of Armenians and members of other ethnic minorities under the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, a National Security Council official told Newsweek.
Whether or not the deaths of up to a million and a half Armenians and hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Assyrians in 1915-1923 should be termed a "genocide" is a controversial topic in international relations. Turkey, the modern-day successor to the Ottoman Empire, rejects that these events constituted a systematic campaign to slaughter ethnic minorities, but more than 30 countries and governments have gone on the record to say it does.
The United States government has not joined them. While 49 U.S. states—Mississippi is the sole exception—have officially recognized the Armenian genocide, no federal legislation to do so has ever succeeded.
Armenian President Armen Sarkisian, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Catholicos Garegin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and other officials attend a ceremony commemorating the 104th anniversary of the massacre of 1.5 million of Armenians by Ottoman forces, at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial in Yerevan on April 24.
The issue has high-profile supporters. This past April, Senators Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a resolution "affirming U.S. recognition of Armenian genocide." Democratic presidential contenders Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris signed on, as did Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to the House version.
Just last week, on October 11, Kim Kardashian, who is of Armenian descent on her father's side, Instagrammed photos of herself being baptized with her children Saint, 3, Chicago, 1, and Psalm, 5 months, in Armenia. (Eldest daughter North was baptized in an Armenian church in Israel in 2015.)
"Thank you Armenia for such a memorable trip," she wrote on Twitter, calling herself "blessed."
In April 2018 the reality star tweeted a plea for the U.S. to recognize the genocide.
Two years earlier, in April 2016, she wrote an open letter to genocide deniers on her app, which the Armenian Education Association reprinted as a full-page ad in the New York Times that September.
Kurdish forces in Syria now accuse Turkey and its rebel allies of pursuing genocidal policies against them.
As Newsweek reported Wednesday, the president was presented by his top officials with a number of plans to realize his desired exit from war-torn Syria, where a U.S.-led coalition largely defeated the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) with the help of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia that included separatist groups seen as terrorists by NATO ally Turkey. These tactics included economic and political pressure moves, but Trump opted instead for a hasty departure to avoid an upcoming clash between two forces the U.S. considered friendly.
The U.S. plan would have come as the Syrian Democratic Forces warned that Turkey was planning a new campaign of ethnic cleansing against another ethnic minority in the region, the Kurds. The Kurdish homeland spans parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, all of which have complex relations with this local community that has sought some form of autonomy in all four countries.
Turkey has battled with a three-decade insurgency against a group known as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization both at home and by the U.S. The group once found refuge in Syria, but the outlawed group's leader was expelled and ultimately arrested in Kenya as Damascus looked to improve ties with Ankara.
Kurdish-led fighters attend a funeral for Kurdish political leader Hevrin Khalaf and others including civilians and Kurdish fighters reportedly killed by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, in the northeastern Syrian Kurdish town of Derik, known as Al-Malikiyah in Arabic, October 13. Turkey has denied allegations that its troops or allied Syrian insurgents committed atrocities as they stormed towns held by Kurdish-led forces.
In the wake of the 2011 uprising across Syria, Kurds have fought both with and against government forces and, as of last week, ultimately chose to side with them as the U.S. pulled out of the war-torn country. The mostly Sunni Muslim Arab rebels and jihadis that make up the opposition, once a U.S. partner for regime change against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia and Iran, have deeply opposed efforts for Kurdish autonomy and now comprise the forces mobilized Turkey to enact a roughly 20-mile "safe zone" across the Turkish-Syrian border.
"The practices of the Turkish affiliated forces are similar to ISIS, even though these forces have different names," the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said Wednesday in a statement sent to Newsweek. "The Turkish State is also trying to use the refugees' issue to occupy further Syrian regions and to implement the demographic change policy, just as it did in Afrin and other Turkish-held regions in Syria."
"The Autonomous Administration reaffirms that what Turkey is doing amounts to genocide and occupation practices," the statement added.
That same day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied reports of atrocities committed by his forces past or present, telling a parliamentary meeting of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party that "Turkey has never committed any civilian massacre throughout its history, and it never will, neither our faith nor our culture or moral values allows that."
Trump ultimately disagreed, threatening sanctions against Turkish officials "who may be involved in serious human rights abuses, obstructing a ceasefire, preventing displaced persons from returning home, forcibly repatriating refugees, or threatening the peace, security, or stability in Syria." He also warned of a steel tariff hike and the suspension of $100 billion-dollar trade talks, but did not use the diplomatic cudgel of the Armenian genocide issue.
Turkey-backed Syrian rebels pose for a group picture while flashing the victory gesture in a position outside the village of Al-Ghandurah, northwest of Manbij in the north of Syria's Aleppo province, October 16, near the frontlines with Syrian Kurdish-led forces, who have allied with the Syrian military.
On Thursday, however, a Trump administration delegation led by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo emerged from talks with Erdogan and his officials with what the U.S. referred to as a "ceasefire" deal. The agreement appeared to affirm Ankara's desire for a "safe zone" and the withdrawal of the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Democratic Forces militia that Turkey linked to the PKK.
The two warring factions themselves appeared to emerge with different understandings, as Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu declared "this is not a ceasefire," but a "pause" and Syrian Democratic Forces commander Mazloum Kobani argued the deal only applied to a small border area between Ras al-Ayn and Tel Abyad.
The move was also met with cautious skepticism by those fearing a repeat of history. In a statement sent to Newsweek, the Armenian Assembly of America—which calls on Congress to recognize the Armenian Genocide—said that it "joins the legitimate concerns raised by Congressional leaders about Turkey's invasion into Syria leaving America's Kurdish allies as well as other ethnic minorities, including Armenians and Assyrians, in precarious conditions."
"Turkey's attack against innocent civilians is all too familiar," it added, accusing Erdogan of seeking "the continuation of the Ottoman Empire" and "openly supporting ISIS" in Syria. "The international community should not stand by and watch as Turkey once again subjects ethnic and religious minorities in Syria to horrific atrocities. It is our legacy to protect those whose lives are at risk and our responsibility to prevent atrocities from being committed."
Meanwhile, the agreement came only after Syrian and Russian troops—whose countries both recognize the Armenian Genocide—joined Kurdish-led forces at a number of positions once held by U.S. troops, some of these locations within the planned "safe zone." Erdogan was likely to discuss the subject as he headed to Russia to meet with his counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi, the Black Sea city that previously hosted the two alongside Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for trilateral peace talk designed to end Syria's multi-sided war, in which yet another front has opened.
A map shows territorial control in Syria by faction as of October 7, according to IHS Markit via BBC, with the uncolored Golan Heights in the southwest under Israeli control since 1967. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have since made gains across the central section of the northern border as Syrian government troops came to the assistance of formerly U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces.
This article has been updated to include a statement by the Armenian Assembly of America.
