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August 30, 2004
Bernard Lewis, Holocaust Denier
This post has been corrected and expanded, based mostly on Chapter 10, "Freedom and Responsibility of the Historian: The Lewis Affair," in Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide. Thanks also to Fazal Majid for his cogent comments.
I was planning on bringing up Bernard Lewis next, but Anna in comments here beat me to it. Lewis, of course, is well known as the author of Islam: What Went Wrong? and the coiner of the phrase "Clash of Civilizations." Paul Wolfowitz is a prominent admirer.
It's an involved story, but briefly what happened is this:
1. Lewis mentioned the Armenian Genocide in his 1961 book The Emergence of Modern Turkey, referring to it as a "terrible holocaust."
2. In 1985 Congress tried to pass a resolution referring to the "genocide perpetrated in Turkey between 1915 and 1923." Sixty-nine historians sent a letter to Congress disputing this, writing:
As for the charge of "genocide," no signatory of this statement wishes to minimize the scope of Armenian suffering. We are likewise cognizant that it cannot be viewed as separate from the suffering experienced by the Muslim inhabitants of the region. The weight of evidence so far uncovered points in the direct of serious inter communal warfare (perpetrated by Muslim and Christian irregular forces), complicated by disease, famine, suffering and massacres in Anatolia and adjoining areas during the First World War.
One of the sixty-nine historians was Bernard Lewis.
The letter also complained it was unfair for the resolution to refer to Turkey as though it were synonymous with the Ottoman Empire. Amusingly, in The Emergence of Modern Turkey, Lewis uses "Turkey" to refer to the Ottoman state eleven times in just one chapter.
The historian Gerard Chaliand wrote to Lewis to express his dismay that Lewis had signed the letter. Lewis' main concern came through clearly in his reply. And guess what? It wasn't historical accuracy. "The only sure result of the resolution," Lewis wrote to Chaliand, "would be the disruption of US-Turkish relations."
3. In 1993 Lewis gave an interview to Le Monde in France in which he declared that what happened should not be considered genocide -- and that calling it genocide was just "the Armenian version of this story." In a second interview a few months later, he referred to "an Armenian betrayal" in the "context of a struggle, no doubt unequal, but for material stakes... There is no serious proof of a plan of the Ottoman government aimed at the extermination of the Armenian nation."
4. France's civil code has a section stating "Whoever is guilty of causing harm must make reparations for it." On this basis Lewis was sued by an Armenian organization and the "International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism" on the grounds that Lewis' statements caused harm to Armenian survivors. The judge found that Lewis had indeed committed a "fault" by "hiding elements which go against his thesis... that there was no 'serious proof' of the Armenian Genocide." Lewis was symbolically fined a franc.
France also has a bizarre criminal law, dating from 1990, under which it is illegal to "call into question" crimes against humanity as defined by the Nuremberg trials. Lewis was also charged under this. He was found innocent because the law, strictly construed, only applies to crimes of the German government from 1939 to 1945. However, according to Remembrance and Denial, the court "did recognize the historical validity of the Armenian Genocide."
I can't find the actual Lewis interviews online, but this article from the Armenian Weekly seems to quote additional excerpts. As the article points out, what Lewis says is deeply creepy in the way it precisely mimics denials of the Nazi Genocide. The Armenians, you see, were rebelling against Turkish rule. And the Ottoman government only wanted to expel them, not kill them. And where's the signed document by the Ottoman triumvirate ordering the annihilation of Armenians? And besides, lots of OTHER Turks died in World War I! Lots of people died in general! Why all this fuss about the Armenians specifically? Isn't this really all about the desire of the greedy Armenians to play on world sympathy so they can tear off a piece of the former Ottoman Empire as a homeland for themselves? Why doesn't anyone ever ask about their motives?
As I say, creepy.
5. In an interview with Ha'aretz after the case (generously hosted online by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations), Lewis disingenuously stated, "The deniers of Holocaust have a purpose: to prolong Nazism and to return to Nazi legislation. Nobody wants the 'Young Turks' back, and nobody want to have back the Ottoman Law." In other words, Lewis is saying that if the Armenian Genocide actually happened, no one would have any motive to deny it.
This is nonsense, and of course Lewis knows it's nonsense. The Turkish government has every reason to deny the Armenian Genocide occurred -- not least because it brings up awkward questions about what exactly they're doing to Turkish Kurds in the present day. So the head of the Turkish government archives wrote in a 1995 book that "The Turks have always been fair and just and tender against the people and minorities under their patronage," although the Armenians responded with "ingratitude and betrayal." I guess this must be true. After all, since nobody wants the Young Turks back, why would this guy lie?
So Lewis is clearly a repellent character. But I guess we already knew that.
6. The nice part of this story is that Israel Charny showed his worth as he did with Shimon Peres (see below). Lewis stated in a submission to the court in the suit against him that as a historian he had an obligation to change his mind when presented with new evidence. Charny wrote Lewis a letter mentioning this and asked:
I am making the above request to you that you send me, as soon as possible, a compilation of researches on which you base your statement to the court that the evidence about the massacres of the Armenians has changed over the years in the direction of disproving any organized plan and operational program of extermination.
Lewis never responded.
ADDENDUM: I think the French laws allowing people to be prosecuted for falsifying history are completely insane, and that "convicting" Lewis for what he said is preposterous. It was under these laws that Robert Faurisson, a denier of the Nazi Genocide, was prosecuted in the eighties. This led to a gigantic, stupid controversy when Noam Chomsky (along with hundreds of others) signed a petition calling for the French government to respect Faurisson's "freedom of speech and expression." Gigantic, stupid arguments about this can still be found clogging the internet today.
Interesting that all the people who attacked Chomsky don't seem to mind what Bernard Lewis did. Interesting that Lewis' actions have never caused a huge controversy. Interesting that someone who's equivalent to Robert Faurisson can be a respected political commentator in America.
Yes... interesting.
Posted at August 30, 2004 08:19 AM | TrackBackThe law in question is the "loi Gayssot", passed in 1990 and named after its framer, Communist member of parliament and former Transportation minister Jean-Claude Gayssot. The law is quite specific.
It condemns people who deny crimes against humanity, as defined by the Nurenberg courts, when the crimes against humanity were committed either by parties condemned by the Nurenberg courts or by parties found guilty by a French or International jurisdiction.
The French Parliament formally recognized the Armenian genocide in 2001, but Lewis seems to have been condemned because the genocide had been recognized as such by UN resolutions, presumably passed by the General Assembly, not the Security Council. It helps that France has probably the largest Armenian diaspora outside the former Soviet Union, and one that is quite influential at that.
As for the constitutionality of the law, it has not yet been challenged in the French Constitutional Council. Unlike the Supreme Court, ordinary citizens cannot challenge a law in front of the court, only the government or a member of parliament can do so (the far right National Front party, whose leader was condemned under the law, has not had a member in Parliament for some time).
Posted by: Fazal Majid at August 30, 2004 12:40 PMI heard about this law due to the Faurisson/Chomsky flap mentioned in this post, and had the same reaction that Jon did (preposterous). People who deny historical events are not committing a crime, they are in a certain psychological state that causes them to deny them, mostly due to projecting and stuff like that. I got interested in the holocaust denial issue a while back when a guy who had supposedly converted to Islam was also taking heat in France, probably under this law, in a way very similar to Faurisson. His name was Roger Garoudy and he was saying stuff similar to what the other holocaust deniers say (the gas didn't really kill the 6 million, typhoid did, etc.) and I was researching it so that I could respond to people on an Islam list about his arguments. Of course, they are repellent (like Bernard Lewis!) and of course completely wrong and the amount of projection that allows people to make these types of arguments is fascinating to a student of abnormal psych; but why should they be *illegal* in a country that has freedom of speech? And what good does it do to prosecute such people and give them slaps on the wrist like a 1 Frank fine? There are a lot of things about French law that confuse me as an American and this was definitely one of them.
Posted by: Anna in Cairo at August 31, 2004 01:03 AMI think the French owe Mr. Bernard Lewis an apology. How come a court is intervening in science? Mr. Lewis is a prestigeous and well known scholar.
Besides, the turkish military and Ottoman archives have just been opened up, and here is a incomplete list of the attrocities the armenians commited against the turks - the source is the Turkish Armed Forces archives, since they were the ones to get to the trouble spots whenever armenian militiamen were making "etnic cleansing" :
1910 Muş (10 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
21 February 1914 Kars-Ardahan (30 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1915 Van (44 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1915 Van (150 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1915 Bitlis (16 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1915 Muş (80 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1915 Bitlis-Hizan (113 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1915 Van (5 thousand 200 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
February 1915 Haskay (200 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
February 1915 Dutak (3 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
April 1915 Bitlis (29 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
April 1915 Muradiye (10 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
April 1915 Van (120 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
May 1915 Van (20 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
July 1915 Muş-Akçan (19 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
August 1915 Müküs (126 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
9 May 1915 Bitlis (40 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
9 May 1915 Bitlis (123 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
15 January 1916 Terme (9 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1 April 1916 Van-Reşadiye (15 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
May 1916 Muş (500 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
8 May 1916 Van-Tatvan(thousand 600 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
8 May 1916 Bitlis (10 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
8 May 1916 Pasinler (2 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
8 May 1916 Tercan (563 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
11 May 1916 Van (44 thousand 233 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
11 May 1916 Malazgirt (20 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
11 May 1916 Bitlis (12 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 May 1916 Van (thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 May 1916 Köprüköy-Van (200 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 May 1916 Van (15 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 May 1916 Van (8 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 May 1916 Van (8 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 May 1916 Van (80 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 May 1916 Van (15 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
23 May 1916 Of (5 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
23 May 1916 Trabzon (2 thousand 86 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
23 May 1916 Van (3 yüz civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
25 May 1916 Bayezid (14 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
June 1916 Van-Abbasağa (14 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
June 1916 Edremid-Vastan (15 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
6 June 1916 Şatak-Serir (45 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
6 June 1916 Şatak (thousand 150 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
7 June 1916 Müküs-Serhan (121 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
14 August 1916 Bitlis (311 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1919 Sarıkamış (9 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1919 Tiksin-Ağadeve (5 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1919 Nahçivan (4 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
6 January 1919 Zaruşat (86 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
21 January 1919 Kilis (2 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 January 1919 Antep (1 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
25 January 1919 Kars (9 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
26 February 1919 Adana-Pozantı (4 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
18 May 1919 Osmaniye (1 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
13 June 1919 Pasinler (3 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
3 June 1919 Iğdır (8 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
July 1919 Sarıkamış (803 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
July 1919 Kurudere (8 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
July 1919 Sarıkamış (695 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
4 July 1919 Akçakale (180 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
5 July 1919 Kağızman (4 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
7 July 1919 Kars-Göle (9 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
8 July 1919 Mescitli (4 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
8 July 1919 Gülyantepe (10 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
9 July 1919 Kağızman (6 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
9 July 1919 Kurudere (8 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
11 July 1919 Mescitli (20 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
19 July 1919 Bulaklı (2 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
19 July 1919 Pasinler (2 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
24 July 1919 Kars-Kağızman (9 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
August 1919 Muhtelif köyler (2 thousand 502 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
15 August 1919 Erzurum (153 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
15 August 1919 Erzurum (426 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
September 1919 Allahüekber (3 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
9 September 1919 Ãœnye (12 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
14 September 1919 Sarıkamış (2 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
November 1919 Adana (4 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
11 November 1919 Maraş (2 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
6 November 1919 Ulukışla (7 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
7 December 1919 Adana (4 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1920 Göle (600 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1920 Kars (3 thousand 945 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1920 Haramivartan (138 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1920 Nahçivan (64 thousand 408 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1920 Nahçivan (5 thousand 307 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
February 1920 Kars civarı (561 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1 February 1920 Zaruşat (2 thousand 150 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
2 February 1920 Şuregel (thousand 150 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
10 February 1920 Çıldır (100 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
28 February 1920 Pozantı (40 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
9 March 1920 Zaruşat (400 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
9 March 1920 Zaruşat (120 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
16 March 1920 Kağızman (720 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 March 1920 Şuregel-Zaruşat (2 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
6 April 1920 Gümrü (500 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
28 April 1920 Kars (2 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
5 May 1920 Kars (thousand 774 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
22 May 1920 Kars (10 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
2 July 1920 Kars-Erzurum (408 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
2 July 1920 Zengebasar (thousand 500 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
27 July 1920 Erzurum (69 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
May 1920 Kars-Erzurum (27 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
August 1920 Oltu (650 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
August 1920 Kars-Erzurum (18 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
15 October 1920 Bayburt (thousand 387 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
20 October 1920 Göle (100 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
17 October 1920 Pasinler (9 thousand 287 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
18 October 1920 Tortum (3 thousand 700 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
19 October 1920 Erzurum (8 thousand 439 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
26 October 1920 Kars civarı (10 thousand 693)
October 1920 Aşkale (889 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1 December 1920 Kosor (69 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
3 December 1920 Göle (508 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
4 December 1920 Kosor (122 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
4 December 1920 Kars-Zeytun (28 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
4 December 1920 Sarıkamış (thousand 975 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
6 December 1920 Göle (194 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
7 December 1920 Kars-Digor (14 thousand 620 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
14 December 1920 Sarıkamış (5 thousand 337 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
29 November 1920 Zaruşat (thousand 26 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
December 1920 Erivan (192 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1921 Nahçivan (12 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1921 Bayburt (580 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1921 Arpaçay (148 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1921 Karakilise (6 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1921 Karakilise ( 6 thousand civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
February 1921 Zenibasar (18 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
21 November 1921 Pasinler (53 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
21 November 1921 Erzurum (thousand 215 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1918 Hınıs (870 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
1918 Tercan (580 civilian turks killed by armenian militia)
March 1922 Maraş (4 civilian turks killed by armenian militia).
Kind regards
Osman Karacan
