30 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
crimes against humanity, May 3, 2008
This review is from: A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (Paperback)
One of the many achievements of Taner Akcam's excellent, provoking and unsentimental 'A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the question of Turkish Responsibility' is in shifting a generally acknowledged human disgrace from the particular to the whole.
This impeccably researched and written historical tragedy, is specifically aimed at the people of Turkey to consider the suffering inflicted in their name on minorities, especially the Armenians,living within the borders of the Ottoman Empire prior to, during and immediately following the First World War.
But equally, he is alert to the self-interest and lack of responsibility shown by the major Western powers, all sheltering uneasily together under the umbrella of an evolving World War that inevitably occurred. This included Russia in a state of revolution itself.
As Akcam unerringly concludes, the Great Powers used the terms human rights and democracy to "legitimize the most obvious colonial moves" towards Ottoman territory and the Turkish people began to view these notions as "Western hypocrisy."
Following the international failure post-war and subsequently to bring perpetrators of the Armenian genocide to justice, Akcam suggests mankind may not yet be able "to draw a clear line of division between humanitarian goals, on the one hand, and a state's economic and political interests, on the other."
In this situation, which would seem to apply to the great majority of major and minor players of our globe's so-called United Nations, how can we (as Akcam says) "come to a consensus about ethical norms."
As long as man and womankind harbour and prefer for whatever reason to express actively or passively negative qualities like self-interest,greed, pride and dominance, violence and war and "crimes against humanity" will continue.
Nevertheless,it is a book such as this, so ably scribed and argued, that offers new hope and, perhaps ultimately, relief from our darkest propensities.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
89 of 145 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best book ever written on Armenian genocide, December 15, 2006
This book shows that Taner Akcam has emerged as the leading Turkish historian who possesses the linguistic knowledge (reading of Ottoman Turkish) and access to archives in Turkey to tackle the subject that is the source of denial by the Turkish State. This book without exception is the most readable and best documented to support the Armenian case of being victims of genocide in 1915 and explains that even the government of Mustafa Kemal understood and recognized the genocide. Akcam explains that the title of the book, "A Shameful Act" is from a speech by Kemal himself. But in addition to a clear explanation of the facts without polemic, Akcam clearly understands that denial of the genocide is a threat to Turkish democracy. He dedicates the book to a "righteous Turk" who saved Armenians. This brings his writing and empathy closer to that of the most serious works that attempt to understand the Holocaust. Genocide studies can be thankful for Akcam's research and writing. The support for the book has also come from very positive reviews in top newspapers and journals. This is a great achievement and a must read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Armenian Genocide, September 16, 2011
This review is from: A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (Paperback)
I thank Taner Akcam for being brave and for speaking up for the Armenians, who suffered the first genocide of the 20th century. Unfortunately, there is an ever growing movement by the Turkish government to cover this up, and they are paying countless individuals to go online and spread lies. Money truly talks for most corrupt individuals, and morals/ ethics are swept under the carpet. Unfortunately for these individuals, the entire Armenian diaspora is speaking up about their past and the horrors that their families were subjected to. Turkey cannot change the American, German, Austrian and English archives. The Turkish government has been actively going through their own archives to get rid of all traces of the genocide they so delliberatly planned. The government pays people to come to websites such as this one, and make comments on books they have never even read. These are individuals who are filled with so much hate against an entire nation, the Armenians, that it is truly a sad thing to watch. They also actively go out and try to smear the reputations of scholars who are for genocide recognition. One of those examples is Taner Akcam, who has received so much hate mail and death threats for simply speaking the truth.
Look at the historical archives in countries other than Turkey (because Turkey has actively been cleaning out all traces of this crime from their records). Research the U.S., British, German and Austrian records during the times of the Armenian Genocide. The U.S. and Israel are very aware that the genocide happened. But for political reasons, they currently don't want to upset their only friend in that region, Turkey. But soon the world will see that if you let a murderer get away with murder, they will only come back to commit the same crimes again. In the early 20th century, the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians suffered genocide at the hands of the Turkish/ Ottoman empire. Today the Kurdish people are suffering. And tomorrow.. who knows!
This is a lesson to all nations: Stop all genocides now! Stop the denials now!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
