Culture

Kim Kardashian West Is More Outspoken About A Historic Genocide Than Australia’s Government

We could learn from the Kim Kardashian West School of Diplomacy.

by Alex McKinnon  28 April 2015

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Kim Kardashian West can be relied on for many things — trashy reality TV shows, breaking the internet, filming cringeworthy music videos with Kanye West — but providing leadership on complex geopolitical issues is not generally considered to be among them. Her high-profile marriage to Yeezy is a modern-day Arthurian love epic, and the fact that the primary photo on her Wikipedia page was taken at Westfield Parramatta is threatening to replace Anzac Day as our greatest collective source of national pride, but she’s not likely to get a call from the Pentagon any time soon.

kim

“I’ve beeeeen to citiiiies that never close down…”

But in recent weeks Kim has done more to raise awareness and demand accountability for one of modern history’s greatest atrocities than the leaders of several major governments — including ours. The Anzac centenary wasn’t the only WWI milestone that took place recently (note to Malcolm Turnbull: please don’t get me fired for saying that, I’ll be good, I swear); April 24 saw people of Armenian descent in Australia and around the world mark the 100th anniversary of ‘Red Sunday’, the start of the Armenian Genocide, an attempt by the then-Ottoman Empire to systematically exterminate the Armenian ethnic minority within its borders. Up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in mass executions, forced starvations and forced marches to the Syrian desert. Hundreds of thousands of Assyrian Christians and Pontic Greeks were killed in similar fashion.

Despite an overwhelming consensus among genocide scholars, only 22 countries officially recognise the Armenian genocide, and Australia’s not one of them. That’s mostly because Turkey, the state that formed after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, has refused to acknowledge the Ottoman government’s foundational role in the genocide for 100 years, and goes to great lengths to try and make sure no one else does. In recent days Turkey has vociferously criticised Pope Francis and Russian President Vladimir Putin for using the word “genocide” in reference to the Empire’s actions, and two years ago Turkey threatened to ban NSW Parliamentarians from attending Gallipoli commemorations after the Parliament voted to recognise the genocide.

Hence the curious selective deafness on the Genocide from many Western governments, including ours; Foreign Minister Julie Bishop prefers to refer to what happened in 1915 as “tragic events” and argues there was no “genocide”. This puts Australia’s official position at odds with numerous members of our own government — Joe Hockey is of Armenian descent and has argued for recognition of the Genocide for years — but acknowledging reality would blow a hole in Turkish-Australian relations.

That kind of explains why ‘Red Sunday’ didn’t get the recognition it deserved from the Australian government last week; if Australia had recognised the Armenian Genocide on April 24, the Turkish government would’ve made us wave goodbye to the elaborate Anzac Day commemorations planned at Gallipoli on April 25. We’re not the only ones who Turkey’s managed to stop using the G-word, either — Barack Obama has long wiggled his way out of recognising the Genocide, despite promising to do so way back in 2008. Candidate Obama had no problem referring to the Armenian Genocide, but President Obama uses euphemisms like “national catastrophe” instead.

Enter Kim Kardashian West. The Kardashian’s Armenian ancestors fled Turkey in 1914, and the family has been vocal in their efforts to see the United States step up and call the Armenian Genocide what it is. A few weeks ago Kim travelled to Armenia with her sister Khloe and Kanye West to pay their respects to the victims of the genocide, and last week she published an op-ed in TIME Magazine recalling her Armenian heritage, criticising Obama and vowing to “fight for the genocide to be recognized for what it was.”

“I would like President Obama to use the word ‘genocide’. It’s very disappointing he hasn’t used it as President. We thought it was going to happen this year. I feel like we’re close—but we’re definitely moving in the right direction,” Kardashian West wrote.

Obviously, it’s a lot easier to take a stand on something as a Kardashian than as a Foreign Minister, especially when you’ve got an Anzac centenary to plan. But now that the 100th anniversary of both events has come and gone, maybe the government can take a leaf from the Kim Kardashian West School of Diplomacy.

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NOTE: This article originally stated that the Armenian Genocide was “believed to be modern history’s first genocide”. This is incorrect, and has been changed.