Oz must recognize the Armenian genocide

When I first learned that the TV doctor made famous on The Oprah Winfrey Show was running for Senate in Pennsylvania, I was bewildered. I never trusted Mehmet Oz’s advice as a television doctor, and I was always concerned about his ties to the government of Turkey.

My concerns go deeper than superficial wounds; they are rooted in personal history. I am the granddaughter of survivors of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1923. My grandparents were sent on death marches into the desert, and my great-grandparents and countless relatives were slaughtered in their villages.

Oz was born in the U.S., but his parents immigrated from Turkey. When I look for a track record to illustrate Oz’s duty and allegiance to the United States, I come up blank. I can easily find his record of allegiance to Turkey. Oz served in the Turkish army. He voted in the last Turkish presidential election in 2018. He is a dual citizen of Turkey and the U.S., and he maintains close ties with Turkey for business and personal reasons to this day.

Oz has said he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if elected. There is no way to gauge if this is an empty campaign promise. Before we decide which candidate will represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, Oz must recognize that the Armenian genocide occurred and make a public statement condemning it. The U.S. Senate officially recognized the Armenian genocide on Dec. 12, 2019, through unanimous consent, “recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide, the killing of an estimated 1,500,000 Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, and providing relief to the survivors.”

The Armenian genocide remains unrecognized by the Turkish government, the same government that Oz supports, while countries all over the world, including the United States, formally recognize it. We have to ask ourselves: Is a man who is unwilling to recognize genocide the man we want serving in our Senate?

As a descendant of Armenian genocide survivors, my bedtime stories were often of my grandmother’s childhood — the genocide, the kidnapping of our family members, reuniting, and her life as a refugee in Marseille, France. I grew up knowing what happened to my ancestors and feeling a visceral connection to their trauma. I felt a responsibility to communicate our stories of survival in the United States.

In order to share the impacts of the genocide with a broader audience, I produced the public television documentary What Will Become of Us, which began airing on PBS stations across the country in 2020. In this film, I share the stories of what Armenians have become in America. We are writers, doctors, musicians, lawyers, and inventors of the MRI and the ATM. We cultivate our ancestral culture at home through language, food, and music. In the Philadelphia region alone, there are five Armenian churches that welcome anyone in the region to join in their culture through festivals throughout the year.

My grandparents left France in the 1930s and came to the United States. They believed in the foundation of the American government, and they raised their children and grandchildren to believe that we would be safe here. They also believed that everyone has a duty to serve their country. In 1940, my grandfather enlisted in the United States Army. He volunteered for service because of what America represented to him: freedom and equality.

As a close ally of Turkey, a country that continues to deny the Armenian genocide, Oz is complicit in its denial and cover-up of the Armenian genocide. Collectively, they are denying the suffering and hardship that my grandparents and more than 1.5 million others endured. As recently as April, Oz refused to answer a simple, straightforward question about his recognition of the Armenian genocide.

» READ MORE: Remembering horror of the Armenian Genocide

Americans of Armenian heritage have spent the last century working for Armenian genocide recognition. As an American, I was raised to believe that I would be safe in this country. Our government would never allow foreign or domestic forces to harm us. Now, I question the safety of these borders. How can we be safe if a Turkish national and sympathizer is elected to the Senate?

We must remember this at the polls this November.

Stephanie Ayanian is a filmmaker based in the Greater Philadelphia area.