For the sixth year, President Obama broke his campaign promise to recognize the mass killing of 1.5 million Armenians as century ago as genocide.
“The facts are undeniable,” Obama said in a Jan. 19, 2008, statement. “An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as president I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
In a statement today, Obama said he has “consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view has not changed.”
“A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our interests. Peoples and nations grow stronger, and build a foundation for a more just and tolerant future, by acknowledging and reckoning with painful elements of the past. We continue to learn this lesson in the United States, as we strive to reconcile some of the darkest moments in our own history,” he said. “We recognize and commend the growing number of courageous Armenians and Turks who have already taken this path, and encourage more to do so, with the backing of their governments, and mine.”
Obama praised “the extraordinary courage and great resiliency of the Armenian people in the face of such tremendous adversity and suffering.”
“I applaud the countless contributions that Armenian-Americans have made to American society, culture, and communities. We share a common commitment to supporting the Armenian people as they work to build a democratic, peaceful, and prosperous nation,” he continued. “Today, our thoughts and prayers are with Armenians everywhere, as we recall the horror of the Meds Yeghern, honor the memory of those lost, and reaffirm our enduring commitment to the people of Armenia and to the principle that such atrocities must always be remembered if we are to prevent them from occurring ever again.”
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian noted that “Obama continues to outsource his policy on the Armenian Genocide, effectively granting Turkey a veto over America’s response to this crime against humanity.”
Turkey hotly opposes any such recognition, and there’s even a large Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans, more than 150 lawmakers strong, to oppose the regular legislative efforts to officially use the term genocide.
“It’s a sad spectacle to see our President, who came into office having promised to recognize the Armenian Genocide, reduced to enforcing a foreign government’s gag-rule on what our country can say about a genocide so very thoroughly documented in our own nation’s archives,” Hamparian continued.
“The fact remains that any durable improvement in Armenian-Turkish relations will require that Ankara end its denials, accept its moral and material responsibilities, and agree to a truthful and just international resolution of this still unpunished crime against all humanity.”
Hamparian added that they recognize Obama’s annual statement, but “remain profoundly disappointed that he has, once again, retreated from his own promises and fallen short of the principled stand taken by previous presidents.”
Turkey has paid D.C. lobbyists handsomely over the years to work against the Armenian Genocide resolutions that surface each Congress. Turkey has recalled its ambassador in a huff whenever the bill has made it out of committee.
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