WASHINGTON, DC—Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian issued the following statement regarding President Barack Obama’s April 24th “Armenian Remembrance Day” message, which once against stops short of properly characterizing the crime as “genocide.”
“President Obama continues to outsource his policy on the Armenian Genocide, effectively granting Turkey a veto over America’s response to this crime against humanity.”
“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.”
“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.”
“While we do note that the President chose to join in today’s national remembrance, we remain profoundly disappointed that he has, once again, retreated from his own promises and fallen short of the principled stand taken by previous presidents. For our part, we remain committed to aligning U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide—and all genocides—with the core values and humanitarian spirit of the American people.”
Read President Barack Obama’s full statement here.
I would be interested to know how readers would rate my response to President Obama’s declaration on this April 24, versus ANCA’s, in terms of public effectiveness.
Here is my response:
“President Obama
On this 99th anniversary commemoration of the Armenian Genocide I would like to thank you for keeping the promise you made to us that you would recognize the Armenian Genocide. You did it, Mr. President you have recognized the Armenian Genocide to us.
However, we take issue with you Mr. President, for using a term that is only understood by Armenians. Medz Yeghern is a strictly an Armenian term that was coined by the survivors of the Armenian Genocide. We as Armenians use the term to this day but the world at large remains oblivious of the term, although they may infer it to mean Genocide.
We urge you Mr. President to take a bolder move next year, at the centennial of the Armenian Genocide and use your own word –Genocide – because it would be understood by the members of your own family and untold number of people world wide and would send a clear message to the world as to where the President of the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave” stands.
Thank you “
Very disappointing, but sadly not suprising.
The President does not have moral integrity. He weakly succumbs to Turkey’s threats, the lobby of the military establishments, and the secretive arrangements/agreements with respect to Turkey’s membership in NATO.
What a disgrace!!! It clearly demonstrates the double standards in US policy with regard to Human Rights and democratic values.
Vart Adjemian
Vart, was that a response to my comment?
How about Ms. US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, can’t she convince Obama to use the real term? She was quite convincing in her book “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide”. I guess that was written when she had integrity as a harvard professor. What’s a small renouncement of belief in exchange of the UN ambassadorship? Can somebody twitter her to ask her if she considers it to be ‘genocide’ I dont have an account.
Hers is @AmbassadorPower .
Stay determined and proud. We know the truth, as most people do and it will prevail.
What President Obama says or does not say about the Armenian Genocide is a secondary issue for me NOW. The day when we as Americans are able to organize and hold a commemorative event for the Armenian Genocide in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington DC in the presence of US congressmen, Senators and high government official and the President of the United States does not show up at such a ceremony, then I have every right to get mad at him. Watch out for the news on April 28 and you will understand what I mean….
Some politicians will never learn. Would a responsible politician take a chance in going to bed seeking short term gains with another politician without seeking the truth about its hitorical track record? Here we can clearly see that United States national interests and rules of basic moral perspectives among humanity fail to shake hands again as they have done so many times in the past. One of the questions among many is… Would the United States risk loosing its rights to the Incirlik air force base in Turkey over the Armenian issue?
The difference….
This evening the French President Francois Hollande speaking at the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in Paris, at the memorial of Gomidas Vartabed located at Place du Canada said the following and I quote him in French verbatim: “Cette tragédie porte un nom, un seul nom : c’est le génocide. Il n’y en a pas d’autre“ ( translation: This tragedy has a name, and one name only: Genocide. There is none other”). In addition he declared before thousands of French Armenians gathered at the memorial: “On April 24,2015 I will be In Yerevan participating in the Centennial Commemoration of the Genocide , so as to ensure its universal acknowledgment”.
Here is the difference between that side and this side of the Atlantic Ocean !
When comes to Genocide word leaders are in fear that when they use that word 1,5 dead people is going to jump over them, because of this fear they can not sleep well, they rather not sleep then not to use Genocide word.
I agree with Mihran Kassabian’s comment. But !!!!
In addition to Incirlik base, there are 23 other NATO bases in Turkey.
You can see them all on http://www.globalresearch.ca/nato-s-eastern anchor.
The Izmir Air station is the headquarters for NATO’s Allied Air Component Command. The Sile Airbase is the site for launching the Stinger missles. The importance of the other bases can be seen on the above mentioned site.
This geo-strategic military reality is a major obstacle for the recognition of the Genocide by the US , as US Presidents, Secretary’s of Defence,Secretaries of State, the military establishment, Israel,and the ADL place a very heavy importance on the presence and the role of these bases.
Even though Genocide resolutions have passed in House committees, and recently in the Senate, sadly those resolutions never reach the Senate or the House floor for a full vote due to the resistance and the fierce opposition of those mentioned above.
This is a very disappointing and frustrating position and situation for our Cause to be in, especially now that the tensions due to the unrest and turmoil in Ukraine have prompted.
The only way out out of it, is for ANCA and the other political Armenian organisations in the US and worldwide, unravel the secretive agreements made between the US/NATO and Turkey.
Admittedly Turkey has been successful in exploiting and frequently blackmailing the US by threatening to close the NATO bases. In reality, this will never happen as the NATO bases is a huge source of revenue for Turkey’s economy. All it really needs is guts on the part of the U.S. to call Turkey’s bluff, and for us to expose the secrecy surrounding NATO’s finances, after all it is US Taxpayers money.
Vart Adjemian
Isn’t this splitting hairs over terminology? Obama said “genocide” before his election and Meds Yeghern after his election. He said he is “consistent,” which I interpret to mean he has NOT backed away from the reality of the massacres being a genocide. He has instead turned to using the Armenian way of referring to the genocide. I believe Obama has bowed to diplomacy, not caved in to Turkish denial. I am of Armenian descent. Yes, we want him to say “genocide.” Even though he did not, I don’t believe he has turned his back on the reality of what happened to Armenians during World War One.
I don’t buy this. In 1981, there were US bases in Turkey, too, but it didn’t stop Ronald Reagan from properly calling the Turkish crime against Armenians as genocide.
It is time for Armenians to grapple with reality.To expect a man like Obama to honor his commitments is itself indicative of a troubling immaturity.After all,we are talking about a man who voted for partial-birth abortions and produced a bogus birth certificate to prove his qualification to be president of the U.S.Would you trust anything this man says or does?The greater blame lies with those who entertain such expectations,and those who voted for this interloper owe the others an apology.
Obama is weak and cowards and a liar th a t is all he has no values nor principales his price was paid by Turkey that is his price very low indeed.he does not deserve to be talked about
Mr. President, call a spade a spade. How can we trust you when you have promised to call it a genocide and now you are hiding behind words like tragedy. A tragedy is when a person perishes, but when 1,500,000 Armenians are killed in cold blood, it is called A genocide. A man in your position should honor his word and not act as a coward like you have done during all these years. How do you expect the American people to respect you, when you yourself do not respect your promise? It’s a good thing your presidency is soon coming to an end, because you have lost credibility with all Armenians and all other US citizens alike.