Cruz: ‘The Massacre of the Armenian, Assyrian, and other Christian people should be called what it is: genocide’
WASHINGTON—Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on April 18 marked the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide with a statement calling for the proper recognition of the massacre of Armenian, Assyrian, and other Christian peoples as genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Cruz’s statement, addressed to the Armenian Church of Austin, was read on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol, during the Austin Peace March and Rally, an observance attended by thousands and organized by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of Texas.
“Sadly, many today are still unaware of this 20th century atrocity,” his statement read. “We cannot neglect the brutality carried out on these innocent souls because we cannot leave any room for them to occur again. If we forget the annals of history, we will not honor those who suffered in the death camps of the Holocaust, Soviet Union, Cambodia, and many others. That is a tragedy we can and should prevent.”
“Senator Cruz got it right,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “As Americans, we cannot be silent. We must speak the truth. His remarks highlight the Armenian Genocide gag-rule that Ankara continues to enforce on the U.S. government, and spotlight the stark choice facing President [Barack] Obama this April 24: to reject or enforce Turkey’s veto on our nation’s Armenian Genocide policy.”
Prior to his election to the oval office, Obama was clear and unequivocal in his pledge to properly characterize the murder of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children from 1915-23 by the Ottoman-Turkish government as genocide. “The facts are undeniable. 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,” stated then-Senator Obama in a Jan. 19, 2008 statement. The full text of that statement is available here.
Since his election in 2008, Obama has yet to honor that pledge. A complete record of Senator Obama’s statements on the Armenian Genocide prior to his election to the White House is available here.
The full text of Senator Cruz’s statement is provided below.
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Senator Ted Cruz
United States Senate
April 18, 2015
Armenian Church of Austin
In Recognition of the Armenian Genocide
One hundred years ago, the world was too silent as the Armenian people suffered a horrific genocide. Today, we commemorate more than a million souls who were extinguished by the Ottoman Government. Let the terrors of those events awaken in us the courage to always stand for freedom against evil forces. As Pope Francis rightly said, “Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it.”
The massacre of the Armenian, Assyrian and other Christian people should be called what it is: genocide.
Sadly, many today are still unaware of this 20th century atrocity. We cannot neglect the brutality carried out on these innocent souls because we cannot leave any room for them to occur again. If we forget the annals of history, we will not honor those who suffered in the death camps of the Holocaust, Soviet Union, Cambodia, and many others. That is a tragedy we can and should prevent.
As the Russian novelist and Soviet prisoner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn reflected, “In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future.”
I commend your efforts to illuminate the past, and to prevent such injustice from occurring again, whether in your homeland or in any country around the globe. Thank you for your commitment to speaking the truth in love.
May God bless the Armenian people, and may he continue to bless America.
Sincerely,
Ted Cruz
United States Senator
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Thousands of Greeks were murdered as well!!
Haven’t we heard this before? Bla bla bla stop wasting Armenian hard earned money, wake up, we’re being conned again
Armenians can’t be fooled anymore, all promised but no one delivered
As candidates, they promise. Once elected, what’s expected of them is whispered in their ear, and they change tune.
Agree 100%. They do not care one bit who they hurt.
I believe it only when Mr. Cruz presents a written commitment !
I hate making a negative comment about Ted Cruz. I appreciate his recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but this from a man who is a true hypocrite of religious freedom as well as human rights. He would foster his version of religion on the rest of us including Armenian’s and as we. know the Armenia was the first Christian nation.
Mr. Cruz was in Congress when attempt to recognize the Genocide failed in Congress. Did we hear his voice then? Now that he wants to run for President he speaks of recognition. How convenient. I think it’s just another politician looking for votes and nothing more. Didn’t we hear the same thing when the incumbent President needed votes?
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me
All you posting negative comments. What are your alternatives?
Nothing as usual.
Instead being thankful that a presidential candidate comes out swinging for our cause, you complain.
If you don’t want his support, send him an email/letter saying that he should not support us, and go vote for Hillary who actively worked to defeat past measures in the Senate that supported recognition.
Remember one thing. At this point, only diplomacy and convincing arguments would win, since turkey has more money and more politicians bribed on its side.
John, you are correct about one or the other. When Mr. Hamparian and I discussed candidate ObeyMe’s promise, I said it will never happen, too many US bases in Turkey, but everyone jumped on that bandwagon. For a person who heard first hand of the atrocities from my grandmother, I was disgusted at the broken promises, and the “I told you so’s” that came afterwards. Here are two things to do;
1- Forget about Hillary, all her promises will be in a private e-mail server that will be erased later.
2- More importantly, and this is also for Mr. Hamparian, for all those wanting the Armenian vote, have them come calling with a list of things they have DONE for the Armenian community. That will determine who will continue to press for the recognition of the Genocide.
My grandmother used to say “lezun voskor chune”, tongue has no bones, meaning it twists words around, but what they have done in the past, will be indicative of what they will support in the future. Just ask ObeyMe.
When or if Ted Cruze becomes president he will be struck of amnesia as usual. Armenians should stop participating in any election from now on. How many times should we become the village idiot(s)?
Written commitment? Are you serious? How many times can we as Armenians be lied to and used for ones political goals? Do not believe a word be it written in black, blue or whatever colour they wish to write in. It is a dream, it is another lie. Is this not a tragedy? and politicians just love taking the mickey of the unsuspecting Armenians.
Forgive me for my skepticism but I’ve been lied to before. Go to Washington get the bill for recognition passed and then I will be willing to pay more attention to your message as a candidate for president. Right now your credibility in my eyes is the same as President Obamas. ZERO.
I still have hope that one of these candidates will have the courage to carry through on they’re promise. But I will never again solely base my vote for a candidate on this promise they keep making.
And to Krikor, all there promises they make are in writing, sadly that means nothing. Its their inner commitment that makes the difference. And only the candidate himself/herself knows their own true intentions.
Sen. Ted Cruz and his caring about Christian minorities? It’s good, but I suggest people read this interesting article and watch their associated videos first:
http://time.com/3328063/ted-cruz-booed-israel-christian-middle-east/
watch?v=YOOZ6aPooSk
watch?v=x2ZVihACwQ0
Ted Cruz apparently gets all his Middle East information from the likes of the ADL, instead of the reality on the ground, which is why this gala dinner for “Christian solidarity” flopped. It started with well accepted anti-terrorism rhetoric then quickly turned into an Israel love-fest, at which point he was booed. Middle Eastern Christians apparently know about Israel and their own plight a lot better than the ADL/AIPAC dictation Mr Cruz was relaying. But then, in the dirty world of American politics, perhaps he can’t be blamed, since he was merely going through the motions as the prerequisite to remain relevant.
Dear Armenian Weekly (or all other Armenian-American online publications and lobbying groups, for that matter), aren’t you tired of giving us this crap about this or that candidate calling for recognition of the AG? Isn’t Obama’s fake promise or all other POTUS’ fake promises not enough for you to understand that most American politicians are just petty moral cowards, only hiding behind their country’s nuclear weapons and overfed with wealth acquired as a result of managed chaos they sow around the world? Enough already…
Sorry to say, but Armenian-Armenians complaining about Ted Cruz know little about or expect too much from the American political machine.
All Presidential candidates promise all sorts of things to various American constituencies to get elected, then promptly forget them when in office.
Then the same thing happens in 4 years, if incumbent runs again.
Then the next batch of hopefuls shows up in 4 or 8 years, and the charade starts anew.
That’s how the game is played.
No need to get emotional about it.
As to Ted Cruz: he has a platform.
His pronouncements are repeated by news agencies throughout US.
Denialist Turks and their Turkbaijani flunkies spend millions in US annually to erase the phrase “Armenian Genocide” from public discourse.
Every time a US politician utters the phrase “Armenian Genocide”, it’s a positive.
Part of the process to continue injecting the meme into the American conscience.
It’s a gift: why are people complaining ?
Ted Cruz bringing up the Armenian Genocide and genocide of Christian peoples has the effect of p___ away $ millions that denialist Turks spent.
And it cost Armenian-Americans not a single dime.
Take the gift, say “thank you”, and move on.
Every little additional straw on top of the Denialist camel will hasten the day when that particular one might be the last straw.
It takes a lot of effort and time to change things in America: there is great inertia and resistance to change, by design.
A lot of things that were considered anathema years ago, are now mainstreamed in US.
Advocates kept at it year after year after year, until critical mass was reached.
There will come a time, when no American president will dare say anything other than “Armenian Genocide”.
“Armenian-Americans complaining”
An admission by turkey would open the door to compensation Billions of dollars would cripple the Turkish economy Nevertheless they must step up to the plate it’s not going away.
Crippling an economy is far less detrimental than ethnic cleansing. Recognizing the Holocaust did not destroy Germany, and since Turkey is buying cheap oil from ISIS, it should be happy that ISIS is killing Christians. Cripple and recover, or 100 more years of wanting justice.
20 years ago I contacted Ralph Reed, thinking that the destruction of ME Christians, including our Evangelical Brothers, was a natural issue for his group.
Wrong-o. Ralph and his group could care less, primarily because our difficulties were not germane to, and undercut their affinity for Israel, then seriously dating Turkey.
Mavi Marmara, overt anti-semitism by the Turkish parties and state, Erdogan [our benefactor] and the break in relations with Israel laid the foundation for our efforts to be successful with Evangelical Christians. The threats of Islamist groups [with our friend Erdogan’s help] have made the issue acute.
I don’t really care about Ted, who will not be Pres anytime soon, if only because the US has had a surplus of inexperienced Senators recently. However, we should be making inroads into the receptive Evangelical groups who no longer prize Turkey as being Israel’s defender.
“It’s a gift: why are people complaining?” Because people allocate their resources–directly or via lobbying organizations–to every consecutive presidential candidate, resources that could otherwise be used for lawsuits, etc. and not enrich hypocritical American politicians.
Is everybody getting Turkish ads denying the genocide everywhere they go on google? I am. I recommend we all have robots search the web on our computers to bk them.
My Dear Christians, Do not trust anyone, only God, Our Dear Lord Jesus
This is His message.
And from today in our prayers are included those, who 100 years ago were cruelly cut, raped, burned, hung, crossed, tortured, sold, Our Armenian Grand and Grand Grandfathers and Grandmothers, actually our parents are Saints Children and We are Saints Grandchildren. Thank God. May We All Christians Be longliving, healthy, wealthy, happy, strong, winners and always with God. amen
It’s a start! Cruz has stumbled on the truth. Politicians lie and the rest of us live in reality. Do not pay too much attention to these charlatans and you will not be disappointed. If Cruz believes in his position on the AG I thank him.
The majority of these comments are not negative; they are realistic. They reality is politicians will say anything for a vote. Pick the candidate of your choice but don’t do it on a campaign statement about recognizing the Genocide. He didn’t act in Congress and he won’t if he’s elected. Recognize it for what it is -political hooey-and move on. Don’t get worked up over the usual campaign stuff from anyone