President Obama Once Again Betrays Promise to Recognize Armenian Genocide

WASHINGTON—Earlier today, on the eve of Easter and the April 24th National Day of Prayer for the victims of the Armenian Genocide, President Barack Obama again betrayed his pledge to properly condemn and commemorate this crime against humanity, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

President Barack Obama once again fails to properly acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

Despite his repeated, detailed, and unambiguous pledges to recognize the Armenian Genocide, the president offered only euphemisms and evasive terminology to describe the murder of over 1.5 million men women and children—effectively keeping in place the gag rule imposed by the Turkish government on the open and honest discussion of this crime. In refusing, under foreign pressure from Turkey, to his honor his pledge, he again fell far short of his own view, as voiced during his campaign, that “America deserves a leader who who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide” and conveys the full factual, moral, legal, and contemporary political meaning of this crime against all humanity.

“President Obama’s disgraceful capitulation to Turkey’s threats, his complicity in Turkey’s denials, and his administration’s active opposition to Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide represent the very opposite of the principled and honest change he promised to bring to our country’s response to this crime,” said ANCA chairman Ken Hachikian.

“Instead of standing up for the truth and standing by the extensive U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide, President Obama is today, under threat from an increasingly unfriendly foreign power, standing in the way of the broad-based American civil society consensus for a truthful and just resolution of this crime,” added Hachikian.

“For a president who ran for office on the platform of ‘change’ and ‘honesty’, his record on this score—including, notably, his deeply offensive reference today to ‘contested history’ has been shameful. He has, in addition to betraying his own words and compromising America’s moral standing, gravely disappointed Armenians here in the United States, in Armenia, and around the world who had looked to him as an example of courage, conviction, and conscience,” continued Hachikian.

As a Senator and later as a presidential candidate, Obama pledged repeatedly to recognize the Armenian Genocide, stating, “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that president.”

Since then the president has, while asserting that his personal views of the events of 1915 have not changed, refused to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, mobilized his administration to block Congressional recognition of this crime, and deployed his secretary of state and diplomatic corps to pressure Armenia into the Ankara-driven Turkey-Armenia protocols. The administration has also failed to honor the president’s numerous commitments on a range of other Armenian issues, including Nagorno-Karabagh, foreign aid, and bilateral trade.

Obama’s complete statement is provided below.

***

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 23, 2011

Statement by the President on Armenian Remembrance Day

We solemnly remember the horrific events that took place ninety-six years ago, resulting in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. In 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire. I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed. A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests.

Contested history destabilizes the present and stains the memory of those whose lives were taken, while reckoning with the past lays a sturdy foundation for a peaceful and prosperous shared future. History teaches us that our nations are stronger and our cause is more just when we appropriately recognize painful pasts and work to rebuild bridges of understanding toward a better tomorrow. The United States knows this lesson well from the dark chapters in our own history.

I support the courageous steps taken by individuals in Armenia and Turkey to foster a dialogue that acknowledges their common history. As we commemorate the Meds Yeghern and pay tribute to the memories of those who perished, we also recommit ourselves to ensuring that devastating events like these are never repeated. This is a contemporary cause that thousands of Armenian-Americans have made their own. The legacy of the Armenian people is one of resiliency, determination, and triumph over those who sought to destroy them. The United States has deeply benefited from the significant contributions to our nation by Armenian Americans, many of whom are descended from the survivors of the Meds Yeghern.

Americans of Armenian descent have strengthened our society and our communities with their rich culture and traditions. The spirit of the Armenian people in the face of this tragic history serves as an inspiration for all those who seek a more peaceful and just world. Our hearts and prayers are with Armenians everywhere as we recall the horrors of the Meds Yeghern, honor the memories of those who suffered, and pledge our friendship and deep respect for the people of Armenia.

58 Comments

  1. Medz Yeghern = Great Crime = Armenian Genocide. Does President Obama know that he is using the same word that we use to name the same event? Someone must probably have told either him or his ghostwriter from the State Department. Do we know that he’s using the same word that we use to name the same event? We probably don’t, if we don’t read Armenian. Please look into Armenian-language newspapers since 1945, after the first time “tseghasbanutiun” (genocide) was used and count how many times in any given newspaper we have used the word “Medz Yeghern” or simply “Yeghern,” even in the same article where we use “tseghasbanutiun,” as a synonym. (You may just check newspapers of April 2011). Please also verify if the words “holocaust” or “Shoah’ have any legal value by themselves, since the last time I checked, the Genocide Convention did not mention them. And then, as we do with Kobe Bryant or Kim Kardashian, you may spin Obama’s declaration to our advantage: “1.5 million Armenians” (not 300,000 as in a Turkish version) “massacred or marched to their death” (did Armenian go marching as the saints?) “in the final days of the Ottoman Empire” (do we know the name of the state heir to the Ottoman Empire?).
    If you think that Obama or his successor will use the word “Genocide,” and/or something will come out from that, please read the following paragraph and learn some history lesson, as I have just done:
    “Both houses [Representatives and Senate], by a joint resolution, unanimously endorsed the idea of a homeland in Plaestine for the Jews, and on September 21, 1922, President Harding added his signature. The State Department considered the document distinctly annoying, and only at the last minute decided not to ask Harding to withhold his approval, and then for reasons dealing with congressional relations on another matter. But just as the careerists had refused to recognized Wilson’s public endorsement, so now the proceeded to ignore the resolution of 1922.”
    Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, Garden City (NY): Anchor/Doubleday, 1975, p. 310.

  2. Dear President Obama,

    As presidential candidate you promised to recognize GENOCIDE, not Meds Yeghern.
    All the best,

    An Armenian American who’ll make sure you get no vote in 2012.

  3. Is this recycled from last year’s speech? Sounds very familiar. Perhaps he  needs new speech writers.

  4. When an Obama does not recognize that his ‘inaction’ is diredtly addressing the fact that the issue of Genocides will continue – onging/unending (as recently, the Darfurians).  When a leader is playing with words to belie his intentions, when a leader cannot and will not see that he is just another pawn in PLOYs of a Turkey – even ‘using’ the leader of the greatest republic the world has known.  Turks, whose goals were secured when they ‘eliminated’ the ancient and advanced Armenians from their own homeland of nearly 4,000 years in order to gain for the barbaric hordest from the Asian mountains a ‘ready made’ culture for the Turks to claim as their own.  Then eradicating all signs that Christians had existed on their own Armenian homeland… it is proof of the intentions of the muslim Turk… For Armenians were the first nation to recognize Christianity as their national religtion in 301AD (then followed by Rome in 307AD). 
    When the Turks recently funded the desecration of the memorial site of USA President Woodrow Wilson – in Washington DC – none of our government agencies, none of our media, spoke up!!  Turks’ funds accomplished this as Wilson was the American leader whose efforts  supported Armenian emdeavprs following the Turkish Genocide of the Amernian nation.  Obviously, Turks can recall lWilson’s stance.  Yet, Turks are incapable of recalling their own Ottoman and subsequent leaderships obsessions with elimination and ongoing abuse the Armenians via their Turkish Genocides! Why?

  5. I have been saying  Obama won’t do anything to recognize the genocide and even worse yet he has hurt the financial standing of our great country by extending our debt higher than ever in recent history.  Pray for a new election and a new Presidency

  6. Well I’m not happy he didn’t come right out and say ‘genocide’.  That’s for sure.  It’s heart-breaking to have him come so close but leave our truth once again unsupported by the leader of the United States.  He acknowledged the 1.5 million Armenian victims but failed to say who was responsible…  Very sad. Obviously he is at odds with the pressure from Turkey and the State Department and wants to make a statement that reflects the truth he has previously acknowledged but now finds himself ‘urged’ not to declare. It is a very sad thing when the President of the United States succumbs to a gag rule invoked by the descendants of genocide perpetrators and finds himself playing word games that betray his own beliefs.  I wonder if he’ll sleep well tonight.

    When he says:

    “Contested history destabilizes the present and stains the memory of those whose lives were taken, while reckoning with the past lays a sturdy foundation for a peaceful and prosperous shared future.”

    I firmly believe he is admonishing the Turks (not us) for standing in the way of reconciliation based on their denial of the truth.  

    Why he doesn’t make a “a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts” as he advocates above, is baffling …and frightening for what it says about either the limits of his power, the limits of his courage or the limits of his leadership abilities.

  7. The same routine, the same old tricks…
    President Barack Obama, we never asked you to speak in Armenian!
    So, next when you make an speech,  specially speeches relating to ‘GENOCIDES’ and ‘Armenian GENOCIDE’ use English terms!
    Isn’t that too much to expect from an American President?

  8. I think we should stop using the word Meds Yeghern altogether and officially adopt Dzeghasbanoutiun – the only word that is correct anyways. Then if he likes Obama can say Dzeghasbanoutiun. We Armenians use words like Djart (massacre), Meds Yeghern etc. but we should police ourselves and make sure we use Dzeghasbanoutiun! As for Obama betraying us, I suggest it is the Armenians who have betrayed our 1.5 million dead by not taking the Genocide seriously enough. How much money goes into our cause I ask? Stop funding our corrupt churches, spending millions towards maintaining our church divisions and towards maintaining community centres for each political affiliations. Stop blaming others for our own folly.

  9. The President of the United States of America was appointed for his post. This is a fact. We did not have an election in 2008 we had a popular contest for the person selected to pacify the masses as Bush’s popularity was diminishing by leaps and bounds. Since the killing of John F. Kennedy we have lived under a dictatorship dressed as a democracy. A military coup was empower and has since ever ruled. Adolfo Hitler amassed an army and then went to war against various nations. Today we do the same, but under the banner of “Democracy” what a farce. The current Barack Obama administration has taken this fraud to its extreme with his “Hope and Change” campaign of 2008 and remarkably has failed to implement his promises of change. We the people of this once great country fell for his hypnotic rhetoric and believed everything he said. I, too fell for his charm and charisma, but now I have seen its all been a ruse. How could this phony fool the American population without the mass media in complacent to this sinister plot. Yes, we are now deeper into wars of aggression, Bush and company are free and treated like heroes, and our economy is shredded by the banks and financial institutions determined to enrich themselves over the working class. This is genocide American made in the 21st century. Millions have lost their job, homes and livelihood and we are called to sacrifice our youth for the name of freedom. Mr. President you were given the Nobel Peace Prize and you start a war with Libya without notifying congress and in violation of U.S. Constitution, Peace is War as in 1984 we are now living in a fascist state. My Armenian brothers open your eyes for we have been taken for a ride and this wagon is headed for a cliff. We must consider impeachment of this political hack before its too, late.

  10.   When Turkey comes forward and embraces their past,wewill not care about all these non-binding and limited resolutions. Just what constitutes a country ” recognizing”the Genocide?
    A resolution one year that’s not renewed the next. A Presidential statement? I believe that our community spends far too much of our limited resources on these gestures. In addition, i  believe that our efforts should be increasingly focused on reparations and not recognition.
    If we believe then we must behave!
          If our community must continue to be genocide-centric, then let’s focus on the real issues. Does all this really end with a simple statement that it was genocide… an ridiculous understatementof what we obviously already know? Of course not. Justice is tied to reparations.One way to deal with and isolate is to ignore it and behave as we believe. This victim mentality is not healthy for our community.It breeds anger and frustration. For too many Armenians this has become their only identity… not our culture ,our faith, our future but a victim frustration.It does give some, otherwise lost to assimilation,identity but we must strive for a deeper meaning to this identity.
          On this day of the glorious Resurrection of our Lord, let us  pray for the souls of our 
    departed martyrs and survivors, for the justice our people demandand for the continued
    renewal of our nation. 

  11. Dear all: The United States of America is not the whole world. Get over it. Why are the measured, reluctant, weasel words of Obama so important? All over the world, there are more honest, more powerful leaders, less fearful of turkey, in less need of air space for wars the rest of the world does not want to participate in, less in need of oil, more willing to walk the walk, not just talk the weasel talk. Here is the speech the Canadian Prime Minister made on the 24th. Canadians don’t hold their breath, petition, take up donations, hold bake sales, plead; they have an expectation that this is exactly the terminology their Prime Minister  will use. And he does. Why? Because he has integrity. That’s where real power lies. Power lies with those who have the guts to stand up and be openly counted on the side of honesty and truth. Power lies with those we know we can trust, not with those who deceive us. If your word is not your bond, you are not a real man. Only real men inspire trust.  Women as well, of course.  http://www.conservative.ca/press/news_releases/statement_by_prime_minister_stephen_harper_on_the_commemoration_of_the_armenian_genocide

  12. Good comments – Van and Stepan.

    1. As I told last year, let’s use (even a part of) all this money on liberated Armenian territories in Republic of Artsakh. That is the REAL deal.

    Dear American-Armenian organizations, create a Committee/Coordination Center  on Liberated Territories TODAY and go there as soon as possible.

    2. Today the Armenian Genocide is a known fact. Let’s move to the next level.

    PS. “glorious Resurrection of our lord”?  Dear Armenians, we have OUR OWN ARMENIAN Gods. So let’s pray to our ARA Astvats that the ARMENIAN GODS return to Armenian Plateau as soon as possible.

  13. Come November 2012, I will make sure that no one in my family, my friends, nor anyone I know voets for Obama….The Armenian people helped put Obama into office (he used us), and the Armenian people can put Obama out of office….We have millions of votes in California alone…LETS GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!!!!! NO recelection for OBAMA!
    The Friday before the Presidential elections, Obama AGAIN proclaimed his promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide….he is a lying bastard, no different from any other politician.

    LETS GET AN ARMENIAN INTO THE PRESIDENCY!!!!! We now have come far in this country, we’re educated, we have rebuilt ourselves, we are stronger than the Turkish bastards and we outnumber them in the U.S. lets use our strenghts, WE CAN DO THIS!!! YES WE (ARMENIAN’S) CAN!!!!! If we want something done, we have to do it ourselves, and we CAN do it ourselves!!!!

  14. Today s the glorious Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Armenians are proud to be the first nation on the face of the Earth that officially adopted Christianity as state religion. With Jesus Christ we also rise on this solemn day. Come, Lord Jesus, and deliver us from evil. On this day so sacred for billions of people inhabiting the Earth, let’s forget about the murderous Turks or treasonous American presidents…

  15. It is amazing that how, President Obama during his Senatorial period said that
    ‘If elected as President, I will Recognize the ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’, We As Armenians
    beleived him & sincerely voted in favor of him to be elected as US President, but…
    after passing so called the Bridge & being elected as President, he did not keep
    his promise & did not Recognise the Armenian Genocide, but did use the word
    ‘Meds Yeghern’ instead of the word ‘Genocide’ these two words do not have the same
    meaning… first of all ‘Meds Eghern’ is not known of what it means to Non Armenians,
    but for Armenians ‘Meds means Big’ & ‘Yeghern means Massacre, calamity’ which
    clearly does not mean ‘GENOCIDE’ …According to well known Webster Dictionary:
       GENOCIDE Means: The systematic killing or exterminating of the whole poeple or
                                 nation.
    Mr. President: You cannot say, I have not changed my mind, when you change the 
                         words & consequently change the meaning of what you had promised.
                         Playing Politics should not & in this case Must not be involved when it
                         matters a NATION…Please provide confidence towards those whove have
                         so sincerely & massively supported you in yourly election as President.
                         My Well known, educated, Respected & Innocent Christen Grand Father
                         & mother well brutally murdered by Turks their souls as well as mine
                         will not rest until the JUSTICE is served…

  16. Photography is a life without it 
    No body could confirmed the Armenian Genocide…
    Still everyone can see the flesh and smashed skulls of our Genocide…
    In valleys on pavements of Istanbul so called a civilized place….

    Still some refuse to say word Genocide????
    That’s American President …Dr.OB…

    I wish Armin T. Wagner was alive 
    and the famous Armenian Photographer Yousuf Karsh
    Who took the best photo of Winson Churchill…without his pipe

    Both need to arrive 
    Probably in OB dreams

    Karsh must tell him…
    Why he went and lived in the West 
    Leaving his belongings in the happy soulful East…
    Lucky…He did not left his brain and hands
    How could OB still refuses to understand…

    Also OB had a Armenian Female Photographer
    Took for him the best photos before standing on the presidential stage… 
    But he forgot 
    Because she is Armenian…
    I will send her name later 
    As i want to continue my voice 
    Through my tears…
    Might turn something else on Ipads
    No longer e-mails can help  
    Neither showing photos…

    He needs his 7 senses to see all…to say. 
    No longer vision and ears are enough…
    Because aren’t deeply combined by his soul…!

    Sylva

    April 25, 2011
    Melancholic day after Easter After remembrance

    Written Instantly

  17. Do the terms “Shoah” or “Holocaust” diminish the Jewish genocide? The equivalency is well established, and I see as real progress establishing the same equivalency between “Meds Yeghern” and genocide. The psychological and above all legal consequences of genocide must be dealt with; better sooner than later, as the shame of leaving this crime unpunished belongs to so called “civilized” countries and their electorate. I tell all my American and sincerely freedom and justice loving friends that their government is run by hypocrites.

  18. It is a high time to stop wasting our limited resources on an American president’s uttering the word “Genocide” and concentrate on legal side of our Cause. We have lands, pastures, houses, properties, personal belongings, bank accounts, insurance indemnities stolen by the murderous Turks in 1915-1923
    as a result of systematic mass murder and forced deportations of innocent
    Armenian citizens of the Empire. We have brilliant lawyers—Armenian and
    non-Armenian alike—who can form a group to start pushing the issue of legal and moral compensation to the descendants of the genocide victims. Why waste so much time, energy, resources on whether or not a US president uses the correct term each year?! Ronald Reagan used it, and then what happenned? Don’t we know that the US government knows full well that Turks are guilty of
    genocide? Of course, we do. What does the word spoken out by a president give us in terms of advancing the Cause further?

  19. To H. Khosdeghian [April 25 comment]
    “Holocaust” is understood to mean the Jewish genocide because the Jewish people have done the work necessary to make it so, made possible largely by Germany’s admission of its crime and acts of restitution for it. Has Turkey come close? No. And have Armenians come close to universally establishing the true meaning of Medz Yeghern. No. And if you ask Davutoglu what Medz Yeghern means, he will promptly tell you it means the ‘great catastrophe’ of World War One which devastated both Turks and Armenians. Would that be satisfactory? Would you also be satisfied if the presidential statement said,  “In 1915, 1.5 million Hais were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire”? The Armenian Genocide should be accorded a proper name that is universally understood along with all the other well-known tragedies of history, not referred to as a set of disturbing events in a far off time. That is the only way to show one’s proper respect for it.

  20. Hye, it’s almost frightening!  Why has the leader of the greatest republic the world has known become ‘gagged’ when it comes to recognizing, that with his stance against the scourge of Genocides – encourages the cycle of Genocides to continue – ongoing/unending. For, instead, were the civilzed nations of the world to agree that the Turkish Genocide of the Armeniian nation eliminated the Armenians from their homeland of nearly 4,000 years – to steal all that was Armenian… lands, properties, religious sites, and all that was the Armenian culture -and the more than one and one half millions of humanity violated and eliminated in order for the hordes from the Asian mountains shall have, by slaughtering and worse, stolen the Armenian’s homeland for the Turkeys to gain a homeland – ready made – an ancient and advanced society – for Turkeys to claim as their own. Then via  denials their crimes… they have even convinced themselves they are worthy of all the fruit of their crimes had won.  Worse yet, Turkey leaderships, over the years, seek to eliminate any and all signs which indicate these lands belonged to the Armenians, as if, now nearly 100 years since the Turkish Genocide of the Armenian nation, the Armenians shall have ‘disappeared’ been eliminated, inter-married and mixed to have become as extinct peoples.  Our Survivors, whose memories, passed on to our 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations, horrors of the Turkish inhumanity shall never be ‘erased’… for even the misdirected Turks, in all their denials, shall always know how they gained lands via Genocides – not by wars – but by the inhumanity of the vile Gnocides, which other despots used as their models, for from the 19th, 20th, 21st centuries thus the cycle of Genocides continues. into today… the latest Darfur, sadly. Too, wiith the bullying stance of the Turks, who have  “gotten away with murders'”  the cancer of all humanity continues – obviously, for centuries, via

    Genocide perpetrators: WINNERS all the victims of Genocide: LOSERS!

    Over all the years that Genocides have been ignored/allowed to be pursued by any perpetratores/despots,who chooses to pursue, misdirected and worse, humans against humanity, over centuries on our planet, have not, in addition to all the victims of genocides, those slaughtered, those surviving with horrific memories – but yet, have we not all the peoples on our planet earth, too, been the losers – of humanity?

  21. re: “It is a high time to stop wasting our limited resources on an American president’s uttering the word “Genocide” ….”

    We do have limited resources. However, we are not ‘wasting’ it on pressuring US Presidents and US Congress to utter the word ‘Genocide’: the reason we do it and must continue doing is not what the real purpose appears to be. It would be hard to explain and list the myriad benefits of doing so in this post. However, Armenia is in a very strategic place…and  in the way of various geopolitical interests and designs being cooked up in the (Neocon)  West – where a large Armenian Diaspora lives and votes.

    We should and must do it all – support Armenia & Artsakh, continue Genocide recognition efforts, legal efforts, educating 3rd parties…
    We certainly must prioritize and allocate our resources smartly. However, we have more than enough people to do it all: more of  us need to get involved, that’s the ticket.
     

  22.  Paul;  You wrote: “We have brilliant lawyers—Armenian and
    non-Armenian alike—who can form a group to start pushing the issue of legal and moral compensation to the descendants of the genocide victims.”
    I ask again – where are these “brilliant lawyers? Why do we not hear from them, except for the endless assertion of what the world already knows? When do they stop repeating what you can read on Wikipedia and actually get to work? When do we go to court? Why not now? Why not, oh, “brilliant lawyers?” why not? There is no point in talking about brilliant lawyers who “can.” We need to find the lawyers who “will.”
    Don’t just not vote for Obama. go to your friends and neighbours and co-workers and remind them that the country is teetering on bankruptcy, that people are out of work, that stores are boarded up, families have lost homes, and at the helm of the country you have a man who doesn’t walk the talk. It’s time for a change. It’s time for hope. the real stuff this time. Campaign for someone else.

  23. “Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it — and like too many other such persecutions of too many other peoples — the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.” — Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 4838 of April 22, 1981
     
    Kindly provide, Avery, just a couple out of the myriad of benefits that Armenians got after this proclamation?

  24. CALL
    Looking for My Long Lost ‘Cousin’
    Hello, my Turkish “friend.” Are you sure your great-grandmother was not Armenian?
    Between 1896 and 1915, continued to 1923, the Armenian population of current eastern Turkey was systematically annihilated. They were simply dislodged from their hometowns, able-bodied men were separated from the family and killed, and the old folks, women and children were forcibly marched from village to village until they all perished.
    During these marches, whenever the group passed through a village, the Turkish village-boys, and men, helped themselves to Armenian females and young girls for sex. They also helped themselves to young boys for the same purpose. It was a big free-for-all. They would abduct them, take them home, and the whole clan would use them as sex-slaves, for years. Thousands of them.
    Some of these girls eventually became pregnant and bore children. Turks being historically nomadic and familial invariably accepted these babies into the family, and they grew up as another child of the family. The boys, in turn, upon reaching manhood became love objects of the Turkish wife, the “khanoom,” who, also, eventually became pregnant, and their children, likewise, became part of the family.
    These half-Armenian children grew up as Turkish speaking men and women who married and made families and carried on their normal lives thinking they are Turks.
    My long lost ‘cousin’ may be one of these half-Armenians.
    Hello, my Turkish “friend.” Are you sure you are not my ‘cousin’? Are you sure your great-grandmother, or great-grandfather, was not Armenian? … ARE YOU SURE?
    We may be ‘cousins,’ after all.
    Why don’t you go find out.
    And yes, “One percent Armenian equals hundred percent Armenian.”
    END
    This will work like the Trojan Horse. ·

  25. paul:

    Kindly re-read my post, in particular about the Neocon West.
    If what I am saying between the lines is not obvious to you, then  no couple or two dozen examples will convince you. 

    You believe we are wasting out time, I don’t.

  26.   Sometimes this obsession we have with US recognition(which has already happened in my view) is tied to a victim mentality that still controls our psyche. It’s almost like we need to hear others say it so we … what…believe it. I understand the closure issue when the perpetrator goes unpunished, but that has to do with Turkey. I also believe that Turkey is far more likely to admit to the truth when the critical mass of their society demands an accounting of their own history…. not due to pressure from other countries.
         Stand proud Armenian people… the U.S. government and Turkey both know it was genocide. The question is….are we prepared to go to the next step or has our obsession and frustration blinded us?

  27. Perouz:  I ask the same questions and don’t get the answers. Isn’t advancing the legal aspect more beneficial for the Cause than hoping that Obama or whoever utters the G-word from year to year? Even if reparations as a possible form of justice for the overall Armenian Genocide (borrowing from Henry Theriault’s “Reparations as Essential Element of any Just Resolution of Genocide”) are not feasible at the moment, what holds us from demanding reparations as individual compensation for particular material losses resulting from actions taken by Turks during the Armenian Genocide?

  28. There are usa senators who have a long history of supporting us. support them during this next election. In politics, as in life, a man who betrays your trust is no longer trustworthy. Move on. Ditch the loser. Is your lawyer an Armenian? Ask him the big “why not now” question. We don’t need lawyers to tell us what has been done to us. We need lawyers who will tell us what is going to be done for us.

  29. Actually, our obsession with US recognition has much to do with the issue of the ending of the cycle of Genocides – a need of the USA – leading the civilized nations of the world – to end the cycle of Genocides… bringing the guilty to face their crimes of humans against humans – too, all humanity.  While the Turkish Genocide of the Armenian nation remains as an open wound… a Turkey ‘getting away’ and lying/denying all the slaughters, rapes, kidnappings, tortures and more – so that a Turkey could then steal an ancient and advanced nation – ready made – for their hordes from the Asian mountains could then claim as all belonging to Turkeys.  Justice is being thwarted by the perpetrator/denier… but even worse, it is the civilized nations that have allowed a Turkey, and all who have committed Genocides since, unabated and  allowed by all the civilized nations/states any justice to being denied to all the victims – who were to perish to the will of the perpetrators – whilst the civilized leaderships ignored, watched, as humanity was demeaned and peoples eliminated!  Unbelievably, none bravely stepped forward against these killers of innocents.  That is the shame of Genocides – when the bully nations were allowed to bully to whatever devious extent they could devise, to eliminate whole nations.  Still, the shame is that none of these civilized states approached the bully whose tortures were vile, whose goals were disgusting. 
    Thus all humanity has been shamed… whilst the guilty bullying continues – latest in a Darfur… the cycle of Genocides – unending, innocents’ lives violated… with no end of the cycle of Genocides, and what this means on our planet – Genociders – WINNERS, Innocents – LOSERS.  But, then with all the nations who have avoided ending Genocides – appears HUMANITY loses too.

  30. Obama..”Medz Putz” describes your thought process. This term is understood by both Armenians & Jews!

  31. Avery:    I believe we’re wasting our time on having a US president utter the G-word, not on all other aspects of the Cause, one of which, and I think the most important one—the legal aspect—inexcusably lags behind. I’m stating this overtly, not between the lines. Some people believe that pressing US presidents to mention the G-word has “myriad benefits”. I asked openly, not between the lines and irrespective of the common knowledge about Armenia’s being in a very strategic place or the US political establishment influenced by a neocon ideology. Ron Reagan did characterize the mass murders of Armenians as genocide. What was just a couple out of the “myriad benefits” that’s showered upon Armenians in the years following his proclamation that you saw and we missed?

  32. Plus, I forgot to mention that Obama has not shown his transcripts from Columbia university or Occidental College.

  33. paul:
    No need for sarcasm.
    Repeat: if what my two posts above have not adequately conveyed my view of why keeping pressure on POTUS and US Congress has myriad benefits, then  no couple or two dozen examples will convince you.  It should be obvious: if it isn’t to you, then it isn’t.
     
    You believe we are wasting our time, I don’t. I see myriad benefits, and will continue, and encourage people to continue, to pressure POTUS and US Congress.
    In my view it’s a process, not necessarily a destination: the benefit is in the process.
     

  34. Avery:   I gather when someone decides to reply to a comment, his or her argument needs to be supported by evidence. Mine was. As we all see, the legal aspect of the Cause is lagging behind the pressure on the US presidents which, to many, is inferior to the legal demands of reparations as individual compensation for losses, if not a form of justice for the overall Armenian genocide. You maintain that the hitherto unproductive business of keeping pressure on POTUS has myriad benefits, one of which being in the process that you see. I don’t think sharing with us what you see will jeopardize the national security of Armenia or provide much-needed info to the Turkish paid agents scurrying on these pages. A rather lengthy part of the process—30 years—passed from Reagan to Obama evolving from the term “Armenian Genocide” in 1981 to “Medz Yeghern” in 2011. It is not a destination of course, our children and grandchildren will in all likelyhood continue seeing the benefits of it for another 30 to 60 or more years, but within the confines of that particular past period what was, I’m sorry to repeat, just a couple of myriad benefits that the Armenians missed and you saw? Just within the past 30 years, not in the future or the next stage of the process, what were they? If you decide to refer me to your self-explanatory comments above, at least try to explain, if you can, as to why the business of retrieving the G-word from a US president appears to be more important for our Diasporas than filing legal claims and getting material compensation?

  35. Paul, out of curiosity, when you say that you will not vote for President Obama in 2012, will you vote for a candidate who promises to recognize the Genocide?

  36. K.G.:  I despise politicians and the political establishment and never cast ballots based on their promises to recognize the AG. I believe, and there are many like-minded people in the community, that the emphasis must be put not on keeping pressure on POTUS to utter the G-word year after year after year, but on shifting attention to demanding reparations as individual compensation for material losses resulting from the Ottoman actions during the genocide. Only a couple of cases have been filed and won so far. Why? Almost every one of us had relatives murdered or deported in 1915-1923 and their lands, pastures, bank accounts, personal property, and insurance indemnities stolen by the Turks. I don’t know, is just a couple of lawsuits all we could do to reclaim what belongs to us? Isn’t the massive wave of lawsuits (even if some of them will inevitably be lost) more essential for the Cause than having a US president call things by their name?

  37. Will this be the final stroke for us to wake the h*** up and stop supporting the US presidents who dupe us into believing that they’ll keep their promises to recognize genocide in order to get our votes? Was all the previous experience not enough for our community leaders and organizations? Isn’t it time to stop this futile business of pressuring POTUS to utter the G-word and get on the business of filing lawsuits for the stolen property and bank accounts by the Turks?

  38. This is bad, but you have to consider diplomatic relationships that are in stake. Obama clearly did not do much of what he promised, but neither did almost any president PLUS the president is not able to really affect that much. Most of what happens in the US is determined by everyone BUT the president. His most important job is to speak on behalf of the country, which he clearly failed to do in the eyes of Armenia, but if you think that Obama did not have a choice no matter what HIS view on the issue is, means that the US is more concerned with the relationship with Turkey than Armenia. Turkey has a more powerful economy, so obviously the people really making decisions would be in favor of keeping on Turkey’s good side.

  39. It amazes me to hear all the anger regarding the Genocide of the Armenians buy the Turks yet I agree with it all. We forget the Genocide perpetrated buy the extermination of the indigenous people who’s land we now “occupy”. Genocide is Genocide. And if you think “giving them permission” to open casinos is somehow making them whole again only demonstrates your ignorance. All this vitriol regarding Pres. Obama again only demonstrates your ignorance and racism. Lastly, all past and future Presidents have and will offer there condolences and cannot do anything given today’s geopolitical climate. Get over it. We were weak and defenseless and nature hates a vacuum. If you don’t take it and protect it, someone else will come for it. If you feel anger right now, you are in the right place. In closing, I’ll say this.. “The truth will set you free”. However, that’s only half the message. What’s left off is what they don’t tell you, “but first it will piss you off”. So stay pissed off and take action.

  40. It amazes me to read a comment by a foolhardy Turk posting under an Armenian name. Dozens of posters in AW have written volumes already about the incomparability of the cases of the Armenians and the indigenous peoples of North America. Killings during colonization, no doubt, took place, but the major reason of death of the Native Americans was not warfare, but diseases. Several hundreds of Spanish and European colonists could not–even with their sophisticated weapons of the time–annihilate hundreds of thousands of locals. Second, the death of the Native Americans was not the result of a deliberate killing, because the Conquistadors and the Europeans pursued the goal of settlement in the new lands not deliberate mass murder of a large group of people of a particular ethnic group. Most importantly, the United States formally apologized to American Indian tribes for ill-conceived policies and acts of violence committed against them.

    As for Pres. Obama, there is no ignorance. What racism? Are you out of your mind? The President has PROMISSED acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide and failed to keep his word. What does Armenians’ natural indignation for this have to do with ignorance or racism?

    As for “get over it”, tell Turks to get over distortion of history, avoidance of guilt, and reluctance to offer an apology. Armenians were not a belligerent side to be assessed as “weak and defenseless”. Armenians were citizens of the Ottoman empire whose government found a final solution to retaining as many lands for the Turks as possible by mass murdering a whole ethnic and religious group of their co-citizens. A deliberate action aimed at a particular group of people. Now, that’s a genocide! Had Armenians been a sovereign state fighting the Turks during the war and lost, I’d somehow understand the expression “we were weak and defenseless”. But to apply it to innocent people living in their own country is foolish. What do you expect different national groups living in Turkey to do? Organize into self-government, have armies, police, and independent foreign policy?

    It is not the weak and defenseless that should be advised to get over it, but the criminal and mass murderer Turks by means of apology and repentance.

  41. Presidential candidates make all kinds of promises. Stop whining about the ones they don’t keep. It’s NOT doable to go after an ally with whom we have national security components with. I’m an Armenian from Istanbul and proud of it. I get a lot of accusations of being “Turkish” and If that makes “Armenians” crazy, it’s not my problem.

    • I am a Turkish American from Virginia and proud of it.

      But as a Turkish-American I have to admit that not only Turkey is not a strategic ally of US, but is unreliable and treacherous. For example, during the Iraq war, Turkey refused to give transit to American troops into Northern Iraq. US was not asking Turks to join the fight: just transit rights.

      Ingrate non-ally Turkey not only is protected by NATO and US and owes its security to US, but betrayed its best ally when needed.
      I think Turkey needs to be kicked out of NATO: they cannot be trusted.
      I am a secular Turkish American from Virginia and proud of it.: I don’t think an Islamist country can be trusted with military secrets of Christian nations. After all, Turks murdered 4 million Christians: Armenians, Greeks, Assyrian.

      If that makes me, a proud Turkish American from Virginia, a treacherous backstabbing “Armenian”, and if that makes “Turks” crazy – so be it.

  42. i DON´T KNOW HOW THIS OLD ARTICLE HAS BEEN REPOSTED HERE AGAIN AND SOME LIKE A FEW ABOVE HAVE POSTED.
    I like very much the one of VAN-up nearly on top-who is a seriou sposseter and knows what he is writing…
    Bravo.keep it up.You have understood where our faults are and what others ahve done to us..

  43. TO VAN,
    Firstly pleae excuse my badly written post above.
    Van has in the first place dwelt upon US ERRONEOUSLY USING METZ YEGHERN, JARTER*KILLINGS.We should stick to TSEGHASBANUTYUUN!!!!
    which President of France,Mr. Sarkozy BOLDLY pronounced beautifully-like an Armenian-If Mr Obama doesn’t, then we should NOT for him.
    Secondly,Van stresses the point that we do not take sseriously the Genocide perpetrated on us.HE IS DAMNED RIGHT!!!
    But let me calm down a bit. A true Armenian from Julfa/Isfahan*Iran , was my guest only a few days ago-we discussed Armenian affrairs and he said you know most Persian Armenians do not grasp it well , or good enough because they have not felt it on their skins.Also Damn Right.May I add that yerevan and in general say,half of Homeland Armeniasn *having benn brainwashed by soviets that WE ALL ARE BROTHERS*i RMEMBER A SONG THAT A FRIEND ,pro soviet sang-from Soviet Armenia….goes like”YEGHBARYATSATS HAYASTAN- AZERBAIJAN”….YEAH!!! BECAME BROTHERS….THE AXERBAIJANIS.Thence thse dear fellow Armenians have to be educated,told ,explained that Gahytzag’s and hundreds of thousands like me lost their parents real properthy and were put on Death March*mine….
    Thirdly
    He is correct. Lamentably, some of our Spiritual fathers are not what they ought to be and ……LET ME ADD ARA BALIOZIAN’S*Candian Armenian writer phrase…our BBB’s ie.. Bishops,Bosses and Benefactors…
    For these we need to overhaul completely our SAHMANATRJUTYUN, for a DYNAMIC NEW DIASPORA, ENDOWING IT WITH A NEW STATUTE!!!!
    PLEASE go to my articles at ,www.armeniannews.info…..up above click on Subscriber submitted articles..
    Thanks VAN.

  44. Armenians Supported Obama
    But he Betrayed them…
    Without apology…

    What does he think…
    Armenians are his slaves…
    and slayers need his support
    To spread more inhumanity…!!!

    Is this a real how the lawyers from Harvard act…!!!!????
    If so…let us pray to Devils…not Gods…
    To save our Brains and our Arts…!

    Sylva-MD-Poetry

  45. Hilary Mantel* has the special ray-full eyes…
    Her smile brings hope to me,
    And to every truth lover
    That truth must prevail
    Even after centuries…by chanting
    “Bring Up the Bodies…” As she did un-hastedly…
    I like to chant further with rage…
    “Bring Up Armenian Genocided Bones”…
    Because no bodies all uncanned…
    Spreaded still in Heaps in Der-Zor land

    Lord Cromwell executed
    Two virgin beautiful innocent queens…
    Ottomans Raped…Slayed…Turkiffied and opened wombs of pregnant women…brides… to guess the unknown sex…
    Like cutting a tommy of a sheep during their feasts…
    All existed during Armenian genocide (1915-1923)
    Still they remain unpunished denying every crime…
    With the help so called civilized Christian world Europe…USA… And their Harvardian Lawyers…Proud of their certificates…Showing at every place
    Those are shouting to apply Human Rights…
    By denying well known First Genocide…???

    I’m not Hilary Mantel
    Neither I can be
    I am not asking literary prizes
    I know I will never get…any…
    With my un-mothered English tongue…

    But I ask for truth…
    I ask politicians to feel
    What honest race went through…
    Their unresolved painful tragedies…
    Are there in each cardiocytes
    like mine and
    every Armenian through our childhood days…
    Crying still…!!!

    Sylva-MD-Poetry
    October 24, 2012
    ——————–
    * Man-Booker winner for her book ” Bring Up the Bodies”
    I wanted to address my book “Bring Up the Bones” long ago
    I though it can not put as a Heading…My next book must be …!

  46. Language is a powerful tool. Let us not help others erode the meaning of what was done to us by using it incorrectly ourselves. Please never refer to the murder of our people by saying that they “perished.” They did not simply “perish.” They were murdered. The use of the word “perish” raises the question of how they perished. A snake bite? Getting lost? Refusing to eat? Tripping and falling down the mountain? Dying of natural causes? My grandmother was repeatedly smashed in the face and pounded on her head with rocks. She was stoned to death. My father witnessed an unborn child cut out of a living womb and impaled on a bayonet. That woman and her child were butchered. There are fields covered with the bodies of our boys and men who were all axed to death, their heads split open, their brains spilled on the ground. Women and children were doused with gasoline and torched. They were burned to death. Thousands of little children and their mothers pleaded for food and water until they could plead no more and they starved to death. Women were raped and then shot in the head, their bodies discarded like used paper cups. Our people were murdered, butchered, stoned, shot, axed, burned, and starved: they did not simply “perish” during the Armenian Genocide. It is also not appropriate to say that “they did not survive.” This is also weak terminology. It raises the same questions that “perish” raises. If you do not know the method used, simply use the word “murder.” We are all aware that this word refers to an illegal, immoral, act of violence. It better describes what was done to us during the Armenian Genocide.

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