Kerry Condemns Destruction of Armenian, Syrian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic Churches
WASHINGTON (A.W.)—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a press statement on March 17 that the militant Islamic group ISIL/Da’esh has and is continuing to commit genocide against Christians, Yazidis, and Shiite Muslims in Syria and Iraq. The U.S. Congress had set a March 17 deadline for Kerry and the State Department to make public their findings about labeling Da’esh’s crimes genocide. Kerry’s statement marks the first time the United States has used the term “genocide” to describe an ongoing conflict since Darfur in 2004. Kerry also condemned Da’esh’s ongoing destruction of cultural heritage, including Armenian churches and other historical monuments.
“We know that in areas under its control, Da’esh has made a systematic effort to destroy the cultural heritage of ancient communities—destroying Armenian, Syrian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches; blowing up monasteries and the tombs of prophets; desecrating cemeteries; and in Palmyra, even beheading the 83-year-old scholar who had spent a lifetime preserving antiquities there,” said Kerry, who called the militant group “genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions.”
“The fact is that Da’esh kills Christians because they are Christians; Yezidis because they are Yezidis; Shia because they are Shia,” said Kerry, stating that the group’s entire worldview “is based on eliminating those who do not subscribe to its perverse ideology.”
Kerry also said that naming these crimes is important, and that stopping them is essential. “That will require unity in this country and within the countries directly involved, and the determination to act against genocide, against ethnic cleansing, against the other crimes against humanity must be pronounced among decent people all across the globe,” said Kerry.
See Kerry’s remarks by visiting the YouTube link below.
U.S. House Unanimously Condemns Genocide of Middle East Christians, Minorities
Kerry’s statement comes three days after the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously condemned as genocide Da’esh’s ongoing crimes against Christians—including Armenians and Assyrians—as well as Yezidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East by adopting H.Con.Res.75. On March 14, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reported that H.Con.Res.75 had been adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously (393 to 0).
H.Con.Res.75 was spearheaded by the co-chairs of the House Caucus for Religious Minorities in the Middle East, Representatives Jeff Fortenberry (R-Nev.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), both of whom offered powerful remarks following passage of the measure. Eshoo made specific reference to her Armenian and Assyrian ancestry, noting the importance of House reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide.
It is important to name Da’esh killings and destructions as genocide but NOT the Turkish massacres of over a Million Armenians and their rape and plunder? Kerry and Co. are a bunch of kiss-ass hypocrites.
brilliant Massis, exactly what I was going to write just before I saw your comments. This guy is not only a hypocrite but just like the others, it is an inconvenient truth that he has managed to distance himself from just as his other colleagues just to appease the turkish authorities and to maintain whatever they have with turkey. Shame on this senator and on others who have continually denied the genocide for their own interest’s. Humanity? this guy is a joke. Bravo Massis.
Massis,
If ISIS was a US ally then word of “genocide” politically wouldn’t fit with Mr. Kerry’s foreign policy agenda!
Very interesting, how quick he would call what Da’esh (ISIS) is doing a Genocide (not that I disagree) but he hesitates calling what happened to Armenian in 1915 a Genocide.
Because Kerry considers ISIS an enemy (somewhat, sometimes, depending on whether the US is supplying it with weapons)and thus genocidal, whereas Turkey is a “friend” and thus when it commits genocides, that’s ok with Kerry.
Kerry has long been a hypocrite. There is also a question as to whether he is a Christian.
Ain’t that the truth!
I don’t want to repeat what you’ve said because it’s right on the mark!
Kerry’s hypocrisy has no end. His policy actually is: “if we or any of our allies commit or encourage genocide or destroy cultural heritage, we must always remain silent about that – but if one of our declared enemies is doing it then we will speedily assert that it is true and demand something must be done”.
The hypocrisy is amazing. But it might help us in setting another precendent on which to keep building our case.
couldn’t agree with you more!
Del has it correct. ISIS is an enemy so it is easy to called it what it is. Turkey is an “ally” ( although it is really stretching the definition) so we search the English language to call everything but what it was.
But really what’s the point? Does it change US policy? Save lives? Change immigration ? No. A simple statement.
BTW , as we all know the US has recognized the Armenian genocide on at least 4 occasions since 1951. It is a matter of record. Legal processes for reparations are our future. Yes, recognition helps and puts pressure on Turkey , which is the only recognition that counts.
Is this Kerry’s fault or the fault of ALL armenian-american lobbys? Please, try to our lacks, not blame others stupidity!
Eduardo, it is Kerry who brought up the subject matter not the Armenians or the Armenian – American lobby groups. Incidentally I am not from the america’s, hence, simply unable to understand your point of view! Please be clear in what you write. Ciao
Robert, I can understand a little, what Eduardo trying to translate from Spanish to English…..”If Armenian Americans have enough political will and force and Unity in Washington DC, then Mr. Kerry or people like him would have accepted the truth of Armenian Genocide, without interference of hungry corrupted, Turkish delight worshipers”!
https://vimeo.com/125514772
if all the Armenians of the world would unite we would not be in such dire straights. we tend to think singularly, not as a world body. this could be our greatest downfall.
That’s the whole lesson in the Genocide itself. UNITY is the answer..
Of course, of course, it is important to name Da’esh crimes ‘genocide’… for the US foreign policy and national security goals. Yet, for the same goals, it is NOT important to name Turkish crimes ‘genocide’, because, you know, “Turkey is a valuable ally”. Duh, duh… Right, Mr. Kerry?
DAESH/ISIS is not a country, or a recognised government, so Kerry can call them whatever they like. Tomorrow they could vaporise and disappear and all will be forgotten. Today turkey is killing Kurds because they are Kurds under the watchful eyes of Kerry and Co. yet not a mention of it anywhere. Oh, I almost forgot, they are all terrorists
This this idiot check with his Muslim terrorist supporting Obama… I am sure he would not go along it may upset the Muslim brotherhood terrorists
Turkey is stealthily supporting, even instigating ISIS, especially where it concerns attacking Armenian and other Levantine Christians. ISIS is actually copying Ottoman/Kemalist Turkey’s shining example of extreme ethnic cleansing and genocide against all non-Sunni, non-Turkish elements of the patchwork territory called Turkey. But for Turkey’s impune and unrepentent genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Armenians, there would not be any ISIS, nor would there even have been the Shoah and all the other 20th and 2lst century genocides that Turkey’s barbaric, beyond-the-pale sadistic torture, murder, dismemberment, burning, drowning, burying alive, rape, looting and history’s most savage and curel, inhuman torture. All the Great Powers, including all the nations represented by the U.N. are collectively guilty of the Turkish Genocide of the Armenians and Turkey’s continuing genocide and its denial, and bear the guilt and have the blood of the countless millions of Armenians that were the victims of Ottoman and Kemalist pogroms, massacres and genocides throughout the 7 centuries that the Turks invaded and destroyed civilizations in the Cradle of Civilization, the Armenian Highlands.
Turkey is behind this mass killing because they kill Kurd and rest of Armenian that this way to finish what they started in 1915. and British & Israel government are the most guilty of helping Turks.
Lest we forget, both Ms. Hilary Clinton and Ms. Condalezza Rice called the Armenian Genocide “the events of 1915.” Events, ladies as in a cotillion? What exactly is meant by “events?”
I agree with a previous comment: the time is now to work on reparations. Enough with sitting around and waiting for a proper reckoning. We might have to wait another hundred years.
Ellen Sarkisian Chesnut
The Administration Shamed into Action
Under duress, after a house resolution which passed unanimously (303 to 0) to name DAESH (ISIS) crimes genocide, this Administration shows the cowardice of speaking against its own beliefs. There is no excuse for a President who knowing of the atrocities day in and day out to act in this banal matter for so long and will continue to put a band-aid on the situation and call it brave action. Kerry in not blameless. As ‘his master’s voice’ he is complicit in the inaction, blatantly ignoring this ‘holocaust.’ Shame on the both of you.
I am dissapointed on Secretary of State Kerry on mentioning the atrocities in Syria & Iraq on Christians Yezides, & Moslem Shiites but to this day has not come forward for the United States of America to recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923 by the Young Turk regime. Countries around the world have recognized the Armenian Genocide as the first Holocoust along with Pope Francis of the Vatican. I always thought America was a true honest Democracy on the rights of all people, but I guess I am wrong.
Good to see other posters who are not impressed by Kerry. The ramblings of a phony amateur lying politician. The study of ‘genocide’ was actually started as a result of the Armenian Genocide, and yet here we have a coward who can’t even bring himself to admit a simple truth. Oh wait, that’s right, “we as Americans cannot speak the truth for fear of experiencing the wrath of Turkey!”
But we can threaten war and impose sanctions without a second thought on Russia, the number two world power which has every capability of causing massive destruction to the USA. But Turkey? Oh no the all powerful Turkey, we dare not ‘anger’ Turkey, or the consequences would be “catastrophic”.
And with regards to the genocide by Da’esh: so it was/is genocide, ok, and I dare say: so what? What is Da’esh, is that a UN member, a nation, a functioning government which can be held accountable, or is this another phony gesture because Kerry and the Obama regime know nothing will come out of this charade?
Or perhaps we can also ask who is responsible for it another way, Turkey which supplies support to Da’esh with weapons, provisions, training camps etc, or the Gulf Arabs providing funding, or perhaps the current American government whose policies actually caused Da’esh being created?
Why should this surprise anyone. Every act and proclamation is based on political benefits to the US. This act is politically advantages to the US. Proclaiming the Armenian genocide is not advantages to the US. The truth and ethics alone are irrelevant. We have to understand the US will not help us, if the benefits of recognition do not outweigh the disadvantages to themselves. You can call that cynicism if you want. We have to do everything we can to help our people and what’s left of our nation, without expecting too much from anyone else.
Being an oath-bound member of Skull & Bones, Kerry does what he’s ordered by his world control-obsessed associates from this infamous secret society, and not what he thinks is right for the interests of the state.
Right, [John] and [Hagop D].
The phony declaration by US State of “genocide” being perpetrated by ISIS/Da’esh/whatever, after much contrived drama of beating some kind of a fake deadline – is a sick joke.
US and her minions, created ISIS/Da’esh: if not directly, then indirectly.
There is no cost to labeling what ISIS did and does as “genocide”, because who are they going to hold responsible for it, a bunch of cannibals? Who are their leaders? Nobody really knows.
It looks great for US, of course, because the misinformed, dis-informed masses will suddenly understand that, “Oh Yeah, US of A is against genocides….so what’s the problem”. How nice.
There is another insidious side to all this that many Armenians cheering this announcement do not realize: there is a concerted worldwide effort (guess by who) to dilute the significance and definition of genocide, and by extension _the_ Genocide.
When everything is a genocide, then nothing is a genocide.
“Problem” of the Armenian Genocide “issue” solved.
And if I remember correctly, it was [Hagop D] who wrote in another thread something to the effect that until the Armenian Genocide is universally recognized and condemned, at least by the hypocritical US, UK, and other European states, and the perpetrator State held liable and accountable – than nothing else is a ‘genocide’.
I fully agree with Hagop.
It’s time that the US faced up to the ‘G word’ and finally recognised the Armenian genocide!
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/its-time-that-the-us-faced-up-to-the-g-word-and-finally-recognised-the-armenian-geoncide-a6952561.html
“there is a concerted worldwide effort (guess by who) to dilute the significance and definition of genocide, and by extension _the_ Genocide.”
Couldn’t have said it better, Avery. After they create and “recognize” all the “genocides of convenience” (let’s call it the genocides of every Tom, Dick and Harry), THE Genocide, still awaiting recognition and justice, becomes diluted, boring and too far away to pay any attention to. What a sick and evil plot.