Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th Street, NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
[email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
April 21, 2003
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
RECORD NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES URGE PRESIDENT BUSH TO PROPERLY
CHARACTERIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AS GENOCIDE
— 169 Legislators Join In Bipartisan Efforts by the Armenian
Caucus
WASHINGTON, DC – Following an extensive nationwide grassroots
campaign, a record number of U.S. Representatives – 169 – have
joined together in sending a clear message to President George Bush
to keep his campaign pledge to properly characterize the Armenian
Genocide as a “genocide” in his annual April 24 address, reported
the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“We want to thank Congressmen Knollenberg, Pallone, Radanovich and
Schiff for their unprecedented success in rallying their colleagues
to call upon President Bush to properly characterize the Armenian
Genocide as a genocide in his April 24th remarks,” said Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “The strong support for
this initiative and the growing support for the Congressional
Genocide Resolution point to the fact that the days of U.S.
complicity in Turkey’s campaign of genocide denial are coming to an
end.”
The Congressional letter was initiated by Congressional Armenian
Caucus Co-chairmen Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI)
as well as Congressional Genocide resolution lead sponsors,
Representatives George Radanovich (R-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA). In
the letter, the 169 Congressional co-signers noted to Pres. Bush
that “by properly recognizing the atrocities committed against the
Armenian people as “genocide” in your statement, you will honor the
many Americans who helped launch our first international human
rights campaign to end the carnage and protect the survivors.”
This signatories go on to state that, “now more than ever as your
administration seeks to bring an end to global terrorism and to
help establish democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq, the memory of
the genocide underscores our responsibility to help convey our
cherished tradition of respect for fundamental human rights and
opposition to mass slaughters.” The full text of the letter
follows.
During his 2000 presidential campaign, President Bush had referred
to the “genocidal campaign” perpetrated against the Armenian people
and pledged to properly characterize that tragedy when elected
President. Neither the President’s 2001, 2002, or 2003 April 24th
statements have honored that pledge. Last year over 165 U.S.
Representatives signed a similar letter to the President.
Genocide resolutions in the House and Senate that mark the 15th
anniversary of the U.S. implementation of the United Nations
Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of Genocide have
received broad bipartisan support. House legislation (H.Res.193),
which mentions the horrors of the Armenian Genocide as well as the
Holocaust and the Cambodian and Rwanda tragedies, was unanimously
adopted by the Judiciary Committee last May and currently has 110
cosponsors. A similar measure (S.Res.164) introduced in the Senate
by Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Jon Corzine (D-NJ) currently has
38 cosponsors.
Cosigners of the Congressional letter to President Bush include (in
alphabetical order): Representatives Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Gary
Ackerman (D-NY), Tom Allen (D-ME), Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Joe Baca
(D-CA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Charles Bass (R-NH), Xavier Becerra
(D-CA), Chris Bell (D-TX), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Howard Berman
(D-CA), Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), Tim Bishop (D-NY), Earl
Blumenauer (D-OR), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Mary Bono (R-CA), Jeb
Bradley (R-NH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Dave Camp
(R-MI), Lois Capps (D-CA), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Benjamin Cardin
(D-MD), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), William Clay (D-MO), John Conyers
(D-MI), Jerry Costello (D-IL), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Duke
Cunningham (R-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Susan Davis (D-CA), Peter
DeFazio (D-OR), William Delahunt (D-MA), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT),
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), John Dingell (D-MI), Lloyd Doggett (D-
TX), John Doolittle (R-CA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), David Dreier (R-CA),
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Anna
Eshoo (D-CA), Lane Evans (D-IL), Sam Farr (D-CA), Chaka Fattah (D-
PA), Mike Ferguson (R-NJ), Bob Filner (D-CA), Mark Foley (R-FL),
Vito Fossella (R-NY), Barney Frank (D-MA), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-
NJ), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Bart Gordon (D-
TN), Jim Greenwood (R-PA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Luis Gutierrez (D-
IL), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Joe Hoeffel (D-PA), Tim Holden (D-PA),
Rush Holt (D-NJ), Michael Honda (D-CA), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Steve
Israel (D-NY), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Jesse Jackson (D-IL), Sheila
Jackson Lee (D-TX), Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Sue
Kelly (R-NY), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Carolyn
Kilpatrick (D-MI), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Gerald Kleczka (D-WI), Joe
Knollenberg (R-MI), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Nick Lampson (D-TX),
James Langevin (D-RI), John Larson (D-CT), Steven LaTourette (R-
OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Sander Levin (D-MI), John Lewis (D-GA),
William Lipinski (D-IL), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA),
Nita Lowey (D-NY), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY),
Edward Markey (D-MA), Jim Matheson (D-UT), Robert Matsui (D-CA),
Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Karen McCarthy (D-MO), Betty McCollum (D-
MN), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Jim McDermott (D-WA), James McGovern
(D-MA), John McHugh (R-NY), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), Buck McKeon (R-
CA), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Martin Meehan (D-MA), Robert Menendez
(D-NJ), Michael Michaud (D-ME), Candice Miller (R-MI), George
Miller (D-CA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Grace Napolitano (D-CA),
Richard Neal (D-MA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Devin Nunes (R-
CA), John Olver (D-MA), Doug Ose (R-CA), C. L. “Butch” Otter (R-
ID), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), William Pascrell (D-NJ), Donald Payne
(D-NJ), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Richard Pombo
(R-CA), Jon Porter (R-NV), George Radanovich (R-CA), Charles Rangel
(D-NY), Mike Rogers (R-MI), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Mike Ross (D-
AR), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Edward
Royce (R-CA), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Paul Ryan (R-WI), Linda Sanchez
(D-CA), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), H. James
Saxton (R-NJ), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA),
Christopher Shays (R-CT), Brad Sherman (D-CA), John Shimkus (R-IL),
Rob Simmons (R-CT), Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Hilda Solis (D-CA),
Mark Souder (R-IN), Pete Stark (D-CA), John Sweeney (R-NY), Ellen
Tauscher (D-CA), Mike Thompson (D-CA), John Tierney (D-MA),
Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH), Mark Udall (D-
CO), Christopher Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter Visclosky (D-IN), James
Walsh (R-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Diane Watson (D-CA), Henry
Waxman (D-CA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Curt Weldon (R-PA), Gerald
Weller (R-IL), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Lynn Woolsey
(D-CA), Albert Wynn (D-MD),
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TEXT OF CONGRESSION LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH
=============================================
April 21, 2004
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to urge you to join us in reaffirming the
United States record on the Armenian Genocide in your April 24
commemorative statement.
This date marks the anniversary of the systematic and
deliberate campaign of genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire
in 1915. Over the following eight years, one and a half million
Armenians were tortured and murdered, and more than half a million
were forced from their homeland into exile. In the years since,
descendents of Armenian immigrants have thrived in the United
States and in many other countries, bringing extraordinary vitality
and achievement to communities across this nation and throughout
the world.
By properly recognizing the atrocities committed against
the Armenian people as “genocide” in your statement, you will honor
the many Americans who helped launch our first international human
rights campaign to end the carnage and protect the survivors. The
official U.S. response mirrored the overwhelming reaction by the
American public to this crime against humanity, and as such,
constitutes a proud, irrefutable and groundbreaking chapter in U.S.
diplomatic history.
Now more than ever as your administration seeks to bring an
end to global terrorism and to help establish democracies in
Afghanistan and Iraq, the memory of the genocide underscores our
responsibility to help convey our cherished tradition of respect
for fundamental human rights and opposition to mass slaughters.
The victims of the Genocide deserve our remembrance and their
rightful place in history. It is in the best interests of our
nation and the entire global community to remember the past and
learn from these crimes against humanity to ensure that they are
never repeated.
We look forward to your April 24 statement and stand ready
to assist you in this endeavor and in the many other matters of
importance to our nation related to Armenia and the South Caucasus
region.
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