NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES CALLS ON PELOSI TO SUPPORT ADOPTION OF GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
onal-council-of-churches-calls-on-pelosi-to-suppor t-adoption-of-genocide-resolution/
May 22, 2009
WASHINGTON-The National Council of the Churches of Christ, a
broad-based coalition representing over 100,000 congregations, has
called on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to work for passage of
the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.252, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).
In a powerfully worded letter, dated May 20, 2009, the Council’s
General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, restated the
organization’s 2007 resolution that found it "unacceptable" that
the U.S. government continues to refuse to use the term genocide to
describe the events of 1915. The highly regarded church leader then
urged, as a step toward true Armenia-Turkey healing, that all parties,
the White House and Congress included, use "the proper term under
international law to classify the event for what it was: a genocide."
The Council’s President, Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, has publicly
noted his own deep disappointment with President Obama’s avoidance
of the word genocide in his April 24th statement. "I speak on this
issue as a person who lost 50 percent of my family to the Armenian
genocide in Turkey," Aykazian said in a letter to Kinnamon and the
NCC Governing Board.
Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical cooperation
among Christians in the United States. The NCC’s member faith groups
from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical,
historic African American and Living Peace churches include 45 million
persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across
the nation.
The full text of the Council’s letter is provided below.
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA 475 Riverside
Drive, Suite 800 New York, NY 10115-0050
Office of the General Secretary May 20, 2009 Hon. Nancy Pelosi Office
of the Speaker H-232, US Capitol Washington, DC 20515
Dear Speaker Pelosi:
I am writing to support passage of H.R. 252, calling upon the
President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States
reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues
related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented
in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and
for other purposes.
In November 2007, a National Council of Churches resolution found it
"unacceptable" that the United States government had yet to use the
word "genocide" to describe the events of 1915. This omission is
in large measure due to international politics unrelated to those
events. Despite a consensus of world governments and historians, the
government of the Republic of Turkey rejects the use of "genocide"
and forbids its friends and allies to use the word.
But history is clear. On April 24, 1915, authorities of the Ottoman
Empire arrested some 250 Armenian religious and community leaders
in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul). Immediately afterward,
the Ottoman army forced hundreds of thousands of Armenians from
their homes and forced them to march without food or water from
Turkey to the Syrian desert. Massacres of men, women and children,
accompanied by rape and sexual abuse, were reported by survivors
and their descendants. When it was over, 1.5 million were dead. The
meticulously organized and systematic executions, elements of an
Ottoman policy of extermination also aimed at others in the region,
has been sadly declared by historians as the first of the twentieth
century genocides.
Nearly a century later, the pain of these events is unabated in
Armenian hearts and in the hearts of all people. Nothing can take
the memories away, but the view of the National Council of Churches
USA and its member communions – including the Diocese of the Armenian
Church in America – is that the events of 1915 will continue to fester
until all people acknowledge the verdict of history that they are a
twentieth century genocide.
On Armenian Remembrance Day, April 24, 2009, the President of the
United States sought to put the event in its appropriate historic
context. Although as a candidate Mr. Obama had termed the atrocities a
"genocide," his statement as president avoided the word. The President
wrote:
Ninety four years ago, one of the great atrocities of the 20th century
began. Each year, we pause to remember the 1.5 million Armenians who
were subsequently massacred or marched to their death in the final days
of the Ottoman Empire. The Meds Yeghern must live on in our memories,
just as it lives on in the hearts of the Armenian people.
Mr. Obama also declared that his previously stated views of the
events of 1915 had "not changed," and his use of the Armenian words
for genocide – "Meds Yeghern" – were a welcomed clarification of
U.S. policy. The President also stated an obvious truth: "History,
unresolved, can be a heavy weight."
The National Council of Churches welcomes the President’s efforts
to help resolve this terrible episode of history. But it is also
our view that this resolution cannot take place unless all parties
use the proper terms under international law to classify the event
for what it was: a genocide. We urge that future statements of the
President and U.S. government officials use the word as an essential
step toward reconciliation and healing.
We believe the passage of House Resolution 252 will be an important
means of taking this crucial step.
With all best wishes, I am
Yours faithfully, Michael Kinnamon General Secretary