GENOCIDE DEBATED IN HOUSE
By Celia Burstein
my.hsj.org
April 1 2010
(April 1, 2010) — When President Barack Obama promised to recognize
the Armenian Genocide during his campaign, senior Lara Kumjian knew
he was just playing political games.
According to The Washington Post, shortly before the 23-22 vote by
the U.S. congressional committee on March 4 that sent the recognition
measure to the House of Representatives, the Obama administration
announced its opposition, just like the prior Bush and Clinton
administrations. "It’s expected from him," Kumjian said. "I knew it
wasn’t going to work out, I knew he was just making things up to get
Armenian people’s votes."
Teacher Lousik Kassakhian says it’s a question of priority between
recognizing the 1.5 million slaughtered Armenians and maintaining
an ally. For Kassakhian, whose grandfather lost his entire family in
the genocide, the implication of another rejected measure is dangerous.
"Sometimes people say ‘oh, history repeats, history repeats" but it
shouldn’t," Kassakhian said. "We’re sending a message that you won’t
be punished."
According to the Post, Turkey withdrew its ambassador shortly after
the vote. But Kassakhian thinks that the threat should not be taken
seriously, as Turkey had taken similar measures before. "They say we
need them, but they need us a lot too," Kassakhian said.
Kumjian believes that Turkey isn’t alone in the blame for the
resolution’s constant failure, as Obama chooses to focus on the near
future of the United States rather than the far-off prospect of future
genocides. "What would he gain from accepting the Armenian Genocide?"
Kumjian said.
For Kassakhian, Obama’s retracted promise to support the recognition
indicates the bigger picture of his presidency. "The thing is,
he knows it has happened, and not recognizing it makes him, in my
opinion, a weak president," she said. "He’s not able to do that minor
thing. How is he going to deliver building a just society?"
The Turkish government claims that the death toll is inflated and
reflects the Armenians who died in battle during World War I. Both
Kassakhian and Kumjian, however, believe that the current political
battle is about admitting the truth.
The truth, they say, is known by both the United States and Turkey.
"It was definitely not inflated because we have pictures, we have
documents, we have many poets, writers, philosophers that died during
that time, so it’s all fact," Kumjian said.
Kassakhian refutes the World War I claim by arguing that Armenians
died well after the end of the war, citing her grandmother’s family,
all of whom died in Smyrna, Turkey in 1922. "As a Muslim country, they
had a policy not to tolerate the Christian minorities," Kassakhian
said. "They cannot justify that because it didn’t happen once."
Kumjian doubts that the resolution will ever be passed. But Kassakhian
is more worried that the memory will die with the survivors, now at
least in their 90s. Legislation, she says, will be a byproduct of
remembering. "It’s about passing and it’s about remembering, and
doing that each time, the whole world knows what’s going on again
and again and again," she said.
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