Knight Ridder Washington Bureau
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service
April 24, 2009 Friday
Obama marks Armenian tragedy but doesn’t say `genocide’
By Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON _ President Barack Obama on Friday broke a campaign pledge
but mollified Turkey by formally remembering the mass killings of
Armenians without using the diplomatically loaded term
quot;genocide.quot;
In a much-anticipated White House statement, Obama took note of the
quot;great atrocitiesquot; that occurred in the Ottoman Empire from
April 24, 1915, until 1923. While saying that 1.5 million Armenians
were quot;massacred or marched to their death,quot; the president said
that the most important thing now was to look ahead.
quot;I strongly support efforts by the Turkish and Armenian people to
work through this painful history in a way that is honest, open and
constructive,quot; Obama declared.
The president also twice used the Armenian phrase quot;meds
yeghern,quot; which often is translated as quot;great calamity.quot;
The most important part of his statement, though, was the word that
was missing. Armenian-American activists and their political allies
denounced the 389-word statement as a sellout because it didn’t
characterize the events as genocide.
quot;I am outraged,quot; said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif., a
co-sponsor of a congressional Armenian-genocide resolution. quot;The
president chose, for political reasons, to abandon his commitment to
the Armenian people.quot;
Bryan Ardouny, the executive director of the Armenian Assembly of
America, charged that Obama’s quot;failure … diminishes
U.S. credibility with regard to genocide prevention,quot; while
Armenian National Committee of America Chairman Ken Hachikian voiced
quot;sharp disappointmentquot; with the president’s quot;retreat.quot;
Obama’s carefully calibrated statement was consistent with the
traditional advice of Pentagon and State Department professionals, who
warn against alienating Turkey. It reversed the promise he made while
seeking Armenian-American votes, however.
quot;As president, I will recognize the Armenian genocide,quot; Obama
said on his campaign Web site.
Samantha Power, an Obama adviser and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author,
accentuated the point with a widely viewed YouTube campaign video
addressed to Armenian-Americans. Now a member of the National Security
Council, Power said then that Obama would quot;call a spade a spade
and speak truthquot; about the historic events.
Once in the White House, however, Obama became subject to the broader
diplomatic and military considerations that have prompted presidents
before him to retreat from similar promises. Turkey is a crucial
U.S. ally within NATO _ bordering Iraq and Iran _ and Turkish
officials say the 1915-1923 wartime events remain subject to
interpretation.
In a two-day visit to Turkey earlier this month, Obama stressed the
important ties between the United States and the strategically located
nation of 78 million people. Turkish officials have warned
consistently that the United States could lose commercial
opportunities and military advantages, which include the use of
Turkey’s busy Incirlik Air Base, if an insulting genocide
commemoration were issued.
quot;President Obama has sent a clear message to America and the world
that his administration will not sacrifice long-term strategic allies
for short-term political gains,quot; said Lincoln McCurdy, the
president of the Turkish Coalition of America.
The Turkish and Armenian governments, with Switzerland as a neutral
mediator, are working to normalize their long-strained
relations. Diplomats have warned against any incendiary U.S. statement
that might interfere with these talks, described in a recent joint
Turkish-Armenian statement as reaching quot;tangible progress and
mutual understanding.quot;
quot;I suspect they think they’re making real progress on their
dialogue, and they want to see it completed,quot; said Rep. Jim Costa,
a California Democrat and genocide-resolution supporter who serves on
the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush broke similar
pledges. President Bill Clinton, too, leaned on congressional leaders
not to pass genocide commemoration measures.
In 2000, only minutes before debate was set to start in the House of
Representatives, then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert yielded to
Clinton’s request not to bring the genocide resolution, authored by
Radanovich, up for a vote.
Hastert is now a lobbyist with the firm Dickstein Shapiro, one of a
number that Turkey hired to press its cause on Capitol Hill. Turkey
pays $35,000 a month for help from Hastert and his team, Justice
Department foreign-agent filings show. Turkey is paying former House
Minority Leader Richard Gephardt’s firm, DLA Piper, $100,000 a month,
filings have shown.
Currently, 107 House members co-sponsor a nonbinding resolution that
says, quot;The failure of the domestic and international authorities
to punish those responsible for the Armenian genocide is a reason why
similar genocides have recurred and may recur in the future.quot;
A similar resolution fell short in the last Congress, and House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said she’ll bring it to a vote
only if it attracts at least 218 co-sponsors.