PolicyMic
Sept 29 2012
Obama vs Romney: Armenian American Community Pressures Candidates to
Recognize 1915 Genocide by Ottoman Turkey
Haykaram Nahapetyan
Ninety-seven years ago, when the wholesale massacre of Armenians was
taking place in Ottoman Turkey, the United States turned to be the
most active supporter of suffering Armenians. Over 130,000 Armenian
orphans were sheltered in American orphanages that were established in
Armenia, Greece, Cyprus and elsewhere. President Woodrow Wilson and
the U.S. Ambassador to Ottoman Turkey Henry Morgenthau were personally
involved in coordinating the aid activities.
The New York Times alone published 145 articles in 1915, describing
the horrors Armenians went through.
Ninety-seven years later, the U.S. Armenian community supported by the
Congressional Armenian Caucus, its friends in various states are still
struggling to finalize the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the
U.S. government. Contemporary Turkey is a NATO ally, although some
annalists like Daniel Pipes of Middle East Forum or Ariel Cohen of
Heritage Foundation would often claim Turkey is not truly the same
ally anymore. Ankara skillfully uses its geopolitical importance and
various connections in order to resist any attempt of Genocide
recognition by America, Europe or elsewhere. However, 21 countries,
including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden,
and others have adopted resolutions labeling the events of 1915 as
Genocide and calling on Turkey to do the same.
Interestingly, the United States, a country that was extremely active
in helping Armenians almost a century ago, today is somehow uncertain.
Ankara and its lobby groups have consequently placed an incredible
pressure on the Administration.
The paradox is that countries like Slovakia, which did not even exist
in 1915, or like Venezuela, widely seen as much less democratic
nowadays, were able to stand up to Turkish pressures and adopt
relevant resolutions about these horrible events and gross violation
of human rights.
A lesser-known fact is that America has in fact recognized the
Armenian Genocide. Forty-three out of 50 states of America at various
times adopted commemorative resolutions on this subject. The House of
Representatives twice (1975 and 1984) adopted genocide resolutions and
President Ronald Reagan qualified the events as genocide in April
1981. However, later on, U.S. policy on this issue became more evasive
resulting in calling back the U.S. ambassador John Evans from Yerevan
for calling the events as genocide in May of 2006. This harsh action
was taken by the administration of Bush junior (although, Bush himself
had promised to recognize the genocide while he was a presidential
candidate in 2000).
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), an Armenian lobby
group in Washington, DC, issued a statement calling on presidential
candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to make their position clear
on this and other issues.
Harut Sassounian, President of the United Armenian Fund and a
newspaper publisher from California, a state which hosts the majority
of over one million Armenian Americans, stated: “Pres. Obama has about
30 days to make good on his pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Otherwise, Armenian Americans will not vote for him for a second
term.”
President Obama, as a senator, qualified the events of 1915 as
genocide. As president, he stated, `he hadn’t changed his views.’ `My
interest remains the achievement of a full, frank and just
acknowledgment of the facts’, Obama said. However, he did not use the
G – -word while in the Oval room, but qualified the events of 1915 as
“Medz Yeghern.” The president has skillful advisers: “Meds Yeghern” is
the Armenian equivalent of genocide, the same way Shoah in Hebrew
stands for the Jewish Holocaust. Barack Obama got pretty close to
doing what in fact already another U.S. president had done about three
decades ago.
However, the community is waiting for clarifications from the
President. At the end of the day, “Meds Yeghern” is meaningless for
most Americans, and does not have a judicial meaning.