US envoy describes 1915 massacre of Armenian as “genocide”

Mediamax news agency
25 Feb 05

YEREVAN

The US ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, has described as “genocide”
the mass extermination of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 90 years
ago, Mediamax news agency has quoted the Armenian National Committee
of San Francisco as saying.

Speaking at a meeting on 19 February with representatives of the
Armenian community of San Francisco, John Evans stated: “Today I shall
call this Armenian genocide,” the organization told Mediamax news
agency.

The US ambassador told the participants in the meeting that he had
read many books on the Armenian genocide.

“I think that we, the US government, owe you, our fellow citizens, a
more straightforward and honest discussion of this problem. I can tell
you as a person who has studied this problem – I have no doubts about
what happened,” John Evans said. The diplomat noted that he had
consulted a lawyer from the US State Department who confirmed that the
1915 events were “genocide by definition”.

John Evans noted that although representatives of the US
administration have avoided using the term “genocide”, “none of them
has denied it”.

At the same time, the ambassador said ,”I think that it is
inappropriate for us, the Americans, to play with words in this
case”. “I believe that we must call a spade a spade,” John Evans
said. He also pointed out that the USA’s official position has not
changed.

“The Armenian genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century,”
John Evans said, noting that “we made a lot of mistakes after the
First World War”.