Armenian Assembly of America
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]
ARMENIAN CAUCUS CO-CHAIRS BACK PUBLIC REMARKS AFFIRMING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Joint Letter to Secretary Rice Stresses Importance of U.S. Recognition
Washington, DC – The Armenian Assembly praised Congressional Caucus on
Armenian Issues Co-Chairs Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone,
Jr. (D-NJ) today for expressing to Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice their support of recent affirmations of the Armenian Genocide
by leading U.S. officials.
In a joint letter sent to Secretary Rice on Friday, the Co-Chairs
declared their support for remarks made by U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
John Evans who publicly stated, “The Armenian Genocide was the first
genocide of the twentieth century.” Evans repeatedly and properly
characterized this crime against humanity during meetings with Armenian
communities across the country late last month.
The Co-Chairs also noted former Ambassador to Armenia Harry Gilmore’s
comments to the media that the crimes against the Armenians do indeed
constitute genocide. The former diplomat told Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty on March 7 that the United Nations Genocide Convention,
which was adopted after World War II, “sets up a standard and that
the massacres and deportations of the Ottoman Armenians meet that
standard fully.”
Knollenberg and Pallone explain in their letter that both Evans’
and Gilmore’s comments are in keeping with the past statements of
Presidents Ronald Reagan in 1981 and George Bush, who in 2001 employed
the textbook definition of the Genocide in his April 24 remarks to
the Armenian-American community.
Additionally, the Co-Chairs reason that the U.S. National Archives
contain thousands of pages documenting the crimes and that over 120
renowned Genocide and Holocaust scholars have proclaimed the Armenian
Genocide as an “incontestable historical fact.”
Furthermore, the letter also references the findings of a key legal
study backed by the State Department. That study, by the International
Center for Transitional Justice, concluded that: “The Events, viewed
collectively, can thus be said to include all of the elements of the
crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and legal scholars as
well as historians, politicians, journalists and other people would
be justified in continuing to so describe them.”
In other news, Knollenberg and Pallone are asking their colleagues
to sign on to a letter urging President Bush to honor the United
States’ historic leadership in defending human rights and to properly
characterize the Armenian Genocide as such in his remembrance statement
next month.
Over 80 Members of Congress have signed on to this letter, however,
many more signatures are needed in order to make an impact.
For information on how you can help reaffirm the U.S. record on the
Armenian Genocide, log on to the Assembly Web site at
or send an email to the Assembly’s grassroots branch ARAMAC at
[email protected].
The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt membership
organization.
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NR#2005-032
Editor’s Note: Attached is the full text of the Congressmen’s letter
to Secretary of State Rice.
March 18, 2005
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice Secretary of State Department of State
2201 C Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20520-0001
Dear Madame Secretary:
As the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues,
we are writing to express our support for the recent remarks made by
United States Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, when he invoked the
Armenian Genocide.
Following the letter and spirit of America’s statesmen and scholars
before him, Ambassador Evans repeatedly and properly characterized the
attempted annihilation of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during
WWI as Genocide. Speaking at the University of California, Berkeley,
and other venues in the United States last February, he said: “The
Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century.”
The Ambassador’s comments are in keeping with past statements by
American public officials. Proclaiming on the Days of Remembrance of
Victims of the Holocaust on April 22, 1981 President Ronald Reagan
noted that “Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the
genocide of the Cambodians which followed it – and like too many
other such persecutions of too many other peoples – the lessons of
the Holocaust must never be forgotten.”
In his first annual message to the Armenian-American community on April
24, 2001, President George W. Bush used the textbook definition of
Genocide, “Today marks the commemoration of one of the great tragedies
of history: the forced exile and annihilation of approximately 1.5
million Armenians in the closing years of the Ottoman Empire.”
Evans was recently followed by Harry Gilmore, the first American
Ambassador to Armenia, who said in an interview with Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) that “from my thorough study of the
events of that period I am persuaded that they do indeed constitute
genocide.” Gilmore argued that the United Nations Genocide convention,
which was adopted following World War II, “sets up a standard and
the massacres and deportations of the Ottoman Armenians meet that
standard fully.” Gilmore added that when the author of the Genocide
convention Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide, “the Armenian
events were one of the two archetypes he used in his work.”
The U.S. National Archives contain thousands of pages documenting
the Genocide. As this crime against humanity was being committed,
the United States helped launch an unprecedented diplomatic, political
and humanitarian campaign to end the carnage and protect the survivors.
Evans’s remarks build on this definitive and comprehensive historical
record towards an inevitable, full and irrevocable U.S. reaffirmation
of the Armenian Genocide.
This characterization also corresponds with the signed statement in
2000 by one hundred and twenty-six Genocide and Holocaust scholars
affirming that the World War I Armenian Genocide is an incontestable
historical fact and accordingly urge the governments of Western
democracies to likewise recognize it as such. The petitioners, among
whom is Nobel Laureate for Peace Elie Wiesel, also asked the Western
Democracies to urge the Government and Parliament of Turkey to finally
come to terms with a dark chapter of Ottoman-Turkish history and to
recognize the Armenian Genocide. These scholars asserted that facing
history squarely would provide an invaluable impetus to the process
of Turkish democratization.
In a February 3, 2003 legal study backed by the State Department,
the International Center for Transitional Democracy (ICTJ) concluded
after reviewing available evidence on the massacres and deportations
of Armenians that these “events… include all of the elements of the
crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and legal scholars as
well as historians, politicians, journalists and other people would
be justified in continuing to so describe them.”
Last week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an
unbiased study by historians of claims that millions of Armenians were
victims of genocide under Ottoman rule during World War I. Given the
objective findings of the ICTJ report, this official proposal seeks to
avoid any contemporaneous affirmation of the facts on this subject,
and continues Turkey’s current policy of denial. In order to become
the plural, democratic and European Union-integrated state it aspires
to be, Turkey must make peace with its past. American clarity will
further this goal.
We look forward to the President’s April 24th commemorative statement
and, as always, stand ready to work with you on this and the many
other matters of importance to our nation.
Sincerely,
Joseph Knollenberg
Frank Pallone, Jr. Member of Congress
Member of Congress
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