GENOCIDE RESOLUTION GAINS STEAM
By Pam Wight Staff Writer
Whittier Daily News, CA –
Feb 8 2007
Armenians say Democrats support effort
MONTEBELLO – Having the U.S. government use the term "genocide" to
describe the World War I-era killing of Armenians would be more than
a symbolic gesture for Montebello resident Jack Hadjinian.
It would be a long-awaited victory he’s fought to win for most of
his adult life.
As a board member of the San Gabriel Valley chapter of the Armenian
National Committee, Hadjinian organized other members, friends and
"anyone with a consciousness who would listen" to write letters
to their congressional representatives and urge them to support a
resolution introduced last week by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena.
The resolution calls on the U.S. government to officially recognize the
killing of 1.5 million Armenians as a genocide committed by Turkey’s
Ottoman government between 1915 and 1919.
This is not the first attempt by members of Congress to push for
an official genocide recognition. But this is the first time in
years the issue has had a serious chance of passing in the House of
Representatives, Hadjinian said.
"For years there was a huge contingency of legislators who either
didn’t want to take a stand on the issue or had a contrary belief,"
he said. "But now with the Democrats, there’s more support."
Serge Samoniantz, chairman of the San Gabriel Valley ANC, said the
approval of Schiff’s resolution could prompt the media to use the term
"without qualifications" such as the word "alleged."
"It’s really only a non-binding resolution, a statement from the
House basically," said Samoniantz, a Whittier resident. "But with
Nancy Pelosi … she’s been a long-time supporter of it. It’s an
important statement that has a good chance of passing."
Apart from Pelosi’s leadership as speaker of the House, other factors
have helped build support for the legislation this time that wasn’t
there in the past, Samoniantz said.
The Jan. 19 murder in Istanbul of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink sparked large demonstrations in support of free speech,
Samoniantz said. Dink had been prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness"
for calling the Armenian slayings a genocide. His prosecution angered
some American lawmakers.
The demonstrations also "showed a side of Turkey not seen before,"
Samoniantz said. "Some of the liberal-thinking people identify with
the thoughts of , an element of the Turkish population that thinks
differently."
The position of the Turkish government is that, although many
people died at that time, it was a result of the "civil strife and
displacement" occurring on both sides – not a deliberate extermination,
according to officials from the Consulate General of the Republic of
Turkey in Los Angeles.
Bush administration officials this week assured Turkish diplomats
that Bush would not support the resolution.