FLASHBACK: IN 2000, CANDIDATE BUSH CALLED ARMENIAN MASSACRE A ‘GENOCIDAL CAMPAIGN’

Think Progress, DC
-genocide/
Oct 10 2007

Today, President Bush announced his opposition to a new
congressional resolution labeling the Ottoman massacres of Armenians a
"genocide." Between 1915 and 1923, as many as 1.5 million Armenians
were killed by the Ottoman Turks. From Bush’s press briefing today:

I urge members to oppose the Armenian genocide resolution now being
considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We all deeply regret
the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in 1915. This
resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings,
and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally
in NATO and in the global war on terror.

But when Bush was running for president in 2000, he wrote a letter
to the Armenian National Committee affirming that the Armenians were
"subjected to a genocidal campaign." He promised that if "elected
president," he would make sure that the United States "properly
recognizes" the tragedy. From his letter:

The twentieth century was marred by wars of unimaginable brutality,
mass murder and genocide. History records that the Armenians
were the first people of the last century to have endured these
cruelties. The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that
defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember and
acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century
of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected President, I would
ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of
the Armenian people.

Iraq war politics may be part of the reason Bush is now opposing
the resolution. In the White House briefing today, spokeswoman Dana
Perino said, "[W]e have 160,000 of our troops in harm’s way in Iraq,
and Turkey has been a very valuable ally, and their strong reaction –
negative reaction about this resolution is what caused the president
to come out today and ask members of Congress to oppose it."

Turkey’s government is currently considering "a cross-border military
operation to chase separatist Kurdish rebels who operate from bases
in northern Iraq." The Bush administration is pressuring Turkey’s
parliament to oppose the move, which "could open a new war front in
the most stable part of Iraq."

Perino noted that Bush instead prefers to issue a "presidential
message" each year to commemorate the tragedy.