Reuters, UK
Oct 12 2007
Armenian-American clout buys genocide breakthrough
Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:21pm EDT
By Mary Milliken
GLENDALE, California (Reuters) – At 93, Armenian American filmmaker
Michael Hagopian may finally see his community’s clout pay off if the
U.S. Congress recognizes the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks as genocide.
"U.S. representatives in Congress and state governments now realize
the Armenian community has a lot of political power and they can make
contributions to political causes and various parties," said
Hagopian, best known for his film "The Forgotten Genocide".
This week, the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee
approved a resolution branding the massacre of an estimated 1.5
million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as genocide, brushing aside
President George W. Bush’s warnings that it would harm relations with
Turkey, a key ally.
Rep. Adam Schiff, whose district around the city of Los Angeles
includes a large Armenian American community, was one of several
lawmakers who pushed for the resolution after heavy lobbying by
constituents.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who also represents many Armenian
Americans, seems determined to bring the non-binding resolution to a
vote in the full House probably next month. It is unclear if and when
the Senate will follow suit.
Turkey argues that both Turks and Armenians were killed in the years
of violence and warfare that accompanied the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire.
It is a crime in Turkey to portray the killings as "genocide" and
Ankara recalled its ambassador to Washington after Wednesday’s vote
to express its anger.
There are an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million Americans with
Armenian forefathers and many grew up hearing horrific stories of the
massacres. After years of lobbying, they are surprised and pleased to
see their cause making headlines around the world.
"The community is surprised but also rather happy that an issue that
is close to their hearts is playing out in a prominent way in
mainstream American media," said Ara Khachatourian, editor of the
daily newspaper Asbarez published in the city of Glendale.
Nowhere is Armenian influence more visible than in Glendale, a city
of 200,000 near downtown Los Angeles, where 40 percent of the
population is Armenian.
The community’s wealth is on display in the plethora of restaurants,
bakeries and banquet halls and the parking lots overflowing with
luxury cars. Elders meet in shopping centers and city parks, chatting
in Armenian and playing table games.
Khachatourian’s newspaper has played a major role in getting this
increasingly wealthy and organized community behind the cause,
encouraging readers to write e-mails and make phone calls to
congressional offices.
"You can talk to any Armenian and you can see they have had a
survivor or victim of genocide in their family," said Khachatourian,
39, who was born in Iran.
But Armenian Americans stress that this genocide resolution goes far
beyond their own community.
"Genocides are still happening — the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda,"
said Jerry Papazian, a third generation Armenian American.
"Some argue that if there had been more of an outcry after 1915 maybe
the Holocaust would not have occurred."