GREEK AMERICANS STAND WITH ARMENIANS IN RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.12.2007 18:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The wall of genocide denial, obstructing the
recognition – and future prevention – of the scourge of genocide is
finally crumbling, Greek NEO Magazine says.

"Despite decades-long, state – sponsored and now multi-million
dollar campaigning by Turkey to distort history, buy off politicians,
and threaten the interests of nations with the courage to recognize
history, the issue of the Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey between
1915 and 1923 has again come into focus.

"Armenians have not been alone in this fight for justice. Greek
Americans have been a longtime ally, working hand-in-hand with
Armenians for official recognition of their past. Like the Armenians,
they too are the orphans of genocide. Between 1914 and 1923 Ottoman
Turkey slaughtered over a million Greeks in Asia Minor and Pontus
and burned the Greek city of Smyrna annihilating its population. The
Pontian Genocide shattered the lifeblood of an ancient community,
completely removing any collective Greek presence in Asia Minor–a
land they had inhabited for three thousand years. In 1997, legislation
was introduced in Congress commemorating the Greek genocide. Met with
opposition from Turkey, the resolution did not leave committee.

"The success of Armenian and Greek advocacy is that they have finally
been able to break the wall of denial; the facts of the Armenian
Genocide are no longer debated. It is uncertain when the resolution
will come to a vote in the House, but Armenian and Greek Americans will
continue to stand together to convince elected officials that there
is no better time to recognize genocide than now," the article reads.