Armenian National Committee of America
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PRESS RELEASE
April 25, 2008
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

SPEAKER PELOSI LEADS CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL ADOPTION OF ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE LEGISLATION AT ANNUAL CAPITOL HILL REMEMBRANCE

— Sen. Bob Menendez Pledges to Carefully Question
President Bush’s New Nominee for Ambassador to Armenia;
Warns of New Hold if Answers Fall Short

"I come to pay respect with some sadness – certainly
sadness over what happened nearly 100 years ago but
also sadness that it is long past time for the President
and the Congress to formally recognize the Armenian
Genocide." – Speaker Nancy Pelosi

WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was joined by
more than a dozen of her House and Senate colleagues yesterday in
urging passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, a move
described by legislators on both sides of the aisle as a long
overdue rejection of Turkey’s "gag-rule" on the U.S. Congress and a
powerful step toward ending all forms of U.S. complicity in
Turkey’s multi-million dollar campaign of denial, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

"Americans don’t like gag rules," said ANCA Executive Director Aram
Hamparian. "We saw that at this year’s Capitol Hill observance,
and we’re seeing it across Congress, from both sides of the aisle.
Americans don’t appreciate a foreign government dictating our human
rights policy and resent Turkey’s attempts to veto America’s
recognition of the Armenian Genocide."

Speaker Pelosi’s remarks came at the annual Armenian Genocide
Observance on Capitol Hill, organized this year by the
Congressional Armenian Caucus. Over 200 Armenian Americans
attended the function including Armenian Genocide survivors Rose
Baboyan, Yeretsgeen Sirarpi Khoyan and Alice Shnorhokian. The
event was preceded by a reception organized by the ANCA, U.S.-
Armenia Public Affairs Committee and other organizations.

Speaker Pelosi, who received a standing ovation upon her arrival,
noted that she keeps a copy of the front page of the October 11,
2007, issue of The New York Times, which features a photo of
Armenian Genocide survivors attending the House Foreign Affairs
Committee markup of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106).
The Committee, despite intense pressure from the Turkish Government
and personal pleas by President George Bush, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other
Administration officials, passed the resolution 27 to 21. "Our
work is not finished – there is much more to be done, but on that
day, a very important committee of the Congress of the United
States made a statement that was courageous – made a statement that
was appropriate to the values of the American people – that nearly
100 years ago something happened to the Armenian people and we in
the United States are prepared to call it a genocide," stated
Pelosi, who went on to note, "it is long past time for the
President and the Congress to formally recognize the Armenian
Genocide."

Speaker Pelosi then went on to explain the modern day implications
of genocide denial. "Many times people have said to me as we were
bringing this up and since then ‘Why are you doing this? Even if
it is genocide, it happened a long time ago?’ I said ‘I know, but
genocide is happening right here and now on our planet. It
happened in Rwanda, and it is happening in Darfur. And as long as
it exists we have to make a statement about a genocide we know
happened – no matter how long ago.’"

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer concurred, sharing with the assembled
Members of Congress and Armenian American community activists,
"Don’t accept the premise at all that this resolution is about what
happened in 1915-1923. Does it recognize it, does it relate to it
– of course. But it is a resolution that says not just to Turks,
not just to the Armenian people, but to all peoples, that we need
to recognize the transgressions of the past – however heinous they
may be and however much we may want to deny them. Because if we do
not, our children will not recognize their responsibility to never
let it happen again."

Ending the Cycle of Genocide

Speakers throughout the evening of the Capitol Hill Observance
noted the dangerous precedent set by failing to recognize the
Armenian Genocide. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), an influential member of the
House leadership, citing his successful efforts along with Maryland
State Senator Perry Sfikas to adopt Armenian Genocide legislation
in the Maryland State Senate in 2003, explained that "If people had
stood up and called attention to what was happening at the time and
had condemned it, we may well have avoided the other genocides and
atrocities in the 20th Century."

Congressional Hellenic Caucus Co-Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
agreed, noting that, "those who forget will face the same horrors
in the future. We must pass the resolution, we must make sure that
this country and world remembers the Armenian Genocide so that it
never happens again to any person, to any culture, to any nation."

Armenian American Legislators Offer Powerful Remarks

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), who until recently was the only Member of
Congress of Armenian heritage, affirmed that she "will not rest"
until the U.S. Congress has recognized the Armenian Genocide, and
praised the Armenian American community for its vital role as the
conscience behind this noble human rights movement. She pointed
out to her legislative colleagues and all gathered for the event
that, "There is an important advertisement in ‘The Hill’ today
which reads, "Who decides when America speaks on human rights? We
should – not any foreign government." And so we shall."

Jackie Kanchelian Speier (D-CA), who was sworn-in as the second
Armenian American in Congress earlier this month after a special
election in her Bay Area district, came to Washington, DC with a
long and distinguished track record of Armenian Genocide
recognition as a State legislator. She stressed that, "The facts
before us are not in dispute. The reason we still debate this is
not to determine that a genocide took place, but to determine if we
have the political backbone to stand up for the truth… I commit
to you, as a member of this Armenian Caucus, and as a member of the
House of Representatives, that I will have the backbone to stand up
to make sure that the Armenian Genocide is not only recognized, but
is never ever forgotten."

New U.S. Ambassadorial Nominee for Armenia

Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) received the most thunderous applause
of the evening for his remarks regarding his principled stand
against President Bush’s flawed nomination to fill the vacancy in
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia after the State Department, in 2005,
fired John Marshall Evans from this same post for speaking
truthfully about the Armenian Genocide. To sustained applause, he
recalled that, "When I saw Ambassador Hoagland’s responses to
questions that were placed to him, I felt compelled to put a hold
on his nomination. His nomination did not move forward and I have
told the Administration, which now has a new nominee, that I intend
to ask the same tough questions […] and that I hope our new
nominee will give us answers that we can accept. If not, I will
not hesitate to use my power once again to stop that nominee."

Also addressing this issue, Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA), explained
that he sent a letter to the President last month stressing that
the Administration’s nominee fully understand the "very clear"
history of the Armenian Genocide before having an opportunity to be
confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Armenian Genocide Resolution Lead Sponsors Call for Passage

"Almost an entire people were lost and 93 years later we still
fight in the greatest democracy on earth to recognize the plain
fact of what took place," said the author of the Armenian Genocide
Resolution, Adam Schiff (D-CA). "We have the strongest moral
imperative to call that loss exactly what it was without
equivocation without mitigation – genocide. And we will fight
until we succeed."

Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA), the lead Republican behind the
Resolution and consistent champion for its adoption, shared that
State Department officials have said to him, "George, we can’t do
this, if we do this… Turkey is on the border of Iraq, if we do
this they’re going to invade and go after the Kurds in northern
Iraq. Well we didn’t do it and look what the Turks did – they went
into Northern Iraq anyway, and they attacked the Kurds."

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Armenian Caucus, who
served as one of the events two Masters of Ceremony along with his
fellow Co-Chairman Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), explained that, "Though
we have had some setbacks in this Congress and certainly last year,
we are not going to stop until there is an official genocide
recognition and we pass House Resolution 106. So we give you that
commitment." Rep. Knollenberg, who serves on the Congressional
panel that writes the foreign aid bill, stressed that, "The United
States should affirm the Genocide once and for all. There are many
reasons to do this, but the most important is so that we can
prevent atrocities like the genocide from happening in the future.
But we first must admit to and learn from the past before we can
stop future genocides."

Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), a vocal and eloquent advocate who
played a pivotal role in the resolution’s adoption in Committee
last year, said that, "We will pass the Armenian Genocide
Resolution and we will pass it on the floor. And when we do, I
would argue that the greatest beneficiaries other than the Armenian
people, will be the Turkish people. Where would Germany be today,
if Germans denied the Holocaust? Their ticket to becoming a modern
and respected nation was acknowledging their own history. Someday
Turkey needs to enter the 21st Century with clean hands or at least
a repentant heart."

Armenian Caucus Member Ed Royce (R-CA), who rallied key Republican
supporters during October’s Committee vote, delivered a moving
address, in which he asked: "if we are going to be a leader for
human rights around the world, are we prepared to stand aside when
the French and the Germans and the Swiss and the Swedish and even
the Russians step forward and recognize what constitutes genocide?
Are we prepared, because of pressure to be silenced?"

Rep. Steve Rothman, a powerful member of the foreign aid panel and
a strong advocate for the passage of the Armenian Genocide
Resolution and strengthening Armenia, affirmed that, "We will never
hide from the truth. Humanity will suffer if we do that again. I
will not be a party to that. A genocide has been committed, if you
wish to say it was by the Ottomans, so be it, but it was a
genocide. One and a half millions souls destroyed intentionally."

Among the other legislators in attendance were Representatives Gus
Bilirakis (R-FL), David Dreier (R-CA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), James
McGovern (D-MA), Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Frank Wolf (R-VA).

IAGS President Greg Stanton Explains Real Cost of Genocide Denial

Providing keynote remarks at the observance was noted genocide
scholar Dr. Gregory Stanton, President of the International
Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) and Genocide Watch. Citing
the House Foreign Affairs Committee passage last year of the
Genocide resolution, Stanton explained that by postponing a full
House vote, "Again the United States surrendered to the ninety-year
campaign of denial by the government of Turkey. The State
Department and the White House have continued the cowardly policies
of every Secretary of State since Lansing who have considered it
more important to placate the Turkish government than to be
truthful about history."

Dr. Stanton went on to explain the eight stages of genocide and the
dangerous cost of genocide denial both to the victims and the
perpetrators. He described the benefits of genocide recognition,
"telling the truth would ultimately be good for U.S.-Turkish
relations, because they would no longer be based on diplomatic
lies." Passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, he noted,
would also "pay tribute to America’s first international human
rights movement. The Foreign Service Officers and prominent
individuals such as Theodore Roosevelt, Ambassador Henry
Morgenthau, and Cleveland Dodge, who did so much to help the
Armenians, exemplify America’s legacy of moral leadership. Dr.
Stanton’s complete remarks are available on the ANCA website at:
[link]

Moving Remarks by Diplomats and Clergy

The program was opened by moving prayers by His Eminence Oshagan
Choloyan, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Eastern
United States, and His Eminence Archbishop Vicken Aykazian,
Diocesan Legate and Ecumenical Officer of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America. In his invocation, Archbishop Choloyan
gave a special prayer for the "safety of all of the men and women
of our armed forces serving around the world." He went on to praise
the efforts of Amb. Henry Morgenthau and the diplomatic corps of
the time of the Genocide who "shared in the responsibility of
publicizing the Genocide of the Armenians and administering
relief."

Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Tatoul
Markarian, affirmed that Armenia’s "policy towards Turkey will
continue under the newly elected President, Serzh Sargisyan. We
are ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey. We have
made that offer consistently since 1991, meaning that Turkey has to
resolve all issues bilaterally with Armenia within normally
established inter-state relations. Meanwhile, we all understand,
however, that normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations although
important, cannot happen at the expense of the genocide
recognition."

The Republic of Nagorno Karabagh’s Representative in Washington,
DC, Vardan Barseghian, spoke eloquently on behalf of the citizens
of his Republic, noting that, "Some who are less familiar with our
part of the world, and whom we are trying to educate about the
urgency of recognizing the crimes of the past, would say that we
should not be concerned about a new genocide. Some are even
prepared to argue that modern day Turkey is not a threat to Armenia
and Artsakh. Fifteen years ago, Turkey supported Azerbaijan, as
the latter waged a war to kill or expel the entire Armenian
population of Nagorno Karabagh. Unfortunately the threat of
genocide is an ever-present one. Azerbaijan continues to threaten
Artsakh with a new war, because we insist on our right to live in
freedom."

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