IAGS PRESIDENT DR. GREG STANTON SPEAKS OF IMPORTANCE OF CAPITOL HILL RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Noyan Tapan
April 30, 2008
WASHINGTON, APRIL 30, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. On April 23
International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) President,
Dr. Greg Stanton, gave keynote remarks at the Capitol Hill Observance
of the Armenian Genocide.
Citing the House Foreign Affairs Committee passage last year of the
Armenian 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, stating that
"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."