ANCA CALLS FOR CONGRESSMAN STEPHEN COHEN TO END HIS SHAMEFUL DENIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.06.2008 15:34 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian National Committee Political Action
Committee (ANC-PAC), the nation’s largest Armenian American political
action committee, is calling for Congressman Stephen Cohen (D-TN) to
end his shameful denial of the Armenian Genocide. Cohen, a Democrat
who represents the Ninth Congressional District in Tennessee, is a
known genocide denier who has actively worked to oppose legislation
to mark the murder of 1.5 million Armenian Christians who died in
the first genocide of the 20th century, the ANCA told PanARMENIAN.Net.
Cohen, a member of the Congressional Turkish Caucus, was elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 to a majority African American
district in and around Memphis, Tennessee. His victory was largely
seen by political pundits and observers as the result of a Democratic
primary that included 14 candidates, most of them African Americans,
who split the vote, thereby allowing Cohen to prevail. In 2008, the
African American community has largely rallied around candidate Nikki
Tinker, who is challenging Cohen in a Democratic primary slated for
this August.
"Congressman Cohen practices what I charitably call selective
amnesia on the Armenian Genocide," commented Cohen’s constituent,
Dany Beylerian from Memphis. "He should be ashamed for wantonly
kowtowing to a foreign government’s [Republic of Turkey] demand that
the premeditated murder of the Armenian people be denied.
It is unbelievable that the Congressman talks about the Holocaust
and the ongoing genocide in Darfur from one side of his mouth and
uses the other to deny the Armenian Genocide," added Beylerian.
On October 17, 2007, just seven days after the House Foreign Affairs
Committee adopted the Armenian Genocide resolution (H.Res. 106),
Cohen joined Congressman John P. Murtha, Chairman of the House
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense at a press conference to urge
the House Leadership to not bring the Armenian Genocide Resolution
to the House Floor for a vote. Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL),
chairman of the Congressional Turkish Caucus, also participated in
this genocide denial press conference.
In an October 18, 2007 article by New York Times reporter Carl Hulse,
Cohen was quoted explaining his opposition to the Armenian Genocide
resolution: "I’ve got the compassion for the people, the Armenians
that are fighting for their ancestors," said Cohen. "But these are
real-life situations, and sometimes your heart has to give in to your
head and do what makes sense for your country."
Earlier this month, Cohen was asked at a town hall meeting in Memohis
why he has chosen to engage in the ugly and immoral practice of
genocide denial. He responded by sharing with his constituents that
Congress should not legislate history. In an ironic twist, Cohen has
introduced legislation apologizing for slavery, himself promoting
the legislating of history.
In answering Beylerian at the town hall meeting, Cohen carefully
crafted his statements so as not to use the word "genocide." He
claimed that Turkey was too important an ally and referred to the
Armenian Genocide as a war between Armenian and Turkey.
Knowingly or unknowingly, his response is drawn directly from the
genocide denial arguments crafted by firms lobbying on behalf of the
Turkish government that are paid over $2 million annually to deny
the Armenian Genocide. When pressed whether he would promote the
interests of a German government that denies the Holocaust, Cohen
did not provide an answer.