AAA AGAIN CALLS ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.06.2008 14:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the heels of President George W. Bush’s
announcement of Marie L. Yovanovitch and James F. Jeffrey to serve
as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States
of America to the Republics of Armenia and Turkey, respectively, the
Armenian Assembly of America calls attention to a U.S. filing with the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning the United Nations
Genocide Convention squarely acknowledging the Armenian Genocide as
a crime.

As PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from the AAA, the document reads
in part:

"The Genocide Convention resulted from the inhuman and barbarous
practices which prevailed in certain countries prior to and
during World War II, when entire religious, racial and national
minority groups were threatened with and subjected to deliberate
extermination. The practice of genocide has occurred throughout human
history. The Roman persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres
of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the
Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide."

Moreover, this 1951 document recently discussed by leading genocide
legal authority Professor William A. Schabas of The Irish Centre of
Human Rights also reads:

"This was the background when the General Assembly of the United
Nations considered the problem of genocide.

Not once, but twice, that body declared unanimously that the practice
of genocide is criminal under international law and that States ought
to take steps to prevent and punish genocide."

"Professor Schabas has reminded us again of the historic American
record of affirmation," said Assembly Executive Director Bryan
Ardouny. "Now the Bush Administration has an opportunity to utilize the
confirmation process to ensure that Turkey’s ongoing denial campaign
is squarely confronted."

"Furthermore and in particular," Ardouny added, "the U.S. Ambassador
to Turkey has a unique opportunity to follow in the tradition of
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau to ensure that universal principles
of human rights are adhered to, and that minorities in Turkey are
protected not persecuted."

Yovanovitch, a career member of the Foreign Service, currently serves
as Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic.

Prior to this, she served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for
Political Affairs at the Department of State. Earlier in her career,
she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kiev. Yovanovitch received
her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and her master’s
degree from the National War College.

Jeffrey, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service,
currently serves as Assistant to the President and Deputy National
Security Advisor at the White House. Prior to this, he served as
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern
Affairs. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission
in Baghdad, United States Ambassador to Albania, and three other
assignments in Turkey. Ambassador Jeffrey received his bachelor’s
degree from Northeastern University and his master’s degree from
Boston University.

The Assembly anticipates a vigorous confirmation process. Last
Ambassador to Armenia John Evans was forced out due to his public
acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.