OBAMA REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO U.S. ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

NOYAN TAPAN

JU NE 19
WASHINGTON

ARMENIANS TODAY

With the Senate Foreign Relations Committee set to consider
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia nominee Marie Yovanovitch at a confirmation
hearing on June 12 presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack
Obama restated his commitment to U.S. recognition of the Armenian
Genocide.

In a letter to Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman
Ken Hachikian, Sen. Obama wrote: "I share your view that the United
States must recognize the events of 1915 to 1923, carried out by the
Ottoman Empire, as genocide. We must recognize this tragic reality. The
Bush Administration’s refusal to do so is inexcusable, and I will
continue to speak out in an effort to move the Administration to
change its position."

Sen. Obama went on to cite his concerns about the firing of former U.S.

Ambassador to Armenia John Marshall Evans in 2006 for speaking
truthfully about the Armenian Genocide. "I was deeply disturbed two
years ago when the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia was fired after he used
the term "genocide" to describe the mass slaughter of Armenians. In
a letter to the Department of State, I called for Secretary Rice to
closely examine what I believe is an untenable position taken by the
U.S. government."