‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’ STILL NOT IN U.S. VOCABULARY
by Russ Minick

The Fresno Bee Editorial Opinion Blog, CA
June 19, 2008 Thursday 12:24 PM EST

Jun. 19, 2008 (The Fresno Bee delivered by Newstex) — A new nominee
for the post of American ambassador to Armenia, Mary Yovanovitch,
faces a Senate confirmation hearing today, but she won’t be making
any direct reference to the Armenian genocide. That’s in line with the
longstanding policy of the State Department and several administrations
to give Turkey a rhetorical pass on recognition of the crimes that took
the lives of 1.5 Armenian men, women and children nearly a century
ago. For many years we have joined with Armenian Americans, many
foreign governments and people who care about an honest accounting of
history in criticizing the U.S. reticence, and we did so again today
in this editorial. American officials have been reluctant to upset
the Turks owing to that nation’s strategic value as an ally. But that
kind of realpolitik doesn’t wash with the survivors of the genocide,
nor should it. Acknowledging the past is the best way for Turkey to
move forward, especially with its quest for membership in the European
Union, which is stymied in large part because of Turkey’s failure to
own up to its own history.