LETTER TO FRESNO BEE, CA
Arra S. Avakian
Fresno Bee, CA
June 26 2008
‘Double-talk’ on genocide
I commend the editorial staff of The Bee for being tireless in
affirming its stand in declaring that there was a genocide perpetrated
by the Ottoman Turks against the Armenian people in the 1915-1921 era.
In your editorial, "In Washington and Turkey, denial of genocide goes
on" (June 19), you forthrightly declare, "So the rhetorical denial
continues in Washington and Turkey."
The editorial continues with "’The United States and the president
have never denied any of the events [but] we do not use the term
genocide to describe them,’ Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried
told the House Foreign Affairs Committee." How so, Mr. President?
What is pathetic, as it has been repeatedly pointed out by you and
others, including us, is that the very term "genocide" was coined
specifically to describe those deportations and massacres perpetrated
against the Armenian people (in their own homeland) by the Ottoman
Turks.
Yet, according to our president, there was wholesale deportation and
massacre, but there was no genocide. That is double-talk.