‘CNN NEGLECTING GENOCIDE’

Hurriyet
Dec 6 2008
Turkey

WASHINGTON – The largest U.S. Armenian group late Thursday accused CNN
of ignoring the Armenian claims in a documentary offering a history
of genocide throughout the world.

The program "Scream Bloody Murder," anchored by CNN’s top international
correspondent Christiane Amanpour, gave detailed accounts of the
Holocaust and the mass murders in Cambodia, Bosnia, northern Iraq,
Rwanda and Darfur, with a special focus on those who witnessed and
warned the world about these atrocities.

Armenian lobby unhappy The two-hour documentary briefly mentioned
the 1915 incidents, saying Turkey did not accept the Armenian claims.

The Armenian National Committee of America, or ANCA, said although
the CNN program offered a compelling look at genocide, it failed to
give a detailed account of the 1915 incidents as "genocide."

"Sadly, in a disservice to its millions of viewers, CNN neglected to
include the Armenian genocide as the first such event," the ANCA said
in a statement.

The group urged U.S. Armenians to ask Amanpour "about this serious
shortcoming in her documentary."

Ankara briefed CNN The group also called on U.S. Armenians to send
messages to CNN’s leadership "pointing out this shortcoming and asking
them to address this gap in their reporting in future coverage of
genocide-related issues."

After CNN’s plans to broadcast the documentary became clear, Turkish
officials contacted the network and briefed it on Ankara’s position
on the matter. Armenians say that nearly 1.5 million of their people
were killed in the last years of the Ottoman Empire, and that the
killings clearly constitute genocide.

Objecting to the use of that term, Turkey says the Armenian figure
is highly inflated and that a large number of people from both sides
were killed amid an Armenian rebellion against the Ottomans.

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of
their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in Turkey in 1915.

Around 300,000 Armenians, along with at least as many Turks, died
in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by
Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia in 1915. Armenia claims
the incidents that occurred during the civil strife were systematic
"genocide".

Turkey has offered to form a joint commission to investigate the
claims and reveal the truth behind the turmoil of 1915 and to open
all official archives, but Armenia has continually dragged its feet
on accepting the offer.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress