Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email.anca@anca.org
Internet
PRESS RELEASE
January 17, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
ARMENIAN AMERICANS CONGRATULATE OBAMA ON INAUGURATION
— Community Leadership Voices Support for President’s
Pledges to Recognize Armenian Genocide, Strengthen
U.S.-Armenia Relations, and Seek a Fair and Durable
Regional Peace in the South Caucasus
WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian American advocacy, civic, religious,
charitable, and educational organizations joined together today in
congratulating President-Elect Barack Obama on his inauguration and
outlining the community’s expectations of the incoming Obama-Biden
Administration.
The text of the January 17th letter, delivered today to the
Presidential Transition Office, and a listing of the signatories is
provided below.
#####
January 17, 2009
The Honorable Barack Obama
The President-elect
Office of the President-elect
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. President-Elect:
We are writing, as the collective leadership of Armenian American
advocacy, civic, religious, charitable, and educational
organizations, to congratulate you on your historic election as
President of the United States and to warmly welcome your
inauguration to this high office. On behalf of some two million
Americans of Armenian heritage, we look forward to working with you
and your Administration to end the cycle of genocide, strengthen
U.S.-Armenia relations, contribute to Armenia’s economic growth,
and work toward a fair and sustainable regional peace.
We have, as a community, long admired your principled commitment to
ending genocide, including, of course, the need for urgent efforts
to stop the ongoing slaughter in Darfur. As a vital part of the
growing genocide-prevention movement, our community looks forward
to working with you from the first day of your Administration to
end the Darfur Genocide and to help bring peace to this troubled
land.
As a community, we have been proud that you have stood with us as
we have worked toward Congressional commemoration, Presidential
recognition, and Turkish acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide.
As you have stated so eloquently and repeatedly, the facts of this
crime are undeniable. The Armenian Genocide is not an allegation,
as the Turkish government shamefully contends, but rather a widely
documented mass crime supported by an overwhelming body of
evidence. Confronting this denial represents an obligation for
America and the entire international community. Our nation’s
commitment to the principles of the Genocide Convention, which just
last year marked its 60th anniversary, is rooted in America’s
values and cannot be sincerely upheld in our relations with the
rest of the world without an outright recognition of the Armenian
Genocide.
Our government must clearly and unequivocally condemn the 1915
crime of race extermination by Ottoman Turkey that, during the
course of eight years, killed one and a half million Armenians,
emptied vast areas of the Armenian homeland, and inflicted grave
material harm to every aspect of the Armenian people’s cultural
heritage, depriving it, to this day, of its right to exist on its
native soil. Sadly, the inevitable consequence of Turkey’s refusal
to acknowledge this crime has been its inability to adapt to the
changing realities in the region. Rather than being a factor for
peace, Turkey has actively contributed to increased tension in the
South Caucasus. Instead of demonstrating a willingness to honestly
confront the past in the spirit of truth and justice, its leaders
have sought to pressure other governments to underwrite Turkey’s
historic guilt. The United States should neither be a hostage to
Turkey’s fears, nor a victim of its moral failings. For its part,
Armenia, which supports international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide as a core element of its foreign policy, has called for
the normalization of relations with Turkey without any
preconditions.
As you have stated on several occasions, America deserves a leader
who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds
forcefully to all genocides. The clarity of your promise is
particularly welcome in light of the unfortunate practice of past
U.S. Presidents to use, under Turkey’s pressure, evasive and
euphemistic terminology rather than directly acknowledging the
Armenian Genocide. The term, Armenian Genocide, is the only one
that can meaningfully be used to characterize the crime committed
by Ottoman Turkey. We look forward, in the coming weeks, to your
firm and principled leadership in clearly and unambiguously ending
the sad chapter of the U.S. Executive Branch’s capitulation to
pressure from Turkey.
We are particularly encouraged, in this regard, that you will be
joined in your Administration by supporters of Armenian Genocide
recognition, among them Vice President-elect Joe Biden, a 35-year
champion of this human rights issue, and Secretary of State-
designate Hillary Clinton, who, in January of last year, so
eloquently stated that, "our common morality and our nation’s
credibility as a voice for human rights challenge us to ensure that
the Armenian Genocide be recognized and remembered by Congress and
the President of the United States." Others in your
Administration, including incoming Interior Secretary Ken Salazar,
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood,
and CIA Director Leon Panetta have also supported Congressional
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. We are also pleased to see
that the Congress will be led by two of the most longstanding
advocates of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both of whom
have repeatedly called for full U.S. recognition of this crime
against humanity. We look forward to your leadership with these
officials and others in Congress, among them Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Chairman, John Kerry, and House Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman, Howard Berman, to help bring about
Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
We look forward to continuing, over the next four years, the active
engagement that we established with you and your leadership team
during your service in the U.S. Senate, and more recently during
your campaign for the Presidency. Among the issues that will, of
course, remain as high priorities on our common agenda will be
those that contribute to the growth of U.S.-Armenia relations,
Armenia’s economic development, and Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh’s
security. We welcome your commitment to expanding bilateral
commercial, political, military, and cultural relations, and are
eager to work with you to increase U.S.-Armenia trade and
investment levels and to expand our development assistance
programs, through the FREEDOM Support Act, the Millennium Challenge
Account, and other avenues. We place, as well, a very high
priority on U.S. leadership in lifting the Turkish and Azerbaijani
economic blockades of Armenia and in ending the exclusion of
Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh from regional commercial and
infrastructure projects.
In terms of ensuring a durable regional peace, we echo your call
for a Nagorno Karabagh settlement that respects democracy and self-
determination and encourage you to ensure that these principles
serve as the pillars of any agreement. As you know, a vital key to
peace, in Nagorno Karabagh and around the world, is direct
dialogue. For this reason, we encourage elimination of all
artificial barriers to U.S.-Nagorno Karabagh contacts,
communication, and other means of increasing our level of mutual
understanding. With Azerbaijan’s President once again threatening
war, as recently as in his New Year’s message, it is more important
than ever for the United States to strengthen the current
ceasefire, to work through the OSCE process to secure the
commitment of all parties to the disavowal of force, and, as a
matter of high priority for our government, to take concrete steps
to prevent a renewed war in the South Caucasus. Our ability to
advance these and our nation’s many other interests in this
strategically pivotal region would be substantially enhanced by a
concerted effort on the part of our government to expand U.S.-
Armenia relations.
Working with you and your White House, Department of State, and
Pentagon staffs on all of these issues, we will, as you stated in
your remarks this past January 19th, "build, in new and exciting
ways, upon the enduring ties and shared values that have bound
together the American and Armenian peoples for more than a
century."
Thank you for your consideration of the priorities we have raised
in this letter and for your years of friendship with the Armenian
American community. The enthusiastic and broad-based support the
Obama-Biden ticket received from Armenian Americans during the
campaign, including endorsements from all our leading civic groups
and newspapers, reflects our community’s confidence in your
leadership and ardent support for the real change that you have
pledged in how our government acts on all these issues.
We join together in warmly welcoming your victory and look forward
to working with your Administration. In this spirit, we stand
ready to meet with you to discuss these issues in greater detail
and also to address the challenges facing our nation both at home
and abroad.
Sincerely,
Apostolic Exarchate for Armenian Catholics
Armenian Bar Association
Armenian Evangelical Union of North America
Armenian General Benevolent Union
Armenian International Women’s Association
Armenian Missionary Association of America
Armenian National Committee of America
Armenian Relief Society
Armenian Rights Council of America
Armenian Youth Federation
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern U.S.)
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Western U.S.)
Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural & Education Association
Homenetmen Armenian General Athletic Union
Knights of Vartan
Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Eastern U.S.)
Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Western U.S.)
Tekeyan Cultural Association, Inc.
United Armenian Fund
U.S.-Armenia Public Affairs Committee