ARMENIAN LOBBY PUTS PRESSURE ON OBAMA

Today’s Zaman
Jan 20 2009
Turkey

US based-Armenian diaspora organizations have raised the pressure
on US President-elect Barack Obama for the official recognition of
Armenian claims of genocide ahead of today’s presidential inauguration.

Some 20 Armenian-American advocacy, civic, religious, charitable and
educational organizations have sent a joint congratulatory message to
Obama to mark his inauguration, while they also outlined the Armenian
community’s expectation of the incoming Obama administration.

"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," the message,
on the Web site of the Public Radio of Armenia, was quoted as saying.

"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," the message said.