ARMENIANS REITERATE CLAIMS TO OBAMA

Hurriyet
Jan 20 2009
Turkey

WASHINGTON – Major U.S.-Armenian organizations sent a joint letter to
President-elect Barack Obama, who formally takes over presidency today,
urging him to keep his promise from last year’s election campaign to
recognize Armenian claims of "genocide."

The 20 advocacy, civic, religious, charitable and educational groups
congratulated Obama for his planned inauguration, but their three-page
letter sent over the weekend mostly included Armenian demands for
the new administration.

The U.S.-Armenian community of about 1.5 million solidly backed
Democrat Obama, who it saw as the candidate sensitive to Armenian
matters, against Republican John McCain in last November’s presidential
election.

"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,’"
the Armenian organizations said. "As you have stated so eloquently
and repeatedly, the facts of this crime are undeniable."

Obama pledged at least twice last year that he would recognize the 1915
incident as "genocide", if he became president . "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," the organizations said. "As you have
stated on several occasions, America deserves a leader who speaks
truthfully about the Armenian genocide and responds forcefully to
all genocides," they said.

Sensitive matter Turkey says that both Armenians and Muslims died in
the unrest during the Ottoman Empire’s disintegration and that the
events did not constitute genocide.

Ankara has warned that formal U.S. recognition of the deaths as
"genocide" would hurt bilateral relations in a major and lasting way.

Outgoing President George W. Bush’s administration has declined to
utter the word genocide and successfully prevented genocide resolutions
from passing through the U.S. congress over the past eight years in an
effort not to alienate Turkey, a critical ally in the Middle East, the
Caucasus and the Balkans. But with Obama as president and many other
similar-minded officials in top positions in the new administration and
in congress now, the Armenians hope that this time they will win formal
U.S. "genocide" recognition. Analysts also agree that this is highly
probable. The Armenians have counted Vice President-elect Joe Biden,
future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several other Obama
cabinet members among the officials seeking "genocide" recognition.

The Armenian organizations also urged Obama to boost economic and
other relations with Armenia and effectively back ethnic Armenians
in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Previously Turkey’s foreign minister has warned Obama’s incoming
administration that any U.S. recognition of Armenian claims regarding
the 1915 incidents could derail reconciliation efforts between the
two neighbors. "It would not be very rational for a third country to
take a position on this issue… A wrong step by the United States
will harm the process," Ali Babacan said last week.

Babacan said the dispute was among the issues that Ankara and Yereven
had been discussing since reconciliation efforts gathered steam in
September when Turkish President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit
to Armenia.