US ARMENIANS LAUNCH NEW ‘GENOCIDE’ RECOGNITION CAMPAIGN

Today’s Zaman
Feb 5 2009
Turkey

An influential Armenian organization based in the United States has
launched a new campaign to put pressure on the new US administration
to officially recognize Armenian claims of genocide.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) called on
Armenian-Americans to send letters to both US President Barack Obama
and the representative of the district they live in to urge them to
officially recognize the alleged Armenian "genocide," the Anatolia
news agency reported yesterday.

"We are optimistic concerning the recognition with the new Congress
and the new administration," Mark Kirk, a Republican congressman close
to the Armenian diaspora, was quoted as saying by Anatolia. Kirk is
co-chairperson of the US Congress’ Armenian Caucus.

Late last month some 20 Armenian-American advocacy, civic, religious,
charitable and educational organizations sent a joint congratulatory
message to Obama to mark his inauguration while also outlining the
Armenian community’s expectations of the incoming Obama administration.

"Our government must clearly condemn the 1915 crime of race
extermination by Ottoman Turkey that, during the course of eight years,
killed 1.5 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.