US CITIZENS OPPOSE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CLAIMS: POLL

AzerNews Weekly
March 4 2009
Azerbaijan

The public in the United States does not support Armenians` claims
concerning the genocide allegedly committed against their predecessors
in Turkey during World War I, a recent opinion poll has found.

Respondents in the online survey, commissioned by the influential
MSNBC TV channel, came out against the recognition of the 1915
developments in Ottoman Turkey as genocide. Up to 80 per cent out
of over 2 million Americans gave a negative answer when asked in
questionnaires whether or not the U.S. should formally recognize the
purported genocide. Asserting that their country should not take steps
that would tarnish its relations with Ankara, one of Washington`s
closest partners, they called for unequivocally avoiding the Armenian
genocide issue.

Yerevan is failing to relinquish its territorial claims against Turkey
and continues promoting the alleged genocide throughout the world. It
has also remained cold to Ankara`s repeated proposals to establish
a joint commission of historians to study the 1915 developments.