THOUSANDS TO RALLY AT TURKISH CONSULATE IN LA ON APRIL 24
Contributor
The Armenian Weekly
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April 23, 2009
As Obama seeks to stop genocide in Darfur, calls intensify for
affirmation of Turkey’s genocide of Armenians
LOS ANGELES-The United States has the best chance in a generation to
help end the cycle of genocide and recommit the world to the noble and
necessary cause of a future without genocide. Inspired by this fierce
urgency of now, thousands across the state of California will rally
at the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles (on 6300 Wilshire Boulevard)
on Fri., April 24 at 4 p.m. to call for an end to over a century
of race murder, fueled by Turkey’s ongoing denial of its genocide
against the Armenian people.
Last year, nearly 15,000 activists converged on the Turkish Consulate
amid intensified activity by the Turkish government to prevent the
U.S. House of Representatives from recognizing the genocide. "We as
Armenian Americans know that our nation should properly recognize and
condemn the Armenian Genocide, and all subsequent genocides," said
AYFer Vache Thomassian. "Now, more than ever, we have to rise above
political expediency and take a moral stance against genocide-and I
firmly believe Barack Obama has the integrity to be the leader that
does so."
This year’s demonstration converges with global expectations pertaining
to Obama’s numerous campaign pledges to reaffirm the U.S. record on
the Armenian Genocide. Earlier this month, Obama traveled to Turkey
and stated, "My views are on the record and I have not changed views,"
when asked in a press conference about his promise to recognize the
Armenian Genocide. The president also referenced the genocide in
his speech to the Turkish Parliament, when he said that "[h]istory,
unresolved, can be a heavy weight. Each country must work through its
past. And reckoning with the past can help us seize a better future."
As a Senator and as a presidential candidate, Obama was a strong
advocate for proper Armenian Genocide recognition and swift action to
stop the Darfur Genocide. During his 2008 campaign for the White House,
Obama repeatedly pledged to "respond forcefully to all genocides,"
including the one currently raging in Darfur.
"Genocide, sadly, persists to this day, and threatens our common
security and common humanity. Tragically, we are witnessing in Sudan
many of the same brutal tactics-displacement, starvation, and mass
slaughter-that were used by the Ottoman authorities against defenseless
Armenians back in 1915," Obama said in the statement. "America deserves
a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds
forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that president."
Previous presidents have wavered in their commitments to accurately
recognize the genocide in their annual statements on April 24. This
year, activists across the U.S. are expecting the president to
break that trend and bring a long overdue change to U.S. policy on
genocide. Two weeks ahead of the annual commemoration of the Armenian
Genocide on April 24, Obama commemorated the 15th anniversary of
the genocide in Rwanda by urging the United States and its world
partners to deepen their commitment to ending the cycle of genocide
begun in 1915.
Activists will draw attention to Turkey’s expanding multi-million
dollar campaign to erase all memory and culpability of its crime
against the Armenian people and how it has spawned a string of
genocides, from the Nazi Holocaust to the worsening humanitarian
situation in Darfur. Organized by the AYF, this year’s protest comes
a month after U.S. legislators introduced a resolution calling on
Obama to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide. The resolution has
faced fierce opposition by Turkey, which is threatening to derail
negotiations to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia if the
genocide is recognized. The Obama Administration has stated that it
is seeking a normalization of those strained relations based on an
honest look into the past.
The demonstration will also take place against the backdrop of a
series of anti-genocide events organized throughout the U.S. and
around the world during Genocide Prevention Month.
In Washington, D.C., human rights activists will be participating
in three full days of Congressional visits to demand U.S. action
against the genocide in Darfur and support for the adoption of
the Armenian Genocide Resolution. The annual grassroots advocacy
campaign, from April 22-24, is being organized by the ANCA and the
Genocide Intervention Network. Earlier this month, the ANCA launched
a nationwide effort to urge concrete action by the U.S. government
in fully recognizing the Armenian Genocide end finally ending the
genocide in Darfur.
Echoing Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous remarks at the Lincoln
Memorial in August 1963, the ANCA’s "Fierce Urgency of NOW" campaign
has been mobilizing anti-genocide activists across the country to
visit to learn how the atrocities in Darfur fit
into the cycle of genocide that started with the Armenian Genocide
of 1915-23. The website provides simple ways for citizens to call on
Obama to show "unstinting resolve" in the effort to stop the Darfur
Genocide and end U.S. complicity in Turkey’s international campaign
of genocide denial.
In 1915, the Ottoman Turkish government set out to annihilate
the indigenous Armenian population inhabiting the lands under its
dominion. Between 1915-23, the government executed a systematic
campaign to exterminate the Armenian people and remove them from
their historic homeland. The Armenian Genocide, recognized as the
first genocide of the 20th century by historians the world over,
resulted in the death of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians and the
loss of millions of dollars in property and land now under occupation
by the Republic of Turkey.