PanArmenian News, Armenia
April 24 2009

USA should have acted with the same conviction on Genocide issue as
Canadian government

25.04.2009 19:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Congress of Canadian Armenians (CCA) expresses
its disappointment with the statement issued earlier today by United
States President Barack Obama, which failed to label the crimes
committed against the Armenian people in 1915 as genocide. His
omitting to use the word is in stark contrast to the views he
expressed during the election campaign when he stated: "As President I
will recognize the Armenian Genocide."

President Obama used the Armenian term "Meds Yeghern" or Great
Calamity. Although this is an important step, the CCA joins with
American Armenians and other Armenians around the world in urging him
to take the final step by recognizing the Genocide decisively at the
earliest possible opportunity.

Here in Canada, both Houses of Parliament have voted to affirm that
the atrocities of the early part of the 20th Century were
genocide. The House of Commons passed the following resolution on
April 21, 2004: "That this house acknowledge the Armenian Genocide of
1915 and condemn this act as a crime against humanity."

In his April 21, 2009 letter to the CCA on the occasion of an event in
Ottawa to commemorate the House of Commons vote, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper reaffirmed his government’s support of the resolution,
stating: "I am honored to have this opportunity to extend my warmest
greetings to all those attending the Congress of Canadian Armenians
event to mark the 5th anniversary.

The United States stands in an ever-diminishing group of countries
that have yet to officially acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. The CCA
is disappointed that President Obama did not act with the same
conviction on this issue as the Canadian government.