Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
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PRESS RELEASE

May 22, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES CALLS ON SPEAKER PELOSI
TO ACT FOR ADOPTION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

WASHINGTON, DC – The National Council of the Churches of Christ, a
broad-based coalition representing over 100,000 congregations, has
called on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to work for passage of
the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.252, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).

In a powerfully worded letter, dated May 20, 2009, the Council’s
General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, restated the
organization’s 2007 resolution that found it "unacceptable" that
the U.S. government continues to refuse to use the term genocide to
describe the events of 1915. The highly regarded church leader
then urged, as a step toward true Armenia-Turkey healing, that all
parties, the White House and Congress included, use "the proper
term under international law to classify the event for what it was:
a genocide."

The Council’s President, Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, has publicly
noted his own deep disappointment with President Obama’s avoidance
of the word genocide in his April 24th statement. "I speak on this
issue as a person who lost 50 percent of my family to the Armenian
genocide in Turkey," Aykazian said in a letter to Kinnamon and the
NCC Governing Board.

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical
cooperation among Christians in the United States. The NCC’s member
faith groups – from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican,
Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace
churches – include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local
congregations in communities across the nation.

The Council’s press release on this letter available online:
genocide.html

The full text of the Council’s letter is provided below.

#####

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 800
New York, NY 10115-0050

Office of the General Secretary
P: 212-870-2025
F: 212-870-3112
E: mkinnamon@ncccusa.org

May 20, 2009

Hon. Nancy Pelosi
Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

I am writing to support passage of H.R. 252, calling upon the
President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States
reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning
issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide
documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian
Genocide, and for other purposes.

In November 2007, a National Council of Churches resolution found
it "unacceptable" that the United States government had yet to use
the word "genocide" to describe the events of 1915. This omission
is in large measure due to international politics unrelated to
those events. Despite a consensus of world governments and
historians, the government of the Republic of Turkey rejects the
use of "genocide" and forbids its friends and allies to use the
word.

But history is clear. On April 24, 1915, authorities of the Ottoman
Empire arrested some 250 Armenian religious and community leaders
in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul). Immediately afterward, the
Ottoman army forced hundreds of thousands of Armenians from their
homes and forced them to march without food or water from Turkey to
the Syrian desert. Massacres of men, women and children,
accompanied by rape and sexual abuse, were reported by survivors
and their descendants. When it was over, 1.5 million were dead. The
meticulously organized and systematic executions, elements of an
Ottoman policy of extermination also aimed at others in the region,
has been sadly declared by historians as the first of the twentieth
century genocides.

Nearly a century later, the pain of these events is unabated in
Armenian hearts and in the hearts of all people. Nothing can take
the memories away, but the view of the National Council of Churches
USA and its member communions – including the Diocese of the
Armenian Church in America – is that the events of 1915 will
continue to fester until all people acknowledge the verdict of
history that they are a twentieth century genocide.

On Armenian Remembrance Day, April 24, 2009, the President of the
United States sought to put the event in its appropriate historic
context. Although as a candidate Mr. Obama had termed the
atrocities a "genocide," his statement as president avoided the
word. The President wrote:

Ninety four years ago, one of the great atrocities of the 20th
century began. Each year, we pause to remember the 1.5 million
Armenians who were subsequently massacred or marched to their death
in the final days of the Ottoman Empire. The Meds Yeghern must live
on in our memories, just as it lives on in the hearts of the
Armenian people.

Mr. Obama also declared that his previously stated views of the
events of 1915 had "not changed," and his use of the Armenian words
for genocide – "Meds Yeghern" – were a welcomed clarification of
U.S. policy. The President also stated an obvious truth: "History,
unresolved, can be a heavy weight."

The National Council of Churches welcomes the President’s efforts
to help resolve this terrible episode of history. But it is also
our view that this resolution cannot take place unless all parties
use the proper terms under international law to classify the event
for what it was: a genocide. We urge that future statements of the
President and U.S. government officials use the word as an
essential step toward reconciliation and healing.

We believe the passage of House Resolution 252 will be an important
means of taking this crucial step.

With all best wishes, I am

Yours faithfully,

[signed]
Michael Kinnamon
General Secretary

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress