US ARMENIANS LAUNCH NEW ‘GENOCIDE RECOGNITION’ CAMPAIGN
Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 9 2009
Turkey
A group of radical American-Armenians launched a new campaign Monday
that aims to obtain formal U.S. recognition of what they call the
"Armenian genocide."
The Armenian National Committee of America, or ANCA, said in a written
statement that the campaign was launched to coincide with Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s upcoming visit to Washington.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Erdogan are scheduled to meet at the
White House on Dec. 7.
The Armenian effort is "aimed at educating and inspiring President
Obama, on Dec. 7, to tell Prime Minister Erdogan, to his face, that
America stands for a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian
genocide," ANCA said.
"The first week of the campaign will address the U.S. Senate, the
second the U.S. House, followed by the media in the third week and
then a final push in the last seven days directly to the White House,"
the group added.
American-Armenians and their backers in Congress are calling on the
U.S. administration and Congress to qualify World War I-era killings
of Armenians in the declining Ottoman Empire as "genocide." Turkey
warns that any such formal recognition by the United States would
hurt bilateral relations in a serious and lasting way.
Although Obama pledged to back the Armenian cause during last year’s
election campaign, as president he has declined to characterize the
deaths as genocide, instead actively supporting a reconciliation
process between Turkey and Armenia.
Normalization process
The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed a set of agreements
Oct. 10, stipulating that Ankara and Yerevan set up normal diplomatic
relations and reopen their land border.
Ankara closed the border in 1993 during a war between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, Turkey’s close friend and ally. Armenians occupied the
mainly Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan
and part of Azerbaijan proper during that war.
The Ankara-Yerevan deal needs to be ratified by the parliaments of
the two neighbors before it can be implemented.
Analysts suggest that as long as the reconciliation process moves
forward, American-Armenians have little chance at winning formal
genocide recognition from the United States. But if the process fails,
U.S. congressional resolutions for genocide recognition are likely
to gain momentum, they said.
A resolution calling for U.S. recognition that genocide occurred has
been pending in the House of Representatives, Congress’ lower chamber,
since February. Two pro-Armenian senators introduced an identical
resolution at the Senate, Congress’ upper chamber, last month.