ANCA SETS RECORD STRAIGHT
-record-straight/
Feb 12th, 2010
Nation’s Largest Armenian-American Grassroots Organization Issues
Statement on Proposed Meeting With Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
The Armenian National Committee of America stands for open and
inclusive community representation.
It is in this spirit that the ANCA has consistently worked to foster
direct Armenian American dialogue with America’s leaders, not simply
for ourselves or for those who share our perspectives, but for all
the leading organizations that, together, represent the rich fabric
of our community.
Such an approach reflects both our deep respect for our community’s
diversity and our equally profound belief in our community’s unity
of purpose on the central challenges facing the Armenian nation.
Unfortunately, recent developments – related to a proposed community
meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – have shown, that some
others who strive to speak in our community’s name do not share this
faith in our community’s basic decency, devotion, and common sense.
The controversy surrounding this meeting, while unnecessary and
counterproductive, has, at the very least, served some useful purpose
in providing our community with new insights into the significant
distinctions between the ANCA and the Armenian Assembly – distinctions
that reflect fundamentally different approaches to advocacy.
The ANCA operates as an inclusive organization, reaching deep into
our community, building consensus around shared values, and bringing
people together across all of our geographic, demographic, religious,
and civic affiliations. The Assembly, by way of contrast, operates in
an exclusive manner, representing a small and increasingly isolated
circle, largely gathered around a single major benefactor. These
differences matter. They impact how our two groups work and the results
that we achieve on issues ranging from our core advocacy agenda to the
waiver of Section 907, the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission,
the Hoagland nomination and the Turkey- Armenia Protocols. Nowhere are
these differences more evident today than in how the ANCA and Assembly,
with the support of leaders of the Armenian General Benevolent Union,
have handled the proposed meeting with Secretary Clinton.
While the Armenian Assembly has, throughout this process, coveted its
access to the powerful by seeking to control and limit participation
in this meeting, the ANCA has eagerly offered to share its place
at the table with all our community partners. We understand, as a
grassroots group, that our community grows stronger by opening doors
to dialogue, not by closing them. We add to our power, respect and
influence, not by who we exclude, but by broadening the scope and
depth of civic engagement by all aspects of our community.
Provided below are the facts of this matter, all drawn from the ANCA’s
public record of advocacy on behalf of Armenian Americans:
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The ANCA has, since the days leading up to President Barack Obama’s
inauguration, openly and consistently sought to schedule opportunities
for a broad representation of the Armenian American community to
meet personally with the President and also with Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss issues of concern to Armenian
American voters.
The Armenian Assembly, by way of contrast, refused to take part in the
community-wide inaugural letter to President Obama, signed by over 20
leadership organizations, and has, since then, only requested meetings
for itself, the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Diocese of the
Armenian Church, and the Knights of Vartan. Each of these organizations
represents a vital and valued voice, but they clearly do not represent
a full cross-section of our community. Among the groups excluded by
the Assembly and the AGBU were the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, the Armenian Catholic and Evangelical communities, the Armenian
Relief Society, and other grassroots membership organizations.
On August 20, 2009, the ANCA, in a letter that was subsequently
released to the public, requested that Secretary Clinton schedule a
"personal meeting between you and the Armenian American community’s
civic, religious, and charitable leaders." This request was restated
in an ANCA letter to the Secretary, dated September 30, 2009, and
in a series of subsequent ANCA meetings with senior Administration
officials. The ANCA’s efforts to secure a community-wide leadership
meeting with the Secretary was also supported by several members of
Congress, most notably Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who, in an
October 20, 2009 letter, specifically called upon Secretary Clinton "to
meet directly with Armenian American groups" to discuss the "serious
nature of the community’s concerns" about the Turkey-Armenia Protocols.
On November 17, 2009, the ANCA, upon learning from Administration
officials that a meeting with Secretary Clinton was in the process
of being arranged, sent letters to a broad-based group of more
than 20 Armenian American leadership organizations – including the
Armenian Assembly and the AGBU – alerting them to this development and
recommending that "we coordinate among ourselves, in the days leading
up to such a meeting, to ensure that our community delivers a unified
message and establishes a clear and commonly-held set of expectations
for Secretary Clinton and the Obama-Biden Administration." The letter
also suggested that the groups "meet together prior to any such meeting
to make arrangements for a productive exchange with the Secretary."
On January 8, 2010, the ANCA was formally invited to meet with
Secretary Clinton and was informed that the four other groups
invited to this consultation were the Armenian Assembly of America,
the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Diocese of the Armenian
Church (Eastern and Western U.S.), and the Knights of Vartan.
On January 11, 2010, the ANCA wrote a letter to Secretary Clinton,
the contents of which we immediately shared publicly with the Armenian
American community, calling upon her to broaden her initial round
of five invitations in order to ensure an open and inclusive meeting
that allowed for full expression of the Armenian American perspective.
In this letter, the ANCA made the following points:
– The ANCA has long sought to arrange meetings for the community’s
traditional leadership with the Secretary of State, consistent with
the President’s campaign pledge to lead an Administration that actively
engages Armenian American leaders.
– The ANCA’s aim in seeking such meetings is to help ensure that
America’s leaders benefit from an open dialogue with our community
regarding U.S. policy on Armenian issues, particularly those, such
as the Protocols, that directly impact the rights of U.S. citizens
of Armenian heritage.
– The ANCA believes that meetings of this nature should include the
community’s broad-based advocacy, civic, religious, and charitable
leadership, not simply those that hold a particular point of view –
on the Protocols, or any other issue.
– The exclusion of many important groups in the Secretary’s initial
round of invitations, including a large number aligned against the
State Department-supported Protocols, sets a dangerous precedent that,
in the future, invitations for such meetings will be, in large part,
reserved for those who endorse the Administration’s policies.
– The five organizations in the Secretary’s first round of
invitations represent a partial and unrepresentative sample of the
Armenian American community’s traditional leadership. This broader
group, comprised of advocacy, civic, religious, charitable, and
other organizations, met with President Clinton in 1994 and has,
collectively, signed a series of letters to the White House over
the past two decades, including as recently as President Obama’s
inauguration.
In the days and weeks since the Secretary’s invitation, the ANCA has
sought, both publicly and privately, to work with the Department of
State and with our community partners to reach a fair, inclusive,
and workable solution. We have, in these efforts, faced considerable
interference and opposition from the Assembly and leaders of the AGBU,
but remain confident that we will succeed in ensuring that the Armenian
American community’s views are accurately and assertively represented
to Secretary Clinton and the entire U.S. government.