Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. anca@anca.org
Internet
PRESS RELEASE
February 12, 2010
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
ANCA STATEMENT ON THE 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:
====================================== ====================
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 be
succeed in ensuring that the Armenian American community’s views
are accurately and assertively represented to Secretary Clinton and
the entire U.S. government.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress