OBAMA LAWYER RECOGNIZED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: RA COUNCIL OF BAR ASSOCIATION

news.am
March 4 2010
Armenia

The Council of the Bar Association of the Republic of Armenia in
view of the U.S. President Barack Obama’s Statement on April 24,
2009 and the forthcoming voting on Armenian Genocide Resolution in
the U.S. Congress states as follows:

In the conclusive paragraph of his Statement, right after using the
term "Meds Yeghern" for the second time, President Obama clearly
stated that there was an attempt to destroy the Armenian people:

"Nothing can bring back those who were lost in the Meds Yeghern. But
the contributions that Armenians have made over the last ninety-four
years stand as a testament to the talent, dynamism and resilience of
the Armenian people, and as the ultimate rebuke to those who tried
to destroy them."

It is necessary to utterly obliterate the international public
misconceptions that President Obama has not acknowledged the Armenian
Genocide because the term "genocide" was not spelled out. The
Bar Association of the Republic of Armenia hereby gives its legal
assessment to the Statement of President Obama.

1. The term "genocide" is relatively new. It was coined in 1944 by
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish legal scholar of Jewish descent. Prior to
that, each people subjected to genocide, had its own way of referring
to it. The Jewish people called it "Holocaust," and we, Armenian,
called it "Meds Yeghern."

2. Article 2 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which was adopted in 1948 and
came into effect in 1951, defines genocide as "… acts committed
with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical,
racial or religious group…"

President Obama used the historical Armenian term "Meds Yeghern", which
is synonymous to "genocide", a more contemporary term. The term "Meds
Yeghern" was used by President Obama twice, and was clearly described
as an attempt to destroy the Armenian people. It is obvious that "Meds
Yeghern" term was referred to by President Obama in exactly the same
meaning, as we, Armenians, refer to it. The terms "Meds Yeghern,"
"Hayots Tseghaspanutiun," and "Armenian Genocide" have been always
absolutely identical. From the legal point of view President Obama
has described a genocide, because an attempt to destroy a people is,
by definition, a genocide.

Even though Obama the politician did not use the term "genocide,"
Obama the lawyer, the graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law
School, has already clearly acknowledged the events of the Armenian
Genocide. On behalf of the Bar Association of the Republic of Armenia
we would like to express our gratitude to President Obama for his
historic Statement.

Taking into account the significance of international recognition
of genocide for purposes of preventing of the crime of genocide in
the future, we believe that it is the time to call things by their
proper names and to condemn the Meds Yeghern defining it as genocide
in unequivocal terms. In this respect we should greatly appreciate
the initiative of the US Congress and call upon it to approve the
Resolution.