Los Angeles Times
April 25 2010
Obama again stops short of calling slaughter of Armenians a genocide
For the second year in a row, Obama avoids the term being pushed by
Armenian American groups and their congressional allies as he marks
the day of remembrance of the 1915 killings by Ottoman Turks.
April 24, 2010|By Paul Richter, Tribune Washington Bureau
Reporting from Washington ‘ Despite pressure from activists and
lawmakers, President Obama on Saturday again refused to declare the
1915 mass killings of Armenians a genocide.
In a statement to mark Armenian Remembrance Day, Obama described the
killings of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "one of the
worst atrocities of the 20th century."
He referred to it as a "devastating chapter," and said that "we must
keep its memory alive in honor of those who were murdered so that we
do not repeat the grave mistakes of the past."
Yet for the second year in a row, Obama avoided describing the episode
as a genocide.
Armenian American groups and their allies in Congress have been
pushing for use of the term, and as a presidential candidate in 2008,
Obama promised he would.
But Turkey, a key U.S. ally, has been warning that it would badly
damage relations if the U.S. government tried to "politicize history."
Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Washington last month after the
House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a nonbinding resolution calling
the killings a genocide.
Obama’s statement referred to the episode as "Meds Yeghern" an
Armenian phrase that translates roughly as "great calamity." Obama
appeared to be trying to draw a parallel with Shoah, used by Jews to
refer to the Holocaust.
He also referred to his past statements that the killings amounted to
genocide. "I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in
1915, and my view of that history has not changed," he said.
Fourteen U.S. senators, led by Barbara Boxer, (D-Calif.) recently
wrote to Obama to urge him to use genocide in his annual address. Rep.
Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) made a similar plea in a letter sent to Obama
two days ago.
The United States relies on Turkey as a transit point for equipment
for U.S. troops in the region. Turkey is also currently a rotating
member of the United Nations Security Council, and the Obama
administration badly wants its vote of support for a pending
resolution to impose additional sanctions on Iran to limit its nuclear
activities.
Armenian American groups held out hope that Obama would change his
language this year, though he did not use the term in his first
official statement, issued last year, on the subject.
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee
of America, said earlier this week that he hoped that Obama would be
giving more emphasis to human rights concerns this year. Hamparian
noted that Obama met with the Dalai Lama this year, after sidestepping
a meeting which would have angered Beijing last year.
The Armenian National Committee of America issued a statement Saturday
describing Obama’s declaration as "yet another disgraceful
capitulation to Turkey’s threats, offering euphemisms and evasive
terminology to characterize this crime against humanity."
Obama also said in his statement that he saluted the Turks who saved
Armenians in 1915, and that he remained "encouraged by the dialogue
among Turks and Armenians, and within Turkey itself, regarding this
painful history."
He expressed "deep admiration for [the Armenians and] their
contributions which transcend this dark past and give us hope for the
future."
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