“I’m gravely disappointed that President Obama will now leave office without fulfilling his commitment to recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Rep. Adam Schiff said in a statement.
“For a President who knows the history so well, who spoke so passionately about the genocide as a Senator and Presidential candidate, and who has always championed human rights, the choice of silence and complicity is all the more painfully inexplicable. Remaining silent in an effort to curry favor with Turkey is as morally indefensible as it will be ineffectual,” Rep. Schiff said.
“How many administrations must be intimidated into silence before we realize that it never changes Turkish behavior for the better and only emboldens the increasingly authoritarian regime? Recognition of the Armenian Genocide could have been a proud part of the President’s legacy; instead this decision will be just another sad milestone in the struggle to prevent genocide by exposing genocide and its perpetrators,” Adam Schiff said.