AZG Armenian Daily #177, 29/09/2007
Genocide Recognition
ANCA WARNS AGAINST "OUTSOURCING" OF AMERICA’S MORAL CONSCIENCE TO
TURKEY
Fearing an imminent vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution
(H.Res.106), Turkey’s multi-million dollar lobbyists have solicited
the assistance of eight former U.S. Secretaries of State in seeking to
derail this human rights legislation, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA.)"Facing a growing bipartisan Congressional
majority demanding passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution,
Turkey’s lobbyists – out of desperation and a never ending desire to
squeeze more billing dollars out of Ankara – have turned to the very
architects of our government’s failed policy of appeasing Turkey,"
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "Sadly,
successive U.S. administrations have found themselves lacking the
moral courage to end the cycle of genocide – from Cambodia, to Rwanda
and, today in Darfur – precisely because of their legacy of caving in
to, rather than confronting genocidal regimes."
"We are, as Americans, especially troubled that, in warning Congress
not to make a simple anti-genocide statement for fear of upsetting
Turkey, these officials would outsource our nation’s moral conscience
to a foreign government," added Hamparian.
In their September 25th jointly-signed letter, former Secretaries of
State Madeleine Albright, James Baker III, Warren Christopher,
Laurence Eagleburger, Alexander Haig, Jr., Henry Kissinger, Colin
Powell, and George Schultz, urged Speaker Pelosi to, "prevent the
resolution from reaching the House Floor," thereby denying House
Members an opportunity to vote their conscience on the Armenian
Genocide. The former State Department officials expressed concern that
passage of the resolution "could endanger our national security
interests in the region, including our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and damage efforts to promote reconciliation between Armenia and
Turkey."