DESPITE CAMPAIGN PLEDGE, PRESIDENT OBAMA REFUSES TO USE WORD ‘GENOCIDE’ WHEN DESCRIBING SLAUGHTER OF ARMENIANS
ABC News
April 24 2009
Despite a campaign promise that he would boldly use the word "genocide"
as president when describing the Ottoman Empire’s slaughter of up to
1.5 million Armenians in the early part of the last century, President
Obama deliberately avoided use of that word in his statement today
on Armenian Remembrance Day.
"We’re profoundly disappointed," Aram Hamparian, executive director
of the Armenian National Committee of America, told ABC News. "All
the more so because his statements on this in his record before he
became president nailed it in terms the facts, the practical side
and the moral dimension. He repeatedly talked about this during the
campaign, and he was really harsh on President Bush, he said it was
inexcusable that Bush refused to acknowledge that this was genocide."
Hamparian says President Obama "finds himself doing exactly the thing
he so sharply criticized the Bush administration for, which is being
euphemistic and evasive. It’s a bitter thing for Armenian-Americans
who really believed him and really worked hard."
In a July 28, 2006, letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
President Obama protested her decision to recall U.S. Ambassador to
Armenia John for using the G-word.
"That the invocation of a historical fact by a State Department
employee could constitute an act of insubordination is deeply
troubling," then-Sen. Obama wrote. "When State Department instructions
are such that an ambassador must engage in strained reasoning
— or even an outright falsehood — that defies of common sense
interpretation of events in order to follow orders, then it is time
to revisit the State Department’s policy guidance on that issue."
Obama told Secretary Rice that the "occurrence of the Armenian genocide
in 1915 is not an ‘allegation,’ a ‘personal opinion,’ or a ‘point of
view.’ Supported by an overwhelmingly amount of historical evidence,
it is a widely documented fact."
But Mr. Obama’s statement today does not use the word. He calls
the genocide "one of the great atrocities of the 20th century" and
mentions the "1.5 million Armenians who were subsequently massacred
or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire." He
uses the Armenian term for "The Great Atrocity" — The Meds Yeghern —
and he calls for "a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts."
But he does not use the word.
"He made it so clear throughout the campaign that that word mattered,"
the ANCA’s Hamparian says.
That is indisputable. Mr. Obama said that "America deserves a leader
who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds
forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that president."
In a January 2008 letter to the Armenian Reporter, Mr. Obama said he
shared "with Armenian Americans — so many of whom are descended from
genocide survivors — a principled commitment to commemorating and
ending genocide. That starts with acknowledging the tragic instances
of genocide in world history."
He stated unequivocally that "as president I will recognize the
Armenian Genocide."
Earlier this month when President Obama visited the critical U.S. ally
Turkey — whose leaders forbid in law calling the genocide a "genocide"
— Mr. Obama refrained from using it.
Standing with Turkish president Abdullah Gul, President Obama said that
"my views are on the record and I have not changed views. What I have
been very encouraged by is news that under President Gul’s leadership,
you are seeing a series of negotiations, a process, in place between
Armenia and Turkey to resolve a whole host of longstanding issues,
including this one."
Saying he wants to "be as encouraging as possible around those
negotiations which are moving forward and could bear fruit very quickly
very soon. And so as a consequence, what I want to do is not focus
on my views right now but focus on the views of the Turkish and the
Armenian people. If they can move forward and deal with a difficult and
tragic history, then I think the entire world should encourage them."
The Armenian National Committee of America at the time expressed
disappointment, but held off on judging the president, waiting to
see what he said today.
"We figured that he may have had one formula for visiting Turkey,"
Hamparian said. He no longer believes that to be the case.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
