TURKEY THREATENS US ON THE EVE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 95TH ANNIVERSARY
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.02.2010 16:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The newly-appointed Turkish Ambassador to the
US, Namik Tan, called the pending Genocide resolution in Congress
"baseless" and expressed confidence during a speech Tuesday that his
country did not expect any adverse steps from "our ally, the US."
Tan, who was speaking on US-Turkey relations at a conference organized
by the Turkish Democracy Foundation in Ankara, warned that the
discussion and passage of a Genocide resolution by Congress would
lead to what he described as unwanted strains in US-Turkey relations,
Asbarez.com reported.
"Turkey took a historic step and signed the protocols with Armenia,"
said Tan, stressing that Turkey did not set any precondition for the
signing protocols.
"We do not anticipate any adverse steps from our ally, the US,
this year or anytime in the future," said Tan. "Taking such a
step, especially when cooperation between the two countries is very
comprehensive, would deal a serious blow to the process and efforts
toward establishing peace in the Caucasus."
Commenting on Tan’s statement Wednesday, Armenian National Committee of
America Executive Director Aram Hamparian said: "It’s truly telling
that Ambassador Tan’s first public comments came in the form of
an angry admission of frustration that his government’s Protocol
project has failed to achieve Ankara’s central aim of derailing the
growing momentum, in America and internationally, toward universal
condemnation and commemoration of the Armenian Genocide."
The Armenian Genocide resolution (H.Res. 106) was submitted to the
House of Representatives by Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), during
the 110th United States Congress. It is a non-binding resolution
calling upon the US President to ensure that the foreign policy of
the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity
concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing,
and genocide documented in the United States record relating to
the Armenian Genocide, and for other purposes. The resolution was
introduced on January 30, 2007.
The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.
On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots political organization.
Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and
supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations
around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the
Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.
The main goals of the ANCA are: to foster public awareness in support
of a free, united and independent Armenia; to influence and guide U.S.
policy on matters of interest to the Armenian American community;
to represent the collective Armenian American viewpoint on matters
of public policy, while serving as liaison between the community and
their elected officials.
The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic
destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during
and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and
deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to
lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths
reaching 1.5 million.
The date of the onset of the genocide is conventionally held to be
April 24, 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities arrested some 250
Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople.
Thereafter, the Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes
and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of
food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria.
To date, twenty countries and 44 U.S. states have officially recognized
the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars
and historians accept this view. The Armenian Genocide has been also
recognized by influential media including The New York Times, BBC,
The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the
Genocide survivors.