REP. KENNEDY CALLS ON ADMINISTRATION TO CONFRONT TURKEY’S DENIAL OF
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
WASHINGTON, March 22 (Noyan Tapan). The Armenian Assembly of America
praised Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), a member of the Congressional
Caucus on Armenian Issues, for calling on the Bush Administration to
openly deal with Turkey’s continued policy of denial of the Armenian
Genocide and to support a congressional resolution reaffirming this
crime against humanity. Kennedy, in a statement issued last week
before Congress, said the Administration’s reluctance to address
the issue stems from its refusal to alienate Turkey at a time when
Washington is seeking to repair relations with Ankara. “This approach
sends absolutely the wrong signal to Turkey and to the rest of the
world,” Kennedy stated. “As we promote relations based upon shared
values, the United States must never forget the essential value of
facing history directly.” Kennedy also added that the present day
Turkish government must stop its shameful policy of denial of the
Armenian Genocide. “The Turkish government spends millions of dollars
annually to lobby other governments to advance its revisionist cause,
claiming that the subject is sensitive and that acknowledgement would
undermine relations with Turkey,” Kennedy said. Last week, Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed calls for further study
of the Armenian Genocide, telling Reuters “If there is a need for
a political settling of accounts with history after such a study,
we, the government and the opposition, are ready to do just that.”
Assembly leaders, for their part, joined Armenia’s Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian in calling the study pointless given the scholarly
community’s publicly stated conclusions confirming the events as
Genocide. “Periodic calls by various Turkish administrations for
historical debate simply delay the process of reconciling the truth,”
Oskanian recently said in a speech before the U.N. Commission on
Human Rights. “The facts are clear. The historical record is clear.
We know well what happened to our forebears.” The Assembly in recent
weeks has pointed to such public affirmations, as well as those of
leading U.S. public officials such as Ambassador to Armenia John
Evans, as part of its campaign to urge President Bush to recognize
the Armenian Genocide in his statement of remembrance next month.