Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
PRESS RELEASE
March 21, 2007
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: [email protected]
CONGRESSMAN SCHIFF, SECRETARY RICE DISCUSS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
DURING HEARING ON CAPITOL HILL
Washington, DC – In a hearing today before the State, Foreign Operations
Appropriations Subcommittee in the House of Representatives, lawmakers
raised a series of concerns regarding past and current genocides.
Specifically, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) raised pointed questions
regarding the Administration’s opposition to H. Res. 106, which he
introduced in January, and that reaffirms the historical fact of the
Armenian Genocide and recalls the proud chapter of humanitarian
intervention by the United States.
The bipartisan legislation is cosponsored by more than 180 Members of
Congress, and is buoyed by the recent introduction of a similar bill in
the Senate by Assistant Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-IL) and
Senator John Ensign (R-NV).
In a spirited exchange, Schiff asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
how the U.S., if unwilling to recognize the Armenian Genocide as such,
has the "moral authority that we need to condemn the genocide in Darfur
if we do not acknowledge those atrocities that occurred earlier…"
Schiff continued, "Is there any doubt in your mind?"
"I think the historical circumstances require that we allow historical
commissions to explore this issue and come to terms with their past,"
Rice answered.
"You come from academia, is there anything in your background or
training that would leave you to believe that this murder of 1.5 million
people was not a genocide?" he asked.
"Yes, I do come from academia, but now I am secretary of state," Rice
explained. "I think that the Armenians and the Turks need to resolve
their past before they can move forward."
"When Hrant Dink is murdered on his doorstep, when the Turkish
government moves to bring him up on charges of ‘insulting Turkishness,’
I don’t see Turkey as being a democracy that signifies progress," Schiff
explained.
"I do think there is an evolution going on in Turkey," Rice replied.
"Like many historical tragedies, people need to deal with their past."
Rice also added this: "Congressman, we have recognized the historical
circumstances [and] we do recognize it in Presidential statements."
Schiff, in a second round of questioning, said "urging the Congress to
ignore [the Armenian Genocide] or abide by Turkish Article 301" is not
the solution. "We should encourage Turkey to acknowledge the undeniable
facts of the Armenian Genocide." Schiff also noted that the U.S. does
not support commissions to study Holocaust denial and that we should not
get into the business of historical commissions.
Executive Director Bryan Ardouny, who attended today’s hearing, thanked
Congressman Schiff for raising this important human rights issue.
"We have a fundamental policy disagreement with the Administration,"
Ardouny said. "We cannot allow Turkey’s insidious Article 301, which
penalizes discussion of the Armenian Genocide, to be exported to the
U.S. Further, calls to establish an historical commission to study the
Armenian Genocide ignore the existing scholarship. Every serious study
on the events of 1915 has reached the same conclusion. The fact of the
Armenian Genocide is incontestable."
Ardouny added that 126 Holocaust and genocide scholars have declared the
genocide an incontestable fact. Furthermore, the International Center
for Transitional Justice released a legal study on the use of the term
Armenian Genocide, which states that: "The Events, viewed collectively,
can thus be said to include all of the elements of the crime of genocide
as defined in the Convention, and legal scholars as well as historians,
politicians, journalists and other people would be justified in
continuing to so describe them."
"I was disappointed that Secretary of State Rice was unwilling to
acknowledge the plain facts of the Armenian Genocide," Schiff told the
Assembly. "We cannot maintain the moral force we need to take action
against the genocide going on in Darfur, if the Administration continues
to equivocate about the genocide against the Armenians."
The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of
Armenian issues. It is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt membership organization.
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NR#2007-039