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Armenian Americans Battle Bush Over Genocide Recognition
News Feature, Peter Micek,
Pacific News Service, May 19, 2004
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c4ab7ebdbfbdb1baac0a8 f9ac694a5b4
Editor's Note: From the Canadian Parliament to California's
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, more politicians are describing the
World War I-era massacre of Armenians as genocide. President Bush,
like other U.S. presidents before him, is resisting -- a move that
could hurt his re-election bid.
President Bush risks provoking an Armenian American voter backlash
with his election-year refusal to grant the word "genocide" to the
early 20th century massacres of Armenians.
Armenian Americans say Bush's latest sidestepping of the issue means
he has broken a pledge he made in year 2000 campaigning.
White House political strategist Karl Rove should take note: Armenian
Americans, estimated to number more than 1 million nationwide, are
a well-assimilated and politically connected group.
Many Armenian Americans consider recognition of the Armenian Genocide
their No. 1 political goal. Armenians and some historians estimate
that between 1915 and 1923, as many as 1.5 million Armenians were
killed by Ottoman Turks.
Sensing an opportunity, President Bush's main rival, Sen. John Kerry
has already called the massacres of Armenians at the end of the
Ottoman Empire "a dark period of history" that should be recognized
as genocide.
Presidents of both parties have balked at granting official recognition
of an Armenian "genocide," even after making campaign promises to
that effect. That's because Turkey, a U.S. ally in a restive Muslim
world, is opposed to any such terminology. Turkey denies any systematic
campaign of ethnic cleansing took place as the Ottoman Empire crumbled.
Yet the Canadian Parliament, California's Republican Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, The New York Times -- which freed its writers to
refer to the "Armenian Genocide" without qualification -- and Idaho's
government all decided to grant recognition this year.
Several of these moves coincided with last month's ceremonies to
commemorate the 89th anniversary of the date, April 24, 1915, seen
as the start of the massacres.
Idaho's declaration brought the total number of states that recognize
the genocide to 36, including the electoral battleground state of
Florida. In California, where some 500,000 Armenian Americans live,
Schwarzenegger declared April 24 a "Day of Remembrance for the
Armenian Genocide."
"This month was amazing," said Maral Habeshian, English-language editor
of the Los Angeles-based Asbarez Armenian Daily, in an April interview.
The Asbarez Armenian Daily reprinted Schwarzenegger's statement and a
statement issued by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat,
who said recognition from the U.S. government is an important step
toward avoiding similar tragedies.
"At the outset of the Jewish Holocaust, Adolph Hitler said that no one
remembered what happened to the Armenian people during the genocide,"
Boxer wrote. "He then proceeded to implement his Final Solution."
Armenian Americans have now found common cause with efforts to gain
recognition for other genocides.
Partly thanks to Samantha Powers' prize-winning book "The Problem
from Hell," more attention is being paid to genocide and why it can
still take place in a world as interlinked as ours.
In the book, which includes a discussion of U.S. indifference toward
the Armenian Genocide, Powers indicts U.S. government denials and
failures to act and shows how they helped fuel some of the last
century's worst atrocities, including the Jewish Holocaust, Cambodia
and Rwanda.
Last fall, a best-selling book, "Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide
and America's Response," by Armenian American author Peter Balakian,
also publicized the issue.
Unlike an Armenian Genocide resolution that nearly came to vote
in the U.S. Congress in 2000, a resolution pending now includes
recognition for genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda and has a wider
base of support, says Elizabeth Chouldjian, communications director
of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Micheline Marcom, author of "Three Apples Fell From Heaven" and
"The Daydreaming Boy," two novels set during and after the massacres,
says young second- and third-generation Armenian Americans also have
embraced the issue.
"Even among young people, it's very intense," says Marcom, who like
many Armenian Americans learned about the massacres from immigrant
grandparents.
Despite the recent attention and activism, the Bush administration
has opposed the congressional legislation recognizing the Armenian
Genocide.
On the April anniversary date, President Bush called for a "pause in
remembrance" of the "annihilation of as many as 1.5 million Armenians
through forced exile and murder at the end of the Ottoman Empire."
Armenian Americans, who remember a presidential campaign promise by
Bush in 2000, remain "troubled" that Bush's statement avoided the word
"genocide," says Armenian National Committee of America Executive
Director Aram Hamparian.
In June 2000, then-candidate Bush sent a letter to the Armenian
Assembly of America saying that Armenians were subjected to a
"genocidal campaign" and that as president he would "properly
recognize" their suffering. The Armenian Assembly took this statement
as a pledge that Bush's administration would formally recognize
the genocide.
"For the fourth year in a row, despite [Bush's] repeated calls for
'moral clarity' in the conduct of our international affairs, he has
used evasive and euphemistic terminology to avoid properly identifying
the Armenian Genocide as what it was," Hamparian says.
The National Organization of Republican Armenians, or NORA,
acknowledges in a press release that President Push has fallen
"short of formally declaring the Armenian Genocide a genocide," but
says his statements have been more "strongly worded" than those of
past presidents.
Past Armenian American voter history in Florida points to the danger
candidates of any party face by not recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
In 2000, according to NORA, Florida's 18,000-strong Armenian community
helped tilt the election away from candidate Al Gore. NORA's own
polling showed 80 percent of Armenian Americans in Florida said they
were influenced by the Clinton-Gore administration's broken promise,
made during the 1992 presidential campaign, to recognize the Armenian
Genocide.
PNS contributor Peter Micek ([email protected]) works for NCM,
an association of over 600 print, broadcast and online ethnic media
organizations founded in 1996 by Pacific News Service and members of
ethnic media.
News Feature, Peter Micek,
Pacific News Service, May 19, 2004
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c4ab7ebdbfbdb1baac0a8 f9ac694a5b4
Editor's Note: From the Canadian Parliament to California's
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, more politicians are describing the
World War I-era massacre of Armenians as genocide. President Bush,
like other U.S. presidents before him, is resisting -- a move that
could hurt his re-election bid.
President Bush risks provoking an Armenian American voter backlash
with his election-year refusal to grant the word "genocide" to the
early 20th century massacres of Armenians.
Armenian Americans say Bush's latest sidestepping of the issue means
he has broken a pledge he made in year 2000 campaigning.
White House political strategist Karl Rove should take note: Armenian
Americans, estimated to number more than 1 million nationwide, are
a well-assimilated and politically connected group.
Many Armenian Americans consider recognition of the Armenian Genocide
their No. 1 political goal. Armenians and some historians estimate
that between 1915 and 1923, as many as 1.5 million Armenians were
killed by Ottoman Turks.
Sensing an opportunity, President Bush's main rival, Sen. John Kerry
has already called the massacres of Armenians at the end of the
Ottoman Empire "a dark period of history" that should be recognized
as genocide.
Presidents of both parties have balked at granting official recognition
of an Armenian "genocide," even after making campaign promises to
that effect. That's because Turkey, a U.S. ally in a restive Muslim
world, is opposed to any such terminology. Turkey denies any systematic
campaign of ethnic cleansing took place as the Ottoman Empire crumbled.
Yet the Canadian Parliament, California's Republican Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, The New York Times -- which freed its writers to
refer to the "Armenian Genocide" without qualification -- and Idaho's
government all decided to grant recognition this year.
Several of these moves coincided with last month's ceremonies to
commemorate the 89th anniversary of the date, April 24, 1915, seen
as the start of the massacres.
Idaho's declaration brought the total number of states that recognize
the genocide to 36, including the electoral battleground state of
Florida. In California, where some 500,000 Armenian Americans live,
Schwarzenegger declared April 24 a "Day of Remembrance for the
Armenian Genocide."
"This month was amazing," said Maral Habeshian, English-language editor
of the Los Angeles-based Asbarez Armenian Daily, in an April interview.
The Asbarez Armenian Daily reprinted Schwarzenegger's statement and a
statement issued by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat,
who said recognition from the U.S. government is an important step
toward avoiding similar tragedies.
"At the outset of the Jewish Holocaust, Adolph Hitler said that no one
remembered what happened to the Armenian people during the genocide,"
Boxer wrote. "He then proceeded to implement his Final Solution."
Armenian Americans have now found common cause with efforts to gain
recognition for other genocides.
Partly thanks to Samantha Powers' prize-winning book "The Problem
from Hell," more attention is being paid to genocide and why it can
still take place in a world as interlinked as ours.
In the book, which includes a discussion of U.S. indifference toward
the Armenian Genocide, Powers indicts U.S. government denials and
failures to act and shows how they helped fuel some of the last
century's worst atrocities, including the Jewish Holocaust, Cambodia
and Rwanda.
Last fall, a best-selling book, "Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide
and America's Response," by Armenian American author Peter Balakian,
also publicized the issue.
Unlike an Armenian Genocide resolution that nearly came to vote
in the U.S. Congress in 2000, a resolution pending now includes
recognition for genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda and has a wider
base of support, says Elizabeth Chouldjian, communications director
of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Micheline Marcom, author of "Three Apples Fell From Heaven" and
"The Daydreaming Boy," two novels set during and after the massacres,
says young second- and third-generation Armenian Americans also have
embraced the issue.
"Even among young people, it's very intense," says Marcom, who like
many Armenian Americans learned about the massacres from immigrant
grandparents.
Despite the recent attention and activism, the Bush administration
has opposed the congressional legislation recognizing the Armenian
Genocide.
On the April anniversary date, President Bush called for a "pause in
remembrance" of the "annihilation of as many as 1.5 million Armenians
through forced exile and murder at the end of the Ottoman Empire."
Armenian Americans, who remember a presidential campaign promise by
Bush in 2000, remain "troubled" that Bush's statement avoided the word
"genocide," says Armenian National Committee of America Executive
Director Aram Hamparian.
In June 2000, then-candidate Bush sent a letter to the Armenian
Assembly of America saying that Armenians were subjected to a
"genocidal campaign" and that as president he would "properly
recognize" their suffering. The Armenian Assembly took this statement
as a pledge that Bush's administration would formally recognize
the genocide.
"For the fourth year in a row, despite [Bush's] repeated calls for
'moral clarity' in the conduct of our international affairs, he has
used evasive and euphemistic terminology to avoid properly identifying
the Armenian Genocide as what it was," Hamparian says.
The National Organization of Republican Armenians, or NORA,
acknowledges in a press release that President Push has fallen
"short of formally declaring the Armenian Genocide a genocide," but
says his statements have been more "strongly worded" than those of
past presidents.
Past Armenian American voter history in Florida points to the danger
candidates of any party face by not recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
In 2000, according to NORA, Florida's 18,000-strong Armenian community
helped tilt the election away from candidate Al Gore. NORA's own
polling showed 80 percent of Armenian Americans in Florida said they
were influenced by the Clinton-Gore administration's broken promise,
made during the 1992 presidential campaign, to recognize the Armenian
Genocide.
PNS contributor Peter Micek ([email protected]) works for NCM,
an association of over 600 print, broadcast and online ethnic media
organizations founded in 1996 by Pacific News Service and members of
ethnic media.