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U.S. Documents Reveal Pres. Bush's Duplicity On The Armenian Genocid

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  • U.S. Documents Reveal Pres. Bush's Duplicity On The Armenian Genocid

    U.S. DOCUMENTS REVEAL PRES. BUSH'S DUPLICITY ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

    ARMENPRESS
    NOVEMBER 22, 2010
    YEREVAN

    YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: In a highly informative book,
    "Children of Armenia: A Forgotten Genocide and Century-long Struggle
    for Justice," Michael Bobelian has exposed important, but little
    known facts about the long history of attempts to get the Armenian
    Genocide recognized by the United States, Harut Sassounian publisher
    of The California Courier writes.

    One of Bobelian's more notable revelations is the apparent
    contradiction between Vice President George H. W. Bush senior's promise
    to the Armenian-American community to acknowledge the Genocide after
    he is elected President and his administration's agreement with Turkey
    to block such an acknowledgment.

    While running for President in 1988, Vice President George Bush
    issued the following statement: "The United States must acknowledge
    the attempted genocide of the Armenian people in the last years of
    the Ottoman Empire, based on the testimony of survivors, scholars,
    and indeed our own representatives at the time, if we are to ensure
    that such horrors are not repeated." Bush is the only Vice President
    who has made such a pledge on the Armenian Genocide.

    After assuming the presidency in January 1989, however, Pres. Bush
    ignored his commitment on the Armenian Genocide, and actively tried
    to persuade the U.S. Congress not to recognize it. Within months of
    his election, Bush wrote to Senators Bob Dole and George Mitchell,
    and Congressmen Tom Foley, Richard Michel, Richard Gephardt, Janet
    Mullins, and Richard Lehman, informing them of his opposition to the
    pending congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide.

    On April 20, 1990, Pres. Bush issued his only "Presidential Message"
    on the occasion of "Armenian Remembrance Day," without, however,
    using the term "Armenian Genocide." He spoke about "...the terrible
    massacres suffered in 1915-1923 at the hands of the rulers of
    the Ottoman Empire. The United States responded to the victims of
    the crime against humanity by leading international diplomatic and
    private relief efforts.... On this 75th anniversary of the massacres,
    I wish to join with Armenians and all peoples in observing April 24,
    1990 as a day of remembrance for the more than a million Armenian
    people who were victims. I call upon all peoples to work to prevent
    future acts of inhumanity against mankind, and my comments of June
    1988 represent the depth of my feeling for the Armenian people and
    the sufferings they have endured."

    Over the years, analysts have offered different explanations as to why
    recent U.S. Presidents (except for Ronald Reagan) have not kept their
    promises to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Bobelian revealed that
    in 1987, a year before Vice President Bush made his promise to the
    Armenian-American community, the United States and Turkey had signed
    an extensive military and economic agreement, according to which the
    American government pledged to oppose any "inappropriate actions,"
    such as the pending congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide.

    During the official signing ceremony held at the State Department on
    March 16, 1987, Secretary of State George Shultz and Turkish Foreign
    Minister Vahit Halefoglu exchanged letters extending through December
    1990 the bilateral Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement that
    had been in effect since March 29, 1980. According to this agreement,
    the United States made a commitment to provide high levels of military
    and economic support for Turkey. More significantly, Washington agreed
    to "vigorously oppose inappropriate actions which would be harmful to
    healthy U.S.-Turkish relations, to U.S.-Turkish military cooperation
    or to our efforts to provide security assistance to Turkey based on
    the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces."

    When the 1980 agreement expired in 1985, the Turkish government
    cleverly dragged out the negotiations for its extension, while
    escalating its demands from the United States. After a series of
    diplomatic exchanges that lasted two full years, the Turkish side
    succeeded in extracting more and more concessions from the U.S.,
    including the commitment to block congressional resolutions on the
    Armenian Genocide.

    Vice President Bush must have known in 1988, when he made his
    deceptive promise on the Armenian Genocide, that the United States
    government had already signed an agreement with Turkey in 1987,
    pledging to "vigorously oppose inappropriate actions" that would
    damage U.S.-Turkish relations.

    After Pres. Reagan's Proclamation of April 22, 1981 and the two
    House resolutions adopted in 1975 and 1984 acknowledging the Armenian
    Genocide, the Turkish government had good reason to insist on language
    in the 1987 agreement to block any further acknowledgments of the
    Armenian Genocide.

    The Turkish scheme worked! Breaking his pledge to the Armenian
    community, Pres. Bush successfully lobbied the Senate in 1990 to
    prevent the passage of a resolution on the Armenian Genocide.




    From: A. Papazian
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