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ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY RELEASES UPDATED FACT SHEET ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND U.S. RECORD
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/01/23/armenian-assembly-releases-updated-fact-sheet-on-armenian-genocide-and-u-s-record/
11:11 23.01.2013
The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) announced the release
of an updated edition of its widely-used fact sheet on the Armenian
Genocide and the U.S. Record. The 11-page fact sheet provides a summary
of the extensive U.S. historic record on the Armenian Genocide from
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau's earliest condemnations to Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton's visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial in
Yerevan. As the world observes the start of President Obama and Vice
President Biden's second term, with John Kerry nominated for Secretary
of State, the Assembly is making the updated fact sheet available.
When the Armenian Genocide was implemented in Ottoman Turkey, the
United States responded swiftly with the largest overseas humanitarian
assistance program organized during World War I. This proud chapter
of American humanitarianism was supported by U.S. presidents who were
fully aware of the atrocities committed during the years 1915 to 1923.
The American diplomatic corps, through its many eyewitness reports
submitted to the Department of State, created a voluminous record
on the first mass genocide of the 20th century, and it was through
the services of the U.S. State Department that the first crucial
international condemnation of the Armenian Genocide as a crime against
humanity was communicated to the Turkish authorities. That May 24,
1915, cable transmitted on behalf of the governments of Britain,
France and Russia reads:
In view of those new crimes of Turkey against humanity and
civilization, the Allied governments announce publicly to the
Sublime-Porte that they will hold personally responsible [for] these
crimes all members of the Ottoman government and those of their agents
who are implicated in such massacres.
These developments formed the early background to the U.S. position on
wartime atrocities against civilians, which, in the aftermath of World
War II, propelled U.S. support for the United Nations Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, a position the
United States expressly stated in 1951 to the International Court of
Justice when it listed "the Turkish massacres of Armenians" among "the
outstanding examples of the crime of genocide," and which President
Ronald Reagan affirmed in a 1981 proclamation and the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia further confirmed in 1993. The
Armenian Genocide was also cited as a precedent at the Nuremberg
trials. However, the passage of time and the growing influence of
denial efforts promoted by the government of Turkey have worked to
relegate this proud chapter in American foreign policy from public
awareness.
President Barack Obama, like other U.S. Presidents and officials, has
taken steps to rectify this problem. President Obama has defined the
events using the dictionary definition that fits the term Genocide,
he has used an Armenian term, Meds Yeghern, for the Armenian Genocide
in his annual April 24 Remembrance Day statements and he has referred
back to his prior views as a senator and presidential candidate when
he explicitly referenced the Armenian Genocide. President Obama,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the Administration also made
an historic effort to reconcile Turkey and Armenia. In the universal
effort to join allies and other major countries in using the term
Armenian Genocide, the United States record on its own history cannot
be deleted or compromised.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/01/23/armenian-assembly-releases-updated-fact-sheet-on-armenian-genocide-and-u-s-record/
11:11 23.01.2013
The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) announced the release
of an updated edition of its widely-used fact sheet on the Armenian
Genocide and the U.S. Record. The 11-page fact sheet provides a summary
of the extensive U.S. historic record on the Armenian Genocide from
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau's earliest condemnations to Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton's visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial in
Yerevan. As the world observes the start of President Obama and Vice
President Biden's second term, with John Kerry nominated for Secretary
of State, the Assembly is making the updated fact sheet available.
When the Armenian Genocide was implemented in Ottoman Turkey, the
United States responded swiftly with the largest overseas humanitarian
assistance program organized during World War I. This proud chapter
of American humanitarianism was supported by U.S. presidents who were
fully aware of the atrocities committed during the years 1915 to 1923.
The American diplomatic corps, through its many eyewitness reports
submitted to the Department of State, created a voluminous record
on the first mass genocide of the 20th century, and it was through
the services of the U.S. State Department that the first crucial
international condemnation of the Armenian Genocide as a crime against
humanity was communicated to the Turkish authorities. That May 24,
1915, cable transmitted on behalf of the governments of Britain,
France and Russia reads:
In view of those new crimes of Turkey against humanity and
civilization, the Allied governments announce publicly to the
Sublime-Porte that they will hold personally responsible [for] these
crimes all members of the Ottoman government and those of their agents
who are implicated in such massacres.
These developments formed the early background to the U.S. position on
wartime atrocities against civilians, which, in the aftermath of World
War II, propelled U.S. support for the United Nations Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, a position the
United States expressly stated in 1951 to the International Court of
Justice when it listed "the Turkish massacres of Armenians" among "the
outstanding examples of the crime of genocide," and which President
Ronald Reagan affirmed in a 1981 proclamation and the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia further confirmed in 1993. The
Armenian Genocide was also cited as a precedent at the Nuremberg
trials. However, the passage of time and the growing influence of
denial efforts promoted by the government of Turkey have worked to
relegate this proud chapter in American foreign policy from public
awareness.
President Barack Obama, like other U.S. Presidents and officials, has
taken steps to rectify this problem. President Obama has defined the
events using the dictionary definition that fits the term Genocide,
he has used an Armenian term, Meds Yeghern, for the Armenian Genocide
in his annual April 24 Remembrance Day statements and he has referred
back to his prior views as a senator and presidential candidate when
he explicitly referenced the Armenian Genocide. President Obama,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the Administration also made
an historic effort to reconcile Turkey and Armenia. In the universal
effort to join allies and other major countries in using the term
Armenian Genocide, the United States record on its own history cannot
be deleted or compromised.