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A TRUE PATH TO ARMENIAN-TURKISH PEACE AND PROGRESS.
http://asbarez.com/109860/a-true-path-to-armenian-turkish-peace-and-progress/
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
Aram Hamparian
BY ARAM HAMPARIAN
It's time for a new American approach to the Armenian Genocide, one
that is as simple as it is sound: Progress and peace based upon truth
and justice.
American policy on the Armenian Genocide can be both principled and
practical. For, in properly commemorating this crime, standing up
to its denial, and seeking its just resolution, we will be bringing
our policies as a government into alignment with our principles as
a nation - to the benefit of both U.S. interests and American values.
Years of futile U.S. efforts to appease Turkey have failed to end
Ankara's blockade of Armenia and only hardened Ankara's denial of
truth and obstruction of justice for this crime. In fact, it was only
moments after Turkey and Armenia signed the Ankara-inspired Protocols
back in 2009 that the Turkish government - rather than moving toward
recognition of this crime - reversed course by brazenly adding new
demands regarding Nagorno Karabakh. Ankara proudly declared it would
continue enforcing its illegal blockade of Armenia, and then, in an
open affront to its U.S. ally, actually escalated its international
campaign of Armenian Genocide denial. Turkey, having secured the
Armenian Foreign Minister's signature on this document, has, for
the past four years, used it non-stop as its weapon of choice in a
relentless campaign to derail international progress toward a just
resolution of this still unpunished genocide.
To the extent that there is, today, constructive discourse on this
subject within a small but growing segment of Turkish civil society,
the credit belongs to the international campaign for truth, empowered
by independent scholarship and driven by Armenian calls for justice.
Allies of Ankara - including those in Washington, DC, are now
shamelessly seeking to take credit for this new awareness and activism,
but only because they failed to bully Armenians into silence and
bury this epic injustice. These apologists, sadly, remain part of
the problem, not the solution.
Turkey's obstruction of justice has, over the course of nearly a
century, allowed Ankara to consolidate its hold on the genocidal
gains of its crimes against the Armenian people, blocking the return
to the Armenian nation of key elements - indispensable elements -
of viability that long sustained the Armenian people upon their
ancient homeland. This denial poisons Armenian-Turkish relations,
fosters wave after wave of anti-Armenian intolerance within Turkey,
threatens Armenia's and Artsakh's security, and, of course, fuels
regional tensions.
We must reject Ankara's false choice that, when it comes to the
Armenian Genocide, protecting U.S. interests means compromising
American values. The future of this region - it's sustainable stability
over the long-term - cannot be built upon a foundation of lies. Justice
is good geopolitics.
It's time for the Obama-Biden Administration to reject Ankara's
gag-rule and proudly reaffirm our government's record of having
recognized the Armenian Genocide. Sadly, under foreign pressure,
President Obama has failed to reflect, much less reinforce, America's
standing acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide as a crime of
genocide. Our current President's retreat is regrettable - on many
levels - and certainly must be reversed, but it does not detract from
the fact that, dating back to the time of President Woodrow Wilson,
the U.S. government has officially condemned Turkey's intentional
campaign to destroy its Armenian and other indigenous Christian
populations. Since Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide and
President Harry Truman became the first head of state to sign the
Genocide Convention, the United States has, on several occasions,
formally recognized the Armenian Genocide as a crime of genocide:
- The U.S. Government's May 28, 1951 written statement to the
International Court of Justice regarding the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in which the
"Turkish massacres of Armenians" is cited as an "outstanding examples
of the crime of genocide."
- President Ronald Reagan's April 22, 1981 Proclamation number 4838;
in which he stated, in part, "like the genocide of the Armenians
before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians, which followed it -
and like too many other persecutions of too many other people -
the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten."
- House Joint Resolution 148 adopted on April 8, 1975, which designated
April 24, 1975, as "National Day of Remembrance of Man's Inhumanity
to Man," citing "all the victims of genocide, especially those of
Armenian ancestry who succumbed to the genocide perpetrated in 1915."
- House Joint Resolution 247 adopted on September 10, 1984, which
designated April 24, 1985, as "National Day of Remembrance of Man's
Inhumanity to Man," citing "all the victims of genocide, especially
the one and one-half million people of Armenian ancestry who were the
victims of the genocide perpetrated in Turkey between 1915 and 1923."
- The House of Representatives, on June 5, 1996, adopted an amendment
to House Bill 3540 (the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and
Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1997), to reduce aid to Turkey
by $3,000,000 (an estimate of its payment of lobbying fees in the
United States) until the Turkish Government acknowledged the Armenian
Genocide and took steps to honor the memory of its victims.
President Obama himself entered office having stated his "firmly held
conviction that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal
opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact
supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence." He affirmed
his U.S. Senate record of "calling for Turkey's acknowledgement of
the Armenian Genocide," and, as we all know, pledged publicly that:
"as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide."
After years of failed efforts to appease Ankara, it's time for
President Obama to honor his words, and for our government to live
up to America's promise of truth and justice.
It's time to stop outsourcing our nation's Armenian Genocide policy
to Turkey, and - in the interest of both regional stability and our
core values as a nation - to reclaim American leadership in support
of a truthful and just resolution of this crime.
Aram Hamparian is the ANCA Executive Director
http://asbarez.com/109860/a-true-path-to-armenian-turkish-peace-and-progress/
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
Aram Hamparian
BY ARAM HAMPARIAN
It's time for a new American approach to the Armenian Genocide, one
that is as simple as it is sound: Progress and peace based upon truth
and justice.
American policy on the Armenian Genocide can be both principled and
practical. For, in properly commemorating this crime, standing up
to its denial, and seeking its just resolution, we will be bringing
our policies as a government into alignment with our principles as
a nation - to the benefit of both U.S. interests and American values.
Years of futile U.S. efforts to appease Turkey have failed to end
Ankara's blockade of Armenia and only hardened Ankara's denial of
truth and obstruction of justice for this crime. In fact, it was only
moments after Turkey and Armenia signed the Ankara-inspired Protocols
back in 2009 that the Turkish government - rather than moving toward
recognition of this crime - reversed course by brazenly adding new
demands regarding Nagorno Karabakh. Ankara proudly declared it would
continue enforcing its illegal blockade of Armenia, and then, in an
open affront to its U.S. ally, actually escalated its international
campaign of Armenian Genocide denial. Turkey, having secured the
Armenian Foreign Minister's signature on this document, has, for
the past four years, used it non-stop as its weapon of choice in a
relentless campaign to derail international progress toward a just
resolution of this still unpunished genocide.
To the extent that there is, today, constructive discourse on this
subject within a small but growing segment of Turkish civil society,
the credit belongs to the international campaign for truth, empowered
by independent scholarship and driven by Armenian calls for justice.
Allies of Ankara - including those in Washington, DC, are now
shamelessly seeking to take credit for this new awareness and activism,
but only because they failed to bully Armenians into silence and
bury this epic injustice. These apologists, sadly, remain part of
the problem, not the solution.
Turkey's obstruction of justice has, over the course of nearly a
century, allowed Ankara to consolidate its hold on the genocidal
gains of its crimes against the Armenian people, blocking the return
to the Armenian nation of key elements - indispensable elements -
of viability that long sustained the Armenian people upon their
ancient homeland. This denial poisons Armenian-Turkish relations,
fosters wave after wave of anti-Armenian intolerance within Turkey,
threatens Armenia's and Artsakh's security, and, of course, fuels
regional tensions.
We must reject Ankara's false choice that, when it comes to the
Armenian Genocide, protecting U.S. interests means compromising
American values. The future of this region - it's sustainable stability
over the long-term - cannot be built upon a foundation of lies. Justice
is good geopolitics.
It's time for the Obama-Biden Administration to reject Ankara's
gag-rule and proudly reaffirm our government's record of having
recognized the Armenian Genocide. Sadly, under foreign pressure,
President Obama has failed to reflect, much less reinforce, America's
standing acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide as a crime of
genocide. Our current President's retreat is regrettable - on many
levels - and certainly must be reversed, but it does not detract from
the fact that, dating back to the time of President Woodrow Wilson,
the U.S. government has officially condemned Turkey's intentional
campaign to destroy its Armenian and other indigenous Christian
populations. Since Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide and
President Harry Truman became the first head of state to sign the
Genocide Convention, the United States has, on several occasions,
formally recognized the Armenian Genocide as a crime of genocide:
- The U.S. Government's May 28, 1951 written statement to the
International Court of Justice regarding the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in which the
"Turkish massacres of Armenians" is cited as an "outstanding examples
of the crime of genocide."
- President Ronald Reagan's April 22, 1981 Proclamation number 4838;
in which he stated, in part, "like the genocide of the Armenians
before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians, which followed it -
and like too many other persecutions of too many other people -
the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten."
- House Joint Resolution 148 adopted on April 8, 1975, which designated
April 24, 1975, as "National Day of Remembrance of Man's Inhumanity
to Man," citing "all the victims of genocide, especially those of
Armenian ancestry who succumbed to the genocide perpetrated in 1915."
- House Joint Resolution 247 adopted on September 10, 1984, which
designated April 24, 1985, as "National Day of Remembrance of Man's
Inhumanity to Man," citing "all the victims of genocide, especially
the one and one-half million people of Armenian ancestry who were the
victims of the genocide perpetrated in Turkey between 1915 and 1923."
- The House of Representatives, on June 5, 1996, adopted an amendment
to House Bill 3540 (the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and
Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1997), to reduce aid to Turkey
by $3,000,000 (an estimate of its payment of lobbying fees in the
United States) until the Turkish Government acknowledged the Armenian
Genocide and took steps to honor the memory of its victims.
President Obama himself entered office having stated his "firmly held
conviction that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal
opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact
supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence." He affirmed
his U.S. Senate record of "calling for Turkey's acknowledgement of
the Armenian Genocide," and, as we all know, pledged publicly that:
"as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide."
After years of failed efforts to appease Ankara, it's time for
President Obama to honor his words, and for our government to live
up to America's promise of truth and justice.
It's time to stop outsourcing our nation's Armenian Genocide policy
to Turkey, and - in the interest of both regional stability and our
core values as a nation - to reclaim American leadership in support
of a truthful and just resolution of this crime.
Aram Hamparian is the ANCA Executive Director