ANCA CHALLENGES STATE DEPARTMENT EFFORT TO DEFEAT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LEGISLATION

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) today responded October 5 formally to the State Department's efforts, in the days leading up to the House International Relations Committee's September 15th approval of two resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide, to defeat these measures and prevent official U.S. recognition of this crime against humanity.
In an October 5th letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian voiced the profound moral outrage of Armenians over the Administration's ongoing complicity in Turkey's campaign of genocide denial. In his two-page letter, Hachikian explained the Armenian American community's opposition, on moral, geo-political and democratic grounds, to the State Department's obstruction of Congressional efforts to reaffirm the Armenian Genocide. Among the main points raised by Hachikian in the letter were the following:
* Moral:
"In failing to openly and honestly recognize and commemorate the Armenian Genocide, the U.S. government dishonors the truth, betrays the historical record in our very own archives, demeans the sacrifices of the Foreign Service officers who bore witness to this crime, and compromises the President's commitment to 'moral clarity.'"
* Geopolitical:
"Official U.S. recognition and Turkish acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide are not, as the Department argues, obstacles to improved Armenia-Turkey relations, but rather essential keys to reduced tensions and progress toward the normalization of relations between these two states."
* Democratic:
"The Department's assertion that even House floor debate on Armenian Genocide legislation would harm U.S. interests is both fundamentally undemocratic and offensive to all those elected to represent us in our national legislature. A clear bipartisan Congressional majority supports this legislation and deserves the right to act upon this matter in a fair and transparent manner.
American interests are served by the open functioning of our democratic institutions, not by "gag-orders" - imposed by a foreign government and enforced by our own State Department - regarding what can and cannot be discussed by members of the U.S. Congress."
On September 15th, after nearly three hours of debate, the House International Relations Committee, voted overwhelmingly in favor of two measures calling for proper U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide (H.Res.316 and H.Con.Res.195) and urging Turkey to end its decades long denial of this crime against humanity.

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