Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has welcomed the move by the US House of Representatives to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide in the recently adopted landmark resolution.

In an official statement on Tuesday, the prime minister praised the passage of H.Res.296 as a “powerful step towards re-establishing historical justice and truth”, considering it also a great consolation to the heirs of many Genocide survivors.

“Accept my heartfelt congratulations and admiration to the descendants of those US-Armenians whose selfless political and social activity, and resoluteness served as the driving force and enthusiasm behind the historic vote. Never again,” he said.

The House overwhelmingly passed the resolution on Tuesday by a vote of 405 to 11 with 3 voting present.

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu slammed a move by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday to vote in favor of a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians a century ago as a “genocide”, saying the decision was “null and void”.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 405-11 in favor of a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians a century ago as a genocide, a symbolic but historic vote likely to inflame tensions with Turkey.

In a tweet, Cavusoglu said Turkey had thwarted a “big game” with its offensive into northeastern Syria and that the move by the House was aimed at taking revenge for the operation.

“Those whose projects were frustrated turn to antiquated resolutions. Circles believing that they will take revenge this way are mistaken. This shameful decision of those exploiting history in politics is null&void for our Government and people,” Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

Aaron Schaffer,

Ankara and its allies are warning Congress of the risk of “permanent negative resentment” between Turkey and the United States if House members go forward with plans to recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide this week.

On Friday, Turkish Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilic wrote to lawmakers to warn them that voting for the “biased” resolution would only add to the growing number of disputes between the two countries. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to take up the nonbinding resolution tonight, setting up a floor vote as early as Tuesday as lawmakers seek to punish Turkey for its intervention against the Kurds in Syria.

The bipartisan resolution recognizes the massacre of more than 1 million mostly Christian Armenians in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire as a genocide. According to Kilic, the bill “will considerably poison the political environment between Turkey and the United States, at a time when regional and international developments require extensive collaboration and cooperation between our two countries more than ever before.”

Kilic’s letter was published on Twitter by the Washington-based Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), which has long lobbied in favor of the resolution. The leaked letter was originally distributed to lawmakers by Venable, one of the six lobbying and public relations firms registered to work for the Turkish government.

Turkey has also been able to count on several Turkish-American groups to make its case. The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) and Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC), two US-based organizations with thousands of members, blasted out emails urging their members to contact lawmakers.

“We have only two choices,” ATAA wrote. “We can be passive and allow these allegations to go on, or we can stand up and defend ourselves, our history, and the future of our children here in the United States.” The email goes on to accuse “extremists” in the Armenian diaspora of hijacking the will of the Armenian people; the Armenian government, however, publicly supports the “international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.”

The bill comes at a perilous time for US-Turkey relations, which have notably suffered from Turkey’s decision to purchase air defense missiles from Russia, and the United States’ refusal to extradite exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for the failed 2016 coup.

Following Ankara’s incursion into northern Syria earlier this month, bipartisan backlash has been swift. In addition to the genocide bill, the House is also expected to vote on new sanctions on the NATO ally this week, while pending annual defense legislation would lift an arms embargo on Cyprus, to the delight of Turkey rival Greece.

“While emotions run high,” TASC wrote in their email, House leaders are “manipulating the circumstances to introduce H.Res.296 for a floor vote soon.”

On the other side of the issue, the Armenians can count on a loose alliance of Christian and Jewish groups to make their case.

ANCA has been among the most vocal advocates of the bill, mounting a Capitol Hill lobbying push in recent days as frustrated lawmakers take on a bevy of measures aimed at Turkey. Genocide recognition, ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian said in a statement, “is especially timely today, as Turkey commits new crimes against our Kurdish allies and at-risk Christian and Yezidi civilians across northern Syria.”

The Anti-Defamation League endorsed the resolution today, with ADL President Jonathan Greenblatt saying in a statement that “remembering and educating about any genocide — Armenian, the Holocaust, Bosnia, Rwanda, and others — is a necessary tool to prevent future tragedies and begins with recognition.” In Defense of Christians, meanwhile, has actively lobbied for the resolution.

The State Department has declined to comment on the resolution but has raised concerns that calling the massacre a genocide would harm bilateral relations. A spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal that the 1915 events constituted “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.” The White House isn’t wading into the controversy, since the simple House resolution doesn’t go to the president for his signature.

A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. Four 2020 presidential candidates — Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. — have co-sponsored the legislation.

The U.S. House of Representatives will likely recognize the Armenian Genocide, the UN Ambassador in Barack Obama’s administration, Samantha Power, said in a tweet on Monday, October 29.

“Armenian-Americans and Rep. Adam Schiff have tried for years to get Congress to recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Power said

“At long last, tomorrow (October 29 – Ed.), despite Turkish denial, the House will likely recognize the 1st genocide of the 20th century.”

Power also shared a tweet by Schiff, which reads: “This has been years in the making, thanks to the tireless advocacy of those who insisted the US must never be a party to genocide denial. I hope all Members join me next week in voting to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

We will never forget, and we will never be silent.”

Armenian-Americans & @RepAdamSchiff have tried for yrs to get Congress to recognize the #ArmenianGenocide. At long last, TOMORROW, despite Turkish denial, the House will likely recognize the 1st genocide of the 20th century. (@BobMenendezNJ, @tedcruz pushing parallel Senate bill) https://t.co/9iojw73RNA

— Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) October 29, 2019

By Harut Sassounian

The United States government has recognized the Armenian Genocide multiple times in the past. In an official document submitted by the US government to the World Court in 1951, the Armenian Genocide was acknowledged for the first time as an example of Genocide. The House of Representatives adopted two resolutions in 1975 and 1984, acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. Furthermore, Pres. Ronald Reagan issued a Presidential Proclamation on April 22, 1981 referencing the Armenian Genocide.

Nevertheless, recent US Administrations have made repeated attempts to block the acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide by the US Congress and successive American Presidents have avoided using the term Genocide in their April 24 commemorative statements.

For example, the Reagan Administration, after Pres. Reagan issued a Presidential Proclamation in 1981 acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, opposed Congressional resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

The George H. W. Bush Administration opposed Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole’s efforts to have the US Senate recognize the Armenian Genocide Resolution in 1990.

The Clinton Administration blocked the passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in 2000, moments before the House was to vote on it.

The George W. Bush Administration objected to the adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution by the House of Representatives in 2007.

The Obama Administration opposed the Armenian Genocide Resolution in 2010, preventing it from reaching a full House vote.

An unclassified “Secret” State Department document, dated October 2, 2000, discloses the length to which the US government went to block the passage of House Resolution 596 in the year 2000, while Bill Clinton was President and Madeleine Albright was Secretary of State. Resolution 596 was approved by the House International Relations Committee on 24 yes, 11 no and 2 present votes on October 3, 2000., but not put to a vote in the House of Representatives.

The “Secret” document contains two letters: the first from Secretary of State Albright to Foreign Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian and Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Ipekci; the second letter is from Tom Pickering, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, to Dick Solomon, President of the US Institute of Peace. In an introductory note, Steven Sestanovich, Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for the new independent states of the former Soviet Union, tells US Ambassador to Armenia Michael Lemmon that both Pickering and Solomon “are obviously part of the deal we are trying to put in place to head off the Genocide Resolution. I discussed them today with VO [Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian] and Van Krikorian [Co-Chair of the Armenian Assembly of America] did the same. VO was positively disposed but said he could not speak for RK [Pres. Robert Kocharyan], who had already gone home sick. VO will speak with him tomorrow and get his reaction….”

Secretary of State Albright, in her letter to the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Turkey states: “The US Administration has strongly opposed this resolution, believing that it offers a completely counterproductive approach to the goal of improving relations between Turkey and Armenia and promoting reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian peoples. I am hopeful that we will proceed in getting this resolution put aside, because we are strongly committed to what we believe could be a more promising approach…. I will be writing in due course with some ideas about how to make this effort a success.”

In the second letter, Under Secretary of State Pickering wrote to Solomon, President of the US Institute of Peace, an independent institution founded by Congress: “…Recently, the Congress has been deliberating a resolution, HR 596 on ‘Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.’ As you know, the Administration has opposed this resolution, but we firmly believe that a Truth and Reconciliation process on this subject is needed…. The Secretary [of State] has asked me to write to propose that the US Institute of Peace begin developing ideas for such a Truth and Reconciliation process with the goal of launching it in the near future…. As a first step, we hope you will consider convening a group of credible and recognized Turks, Armenians and others. These should include the representatives of public groups, scholars, archivists, government or former government officials and others. Our hope is that an initial meeting could be held as early as December in Washington, D.C. This initial planning group would review the historical and political contexts and generate a consensus on the scope and timetable of subsequent activities, including creation of a commission to prepare a report.”

The initiative proposed by the Department of State was finally launched in July 2001 when the “Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission” (TARC) was founded with the participation of six Turks and four Armenians which included Van Krikorian from the Armenian Assembly of America, Antranik Migranian from Moscow, and two Armenian foreign ministry officials.

In the months succeeding the formation of TARC, I wrote several editorials opposing it because it was clear that TARC was a ploy by the State Department to block the proposed congressional resolution to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Even without the knowledge of the “Secret” document disclosed in this article, most observers suspected that TARC was created and funded by the State Department in conjunction with the Turkish government to undermine the pursuit of the Armenian Cause.

Unfortunately, certain Armenian groups and individuals were deceived by this American-Turkish ploy which was naively supported by the Armenian Foreign Ministry. It took a considerable effort on the part of many Diaspora Armenians to convince the Armenian government to drop its support of TARC.

Armenians need to remain vigilant not to fall in the trap of those who pursue their own interests at the expense of the Armenian nation!

WASHINGTON, D.C. – “The Armenian Assembly of America welcomes the Anti-Defamation League’s endorsementof the Armenian Genocide Bill, H.Res. 296,” stated Armenian Assembly Co-Chairs Anthony Barsamian and Van Krikorian. “We have also always appreciated the U.S. Holocaust Museum’s clear reaffirmations and display referring to the Armenian Genocide.”
“ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today endorsed a bipartisan House resolution that recognizes the Armenian Genocide and urges Members of Congress to ensure its passage,” read the ADL’s statement.
“This historic Congressional resolution, while long overdue, is an important step toward raising awareness and educating the American public about the horrific genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians during the early part of the 1900s,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “The 20th century saw the worst episodes of genocide in recorded human history, beginning with the Armenian Genocide, through the Holocaust and all the way to the atrocities in Bosnia and Rwanda. Indeed, historians note that Hitler viewed the Armenian Genocide and the world’s indifference toward it as inspiration to launch his own genocidal campaign across Europe. We believe that remembering and educating about any genocide – Armenian, the Holocaust, Bosnia, Rwanda, and others – is a necessary tool to prevent future tragedies and begins with recognition.”
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

Orhan Kemal Cengiz

Turkey has taken another step back in human rights by repressing freedom of expression with a code that carries such stigma it has proved deadly.

In the early 2000s, it was almost routine for writers and intellectuals in Turkey to appear in the corridors of courthouses, one after another. At times they would have to deal with the insults, taunts and threats of angry mobs waiting there for them. The accusation against them was usually the same: denigrating the Turkish identity and the Turkish state under the infamous Article 301 of the Turkish penal code.

Many endured the painful process, from Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk to Booker Prize nominee Elif Shafak, from veteran journalist Hasan Cemal to writer Murat Belge. The sudden flux of intellectuals on trial then was not a coincidence, but signified the resurgence of a taboo against the mere mention of one issue: the 1915 Armenian genocide.

Prosecutors initiated an Article 301 investigation against Pamuk because of his remarks during a 2005 interview in which he said that “30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it.”

Armenians and many historians contend that 1.5 million Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire were killed in 1915. Turkey admits that hundreds of thousands of Armenians died during the period as a result of wartime clashes between Muslims and Christians, but denies that the killings were systemic and amounted to genocide. 

Luckily, these intellectuals were able to complete their trials without sustaining bodily harm, and most were acquitted or got lenient punishments that were postponed.

However, that was not the case for Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was tried on the same charge as Pamuk, but paid with his life. Dink had written a series of articles in 2004 on the Armenian genocide and Armenian diaspora in Agos newspaper, where he was editor-in-chief. At one point he used the following sentence, which would later be distorted to a great extent: 

“The clean blood that will fill the vacuum of poisonous blood emerging through the lack of the ‘Turk’ is present in the noble vain that will be established by the Armenian with Armenia.”

Prosecutors presented his statement, out of context, as meaning Turks’ blood is poisonous. But for those who read his articles as a whole, it was evident that by “poisonous blood,” he meant that the Armenian diaspora needed to rid itself of its obsession with or hatred of Turks, which they harbored because of the trauma of genocide. 

As the trial commenced, he faced a torturous gauntlet each day. “Hrant Dink had to walk to the courtroom through a line of police, accompanied by his lawyer. As he passed, people tried to attack him, insulted him and spat at him. A group of people who were allowed to enter the courtroom threw coins and pens as well as insults and threatened the lawyers,” according to a biography. He received hundreds of threats.

During the trial, experts submitted their opinions stating there was no insult to “Turkishness” in his articles. However, the court disregarded these opinions and sentenced him to six months in prison under Article 301. The decision was upheld by the Turkish Appeals Court.

For an Armenian — especially one who “insulted Turks” — the six months turned out instead to be a death sentence. A 17-year-old ultranationalist, Ogun Samast, shot Dink multiple times in the head and neck in front of the Agos newspaper building Jan. 19, 2007. He said Dink’s insult of the Turkish nation provoked him.

Dink’s assassination spurred wide public debate on Article 301. The European Union pressured Turkey to do away with the article, but the government merely amended it instead. Under the revision, made in April 2008, the words “Turkishness” and “Republic” were replaced by “Turkish nation” and “State of the Turkish Republic.” The maximum sentence was reduced from three years to two. To investigate alleged crimes under Article 301, prosecutors first had to obtain the Ministry of Justice’s permission.
Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/10/turkey-nationalism-killer-penal-code-article-has-come-back.html#ixzz63gQZ15oa