ANCA: Pope Francis' statement sets stage for Obama recognition of Armenian genocide

YEREVAN, April 13, /ARKA/.  The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian underscored the Armenian American community's long-standing call on President Obama to honor his pledge to speak honestly about the Armenian Genocide, following Pope Francis' powerful remarks during the unprecedented Vatican mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of that crime.

"Pope Francis' historic sermon on the Armenian Genocide sets the stage for President Obama to honor his own pledge to recognize this horrific crime," stated Hamparian.  

Pope Francis referred to the mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915 as a “genocide,” prompting the Turkish government to summon the Vatican’s ambassador for questioning.

“In the past century our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the 20th century,’ struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation,” Francis said April 12.

His comments took place before celebrating Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday, which is a feast instituted by St. John Paul II and celebrated on the Second Sunday of the Church’s liturgical Easter season.

Francis offered the Mass for faithful of the Armenian rite in commemoration of the centenary of the “Metz Yeghern,” or Armenian “martyrdom.” April 24 is recognized in Armenia as the official date of the start of the event.

"By openly rejecting Turkey's gag-rule against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, President Obama would, with a bold stroke, end a truly shameful era of complicity in Ankara's efforts to deny the truth and obstruct justice for this crime.  Such a principled position by President Obama would put America back on the right side of this issue, while also advancing U.S. regional interests in fostering a better future for Armenian-Turkish relations based upon an honest reckoning with the past," said Hamparian.

"Turkey underestimates, at its own risk, the power of our worldwide movement - a profoundly moral movement inspired by truth and driven by our shared hope for a fair and enduring peace based on a just international resolution of the Armenian Genocide," stated Hamparian.

The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century.  According to Armenian and many other historians, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed starting in 1915 in a systematic campaign by the government of Turkey. Turkey has been denying it for decades. 

The Armenian genocide was recognized by tens of countries. The first was Uruguay that did so in 1965. Other nations are Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, 42 U.S. states. 

It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international organizations. -0-