Donald Trump falls in line with past administrations by not using the word “genocide” to refer to Armenian killings in Ottoman Turkey
24.04.2017,
22:27
U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday marked the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian genocide with a statement in which he avoided calling the elimination of 1.5 million Armenians by the government of Ottoman Turkey as ‘genocide’ using instead the Armenian phrase ‘Medz Yeghern” and describing the massacre as “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.”
YEREVAN, April 24, /ARKA/. U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday marked the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian genocide with a statement in which he avoided calling the elimination of 1.5 million Armenians by the government of Ottoman Turkey as ‘genocide’ using instead the Armenian phrase ‘Medz Yeghern” and describing the massacre as “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.”
The Armenian Remembrance Day is marked each year on April 24, when in 1915 the Ottoman Empire began slaughtering Armenians. More than 1.5 million people were killed over two three-year spans: from 1915 to 1918, and from 1920 to 1923.
Trump’s statement on Armenian Remembrance Day reads as follows: Today, we remember and honor the memory of those who suffered during the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century. Beginning in 1915, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. I join the Armenian community in America and around the world in mourning the loss of innocent lives and the suffering endured by so many.
“As we reflect on this dark chapter of human history, we also recognize the resilience of the Armenian people. Many built new lives in the United States and made indelible contributions to our country, while cherishing memories of the historic homeland in which their ancestors established one of the great civilizations of antiquity.
“We must remember atrocities to prevent them from occurring again. We welcome the efforts of Turks and Armenians to acknowledge and reckon with painful history, which is a critical step toward building a foundation for a more just and tolerant future.”
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian issued this response to president Donald Trump’s failure to reaffirm the Armenian Genocide in his commemorative statement issued earlier today.
“President Trump has chosen to enforce Ankara’s gag-rule against American condemnation and commemoration of the Armenian Genocide,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “In failing to properly mark April 24th, president Trump is effectively outsourcing U.S. genocide-prevention policy to Recep Erdogan, an arrogant and authoritarian dictator who clearly enjoys the public spectacle of arm-twisting American presidents into silence on Turkey’s mass murder of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, and other Christians.”
According to ANCA, the U.S. first recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1951 through a filing which was included in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Report titled: “Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” The specific reference to the Armenian Genocide appears on page 25 of the ICJ Report:
“The Genocide Convention resulted from the inhuman and barbarous practices which prevailed in certain countries prior to and during World War II, when entire religious, racial and national minority groups were threatened with and subjected to deliberate extermination. The practice of genocide has occurred throughout human history. The Roman persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide.”
President Ronald Reagan reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide in 1981. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted legislation on the Armenian Genocide in 1975, 1984 and 1996.
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, 45 U.S. states.
It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international organizations. --0-----
The Armenian Remembrance Day is marked each year on April 24, when in 1915 the Ottoman Empire began slaughtering Armenians. More than 1.5 million people were killed over two three-year spans: from 1915 to 1918, and from 1920 to 1923.
Trump’s statement on Armenian Remembrance Day reads as follows: Today, we remember and honor the memory of those who suffered during the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century. Beginning in 1915, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. I join the Armenian community in America and around the world in mourning the loss of innocent lives and the suffering endured by so many.
“As we reflect on this dark chapter of human history, we also recognize the resilience of the Armenian people. Many built new lives in the United States and made indelible contributions to our country, while cherishing memories of the historic homeland in which their ancestors established one of the great civilizations of antiquity.
“We must remember atrocities to prevent them from occurring again. We welcome the efforts of Turks and Armenians to acknowledge and reckon with painful history, which is a critical step toward building a foundation for a more just and tolerant future.”
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian issued this response to president Donald Trump’s failure to reaffirm the Armenian Genocide in his commemorative statement issued earlier today.
“President Trump has chosen to enforce Ankara’s gag-rule against American condemnation and commemoration of the Armenian Genocide,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “In failing to properly mark April 24th, president Trump is effectively outsourcing U.S. genocide-prevention policy to Recep Erdogan, an arrogant and authoritarian dictator who clearly enjoys the public spectacle of arm-twisting American presidents into silence on Turkey’s mass murder of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, and other Christians.”
According to ANCA, the U.S. first recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1951 through a filing which was included in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Report titled: “Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” The specific reference to the Armenian Genocide appears on page 25 of the ICJ Report:
“The Genocide Convention resulted from the inhuman and barbarous practices which prevailed in certain countries prior to and during World War II, when entire religious, racial and national minority groups were threatened with and subjected to deliberate extermination. The practice of genocide has occurred throughout human history. The Roman persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide.”
President Ronald Reagan reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide in 1981. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted legislation on the Armenian Genocide in 1975, 1984 and 1996.
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, 45 U.S. states.
It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international organizations. --0-----
