BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
How many times can Secretary of State Hillary Clinton break her pledge and make insulting remarks on the Armenian Genocide before she is called a liar and forced to resign?
Armenian-Americans are fed up with Mrs. Clinton and her boss Barack Obama who also has not kept his promises on the Armenian Genocide. And the problem transcends their views on the Armenian Genocide. The Obama Administration has failed the Armenian-American community on many issues, including cutting foreign aid to Armenia, not backing Artsakh’s right to self determination, and pressuring Armenia to sign a treaty with Turkey that runs counter to its national interests.
In this column, we shall focus on Secretary Clinton, and address our displeasure with Pres. Obama policies later, in the context of the upcoming presidential elections.
As U.S. Senator, Mrs. Clinton co-sponsored a resolution calling for recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In 2006 and 2008, joining then Sen. Obama, she sent letters to Pres. George W. Bush, describing the Armenian Genocide as a “systematic and deliberate campaign of genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire in 1915…. The victims of the Genocide deserve our remembrance and their rightful place in history.”
On January 24, 2008, as a Presidential candidate, Mrs. Clinton declared in a written statement that the “horrible events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians constituted a clear case of genocide. …Our common morality and our nation’s credibility as a voice for human rights challenge us to ensure that the Armenian Genocide be recognized and remembered by the Congress and the President of the United States.”
After becoming Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton must have suffered a bout of total amnesia. During a January 26, 2012 Town Hall meeting at the State Department, she reversed her earlier characterization of “clear case of genocide,” to “a matter of historical debate.” While the historical facts of the Armenian Genocide remain unchanged, what must have changed is Secretary Clinton’s moral fortitude to tell the truth!
Clinton’s distorted moral compass outraged the Armenian-American community. The Armenian Assembly of America sent a letter to Pres. Obama complaining about Mrs. Clinton’s “untenable” statement, and the Armenian National Committee of America asked the Secretary to retract her deeply offensive position, parroting Turkey’s revisionist view of the Armenian Genocide.
On February 28, over 60 House members from both parties sent a joint letter to Mrs. Clinton, expressing their “deeply held concerns” regarding her January 26 statement “mischaracterizing the Armenian Genocide.” They urged the Secretary to disavow her “ill-considered statement” and reaffirm her previous commitment to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
On February 29, Cong. Adam Schiff confronted the Secretary of State during her testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee. Recalling her earlier truthful statements on the Armenian Genocide, the Congressman bluntly asked: “Is there any question that you have that the facts of that tragic period between 1915 and 1923 constitute genocide? Do you have any different view on the subject now than you did as a U.S. Senator?” When Secretary Clinton responded with evasive and euphemistic answers, Cong. Schiff chided her: “This is, tragically, very much the line of the Turkish government!”
In her March 1 response to the letters from the Armenian Assembly and ANCA, the Secretary once again used euphemisms to avoid the term Armenian Genocide, and urged “Armenia and Turkey to work together to address their shared history.” This is as morally repugnant as avoiding the term Holocaust and urging Jews to work out their differences with neo-Nazis!
Mrs. Clinton’s March 1 letter also describes her 2010 visit to “the memorial at Tsitsernakaberd” in Armenia “as a sign of respect for those who lost their lives during this tragedy.” There are two misrepresentations in this single sentence: she refers to the Genocide as “tragedy,” and avoids calling the “Armenian Genocide Monument” by its proper name. Furthermore, the Secretary did not invite the international media to cover her “low profile” visit to the Armenian Genocide Monument, not to upset the “delicate feelings” of Turkish denialists; and to completely downplay the significance of the visit, the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan issued an imprudent press release, describing her brief stop at the “memorial” as “a private,” not official visit.
If Secretary Clinton had made similarly offensive comments on the Holocaust, she would have been dismissed from her job on the same day. Armenian-Americans should demand no less. Fortunately, Mrs. Clinton has announced that she will be retiring at the end of this year. We say goodbye and good riddance!
Now,she is going to retire,in a year.The turkies must have paid her a big bribe(baksheesh) for her stooging for them ,and selling out the U.S.I hope she dont hang around in the our country,putting on the dog,with her sellout funds.Put them all,obummer,clinton,rest of the stoogies payoffs,send them to turkey,to live in disgrace.America has no room for traitors.Soon they will look like them and have that putrid smell like them.
Hillary Clinton’s name is already written in the dark pages of the Armenian People and the mankind. She is a Genocide denier and a lobbyist for theTurkish government. She has joined the club with C. Rice, Gephart and etc. all on Turkish payroll. Cut all your contacts with her. She does not have our respect anymore.
These individuals do not deserve to be called public servants of the United States. They are stooges of Turkey, the author of the word Genocide. Shame on them. As the saying goes, the money buys everything, even the principals of a decent human being.
Even if she resigns, she will be available to work on behalf whoever pays more, She is morally Bankrupt
Mer Hoghereh…
And never to be seen again!
She is morally a bankrupt person,not worth a dime.
What do you expect from people ( Like Hllary , obama, etc… ) who sell their moral values for money ( The money of the turkish lobby ) These poeple who are on turkish payroll are slaves and must obey to their masters who pay them . .
The Clinton administration and the Obama administration have shown that they care nothing about human rights. Right under Clinton’s nose, the Rwandan genocide occurred and the Clinton Administration did nothing to stop it because Clinton does not consider African lives to be equal in value to Anglo-European lives.The Darfur genocide occurred under Obama’s nose and he never even mentioned nor did he mention the massive human rights violations done by the Sri Lankan Government against the Tamil minority in 2011 where many thousands of civillians were killed. Shame on Clinton and Shame on Obama.
The Obama administration has ignored the human rights violations of Israel against the Palestinians, the human rights violations of the Saudi, Bahreini and Sudanese government showing that it lacks morals.It has only bullied Syria but ignored the war crimes of Turkey and so many other nations who are allies of the US.
We Americans have been blinkers,indifference; Bill Clinton desecrated the prestigious office of President openly engaged in sex with a young girl,we blinked.Hilary Clinton doubled talked,lied,representing our country,obummer is been a con man,we blinked.So,what do you expect from people who have disregard,and disrespect,for their own country,for self gratification,self serving mentality.Remember,we voted for them.
In the current Middle Eastern front of Sunnis (Turks and Arabs) vs. Shiites (Iran and Alawite Syria), the United States has sided with the Sunnis because Iran is the bigger threat with its nuclear program. As long as this front exists, the American policy will not be favorable to us the Armenians no matter who resides at the White House.