YEREVAN—President Serzh Sarkisian announced Thursday that he has urged President Barack Obama to use the word Genocide in his annual April 24 address, news sources reported.
“Naturally, our desire has always been and is that in his annual address the president of the United States will make a very explicit evaluation and utter the word genocide,” said Sarkisian, speaking at a joint press conference with visiting Swiss President, Micheline Calmy-Rey, reported RFE/RL. “I have spoken out on more than one occasion and can now say that in the past, I have personally asked the U.S. president to utter that word.”
Sarkisian indicated on Thursday that he thinks Obama may well again stop short of calling the slaughter of more than one million Ottoman Armenians a genocide in his upcoming address. “The best moment is when your desire matches reality. Let’s hope that this will be the case this time,” he said, answering a question from RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
“But if this doesn’t happen, we should not have reason to be upset and must instead fight for that. I would suggest that your editorial staff, your very influential media organization also have a certain role in that endeavor,” he added, referring to RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
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That’s not good enough President Sarkisian!
President Sarkisian should DEMAND that Turkey also recognize the Armenian Genocide and provide restitution and reparations for that crime which they shamefully deny until today.
Sarkisian needs to WAKE UP to the realities of justice and our rightful demands for our usurped rights and property.
As far as I’m concerned, this is all too little too late. I dare not think what our sneaky President Sarkisian would be up to now had the Turks signed those cowardly repulsive so called ‘protocols’? We are no longer slaves of ottoman masters. The faster he realizes this the better.
what do you think he is doing by this, that the U.S recognise the Genocide, and not Turkey ??? MR ZAVEN !!! did you read the article before making this comment ?????????? u know some of you talk a lot of wind, but why don’t you give credit to this president ,,, that was an uncallculated
Sireli Ando (Andranik),
The very least any Armenian President can do while in office, is to meekly ask a sitting American President to recognize the Armenian genocide. That is the bare minimum and it has been for a few decades now (unfortunately).Before Sarkisian came around to doing this however, Sarkisian tried to force us all to accept humiliating concessions in a set of pathetic protocols with genocide deniers…do you remember that????? Do you? Did he ask you for your opinion about those documents before negotiating your rights away with the devil? NO. Did he secretly try to sell your rights away? YES. Did he do enough damage to scuttle recognition and justice efforts by our collective community. YES. Are you willing to excuse that kind of stupidity? DO YOU REALLY THINK HE WONT AGREE TO ANOTHER SIMILAR DEFEATIST SET OF PROTOCOLS LIKE THE ROADMAP HE HAD NALBANDIAN SIGN?
The most any self respecting dignified Armenian President can do while in office,
is to urge any and all world leaders, including a sitting American President but especially the Turkey’s PM, to recognize the Armenian genocide. He can and should always discourage these world leaders from participating in denialist Turkish politicking about this crime against humanity instead of playing an active part in encouraging the denigration of our martyrs memory. Negotiations with the Turkish government from a mutually agreed upon position of reexamining our shared history encourages historical revisionism and helps Turkey’s zealots denigrate our martyrs. This is unacceptable.
The description of what the most an Armenian President could do, should be a constitutional obligation of any sitting Armenian President until its global recognition, not an open ended option for the President to use at his will in order to spike up his public opinion ratings until he’s ready to screw us all again with a set of protocols.
Read my lips:
VOTCH MEG ZECHOUM TURKERIN!
NO ONE CAN GIVE AWAY ONE GRAM OF ARMENIAN LAND NO ONE! as the discussions show just between me and you alone,,, as we criticise, we look at facts that are real, and this shows , along with other areas of the political and domestic scenes of the mother land that Armenians are very united on one thing ,,, IT IS OUR ONLY HOME COUNTRY, and Armenia is growing and will continue to grow my friends
Serge is still in the ‘learning mode’ in so many ways… in this instance he is not a politician… he is still ‘learning on the job’… too, he should leave office – soon, if he has any honest regards for the fledgling nation of Haiastan.
SARKISSIAN IS THE BEST PRESIDENT WE EVER HAD.
you know what … after listening to a lot of negative talk here is what i know .. 1) Sarkisian stays strong on the Artcax matter 2) his administration has put in place real means of international trade with Armenia, and the Global Markets, 3) Major infrastructure in place ie The Air Port in Stepanakert, 4) He is very strong on the Genocide recognition, 5) NONE OF the others could ever do better ,,, stop fighting for his CHAIR… Help him help Armenia, That needs ” REUNIFICATION! NOT ANOTHER REVOLUTION” stop making conflict PEACE!
Serge is still ‘learning on the job” – he is inept and totally inexperienced and this is costing our Haiastan much as far as advancing and progressing to join with the civilized nations of the world. Meanwhile, he and cohorts have been filling their own pockets – to the detriment of the citizenry of our Haiastan.
If your definition of “best” includes; reckless, shortsighted and imprudent – then I completely agree with you.
what is your main area of disagreement with the decisions that this president is making , make your point , with reference to real issues , don’t just say words that are not in harmony with real issues name ONE REAL ISSUE that you would have done better , NOT empty rumors ,,, did he not stop negotiations with Turkey , is he not strong on the Arc Tax issues, is he not strong on the Genocide matter, is he not keeping the ARMY strong and compatible with international standards, (He Actually initiated a PROGRAM to have the Diaspora partisipate in government dicissions , WHAT MORE do you want?
Serge and his cohorts are still “learning on the job” and filling their own pockets to the detriment of the citizenry of our Haiastan. You say that he is now initiating a program for the diasporans to participate in Haiastan’s discussions – well of course! He himself is delaying the advancement and the progressions of the Armenian nation – and filling his own and cohorts pockets.
Lets just give him a chance, always being NEGATIVE is not a good thing either….
Being NEGATIVE and being REALISTIC are two different mindsets my friend.
The next time Sarkisian has an opportunity to stuff a set of defeatist protocols down our throats will be the last and only chance he’ll need to illegally sell your rights and your property forever without your consent.
He wont be waiting for you to galvanize, activate and educate your disgruntled peers during the 11th hour in protest against his surprises, that’s for sure.
I think he’s had one too many chances up until now and our negative reactions to his wishful thinking are justified. We must remain vigilant. No reconciliation without justice!
Just curious, but how many people in the Diaspora who were against the Protocols own any sort of property in Armenia/Artsakh? The answer, sadly, is not nearly enough, yet we had people acting as if offcial Yerevan had literally made Armenia a part of turkey.
Let’s see how much weight Sargsyan’s words have for Mr. Obama. Any guesses? We’re taking bets… But I’d respect him if he withdrew Armenia’s signatures from the protocols the very next morning after Obama sides with the wrong side of history yet again, as he almost certainly will.
Well said President Sargsyan! Truly, Armenia’s best president yet.
Clearly, submitting comments after drinking heavily with Yuri isn’t working out for you. I agree with some of the posts above, its just too little too late.
Thank you for my morning laugh Armanen! I nearly fell off my chair after reading your comment.
Easy to talk when you live in the Diaspora. Have you ever been to Armenia for longer than 1 or 2 weeks?
Let us not forget that it is this President who agreed to a doomed road map, declared on the eve of April 24. Later his FM signed the protocols which were the complete sell off our entire collective Armenianhood, and made us the laughing stock of the so-called dignataries at the signing ceremony! The whole episod couldn’t have been more hurtful for every living Armenian on this planet.
What if Turkey had gone ahead and signed the protocols? Our President and his FM would have declared it the best deal ever? No thanks Mr. President.
Protcols were not to be even considered… thus proving how inept and inexperienced Serge and his cohorts are to be, in time of the history of our fledgling nation of Haiastan, its leaders!! They have been filling their own pockets – that is what they do at their best. In history, how shall these
leaders of Haiastan be recorded… certainly not as PATRIOTS!!
At first I did not like President’s actions and questioned his abilit as President, specially during that obsurd protocols, but the more I read about him through Asbarez news, I think he is very diplmatic and does a very good job internationally as a president for Armenia’s best interest. However I hope he does well for Armenia internally we want Armenia’s population to increase through out the next few years, and not decrease as it has been happening so far.
WRONG LEADERS HAVE BEEN LEADING HAIASTAN ALL THESE NEARLY 20 YEARS…
HISTORICALLY, FLEDLING HAIASTAN NEEDED PATRIOTS – NOT THOSE WHO WERE THERE TO FILL THEIR OWN POCKETS… NOT THOSE WHO “WERE LEARNING THE HOWS
AND WHYS TO ACT POLITICALLY, AND LEAVING GOVERNMENT WITH GROSS ERROS AND MAYHEM.
** M.S.** is right; if Obama reneges on promise of calling GENOCIDE by its
real name than the next morning President Sarkisian withdraws his signature from the protocols.
Has anyone of you Visited an Armenian Grocery store in Glendale, Pasadena or the Valley lately…have you paid attention to the number of items on the shelves labeled “Made in Turkey” or “Product of Turkey”…before we start pointing fingers as to who is doing what to reinforce of acceptance of the “Genocide”…let’s stop patronizing the Turkish products being sold in the Armenian stores in our neighborhoods and inform the importers that the profits made from the Turkish product are being used by Turkey to manufacture weapons being sold to our arch enemy at this moment…the Azeries…if Turkey is already selling the product indirectly, why does he need to sit down to negotiate the opening of the borders… wake up people…
AGAIN ,,, just becouse you see items from Turkey it dosn’t mean it is bad for Armenian business … its Global business, and We are probably selling back to them 10 times as much, RELAX ABOUT THE HAMMUUS FROM TURKEY…
what a truly disgraceful attitude….would a Jew think that way…NO….hence they are strong…
The Protocol shoud be trashed, will do NO good to Armenia
All the leaderships of our Haiastan until today have not been good for the Armenian nation. First with DerBedrossian, kicked out of office, and all who have followed have not been of the caliber that advanced and progressed the Armenian nation. None of these leaders acted for the love of their citizens. None of these leaders acted for the love of our Haiastan.
NONE OF THESE LEADERSHIPS HAVE BEEN ARMENIAN PATRIOTS!!
this may or may not influence obama, but it would be much better if he can do something about turkish products invading armenia, Help armenians find jobs in armenia, let investors easily invest in armenia without dealing with mafias, let armenia prosper and money flow to it, so that the youth can live a better life and unite against every threath, including the turks…
Are you an expert in International , global Business, we can discuss international trade on the side lines so u can be more prepared the next time u want to make a comment about Global Business… there is however one area that has grabbed my attention that the ( small farmers are not given a fair chance, any one that has background on economics , and Global trade ) please lets discuss this matter, it is a real issue … thank you …
Ando, you are right! The issue of the small farmers who until lately were able to feed their own families and provide food for the nation… Now the Agricultural Minister is planning to ‘eliminate’ these farmers and to set up another project, of his making – to fill his own pockets – large entities to produce food – and removing small farmers – Turkish style!
Although Pres. Sarkissian has asked the U.S. President to use the “G” word on April 24th, which I have no problem with, however, my biggest complaint is why didn’t the Armenian Government remove the Israeli Ambassador to Armenia after she claimed their was no comparison to what happened to the Jewish people was the same as what happened to the Armenian Nation. In other words Armenians did not go thru a Genocide. The Armenian Government is too slow on getting things done. Also, what is the Armenian Government doing to get Autonomy for the Javakhtsi Armenians. Georgians are taking over Armenian Churches, forcing Armenians out of their region, and they are bringing back the Mhestki Turks back to Javakh. Wake up Armenia before it is too late.
If Georgia removes Armenians and brings back the Mhestki Turks to Javakh – then Georgian president is a foolish leader – and deserves the Turks.
Sarkisyan Is OUR president! And all people that belive that one day, maybe,turkey will give our land back I say KEEP your wish list open becouse it WILL NEVER HAPPEN.WE have to desirve the land we live on. And so far in all your coments i see two different sites of armenian nation. One that truly love our Armenian land. And there is Garagos and garagos alike that make big stink of our past just to make money on it. Past is a past you cant take it away, but if you see your future in money that Garagos will “win” for you ,you dont deserve land nor future prosperous country. Look ahead dont look back. Remember past, and live in today and in the future.Otherwise what is the point?And personaly not even a penny will go to telemaraphone that jakass hosts. He is a fake.And i do really belive every thing that he syas is a lie period.You dont win LAnd over by sitting in your lawers office.You fight for it. That is why we have KArabakh and turks have anatolia and all of western Armenia.We fought for Karabakh and we got it.Turks fought for western Armenia and whether you like or not they have Western Armenia.
President Sarkissian has so far proved to be the most intelligent, nationalist and (rather) shrewd president of Armenia.
Vagh asem mehr Haiastan-een… Lus if Sarkisyan, with his communistic shrewd mentality and attitudes is the most intelligent, where is communism now??