BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
For some unknown reason, the President of the most powerful nation on earth feels compelled to put himself through a strange and unnecessary ritual every April 24. Weeks in advance of that date, Pres. Barack Obama orders his White House staff to scour the dictionary to come up with series of words other than genocide to describe the Armenian Genocide.
For the fourth year in a row, the President’s resourceful aides have not disappointed him. For this year’s “Armenian Remembrance Day,” they have come up with a dozen words that describe the Armenian Genocide without using that specific term. When they ran out of substitute English words for genocide, the President’s hardworking wordsmiths turned to an Armenian term, “Meds Yeghern,” without providing its English translation (Great Calamity), so no one other than Armenians would understand what Pres. Obama is speaking about!
Here are some of the words that the President’s men offered this year: “Atrocities,” “brutally massacred,” “marched to their deaths,” “unspeakable suffering,” “perished,” “dark chapters of history,” “what occurred in 1915,” “facts of the past,” “lives that were taken,” “senselessly suffered and died,” and finally, “the darkness of the Meds Yeghern.” Anything but genocide!
Engaging in verbal gymnastics on genocide is unacceptable and unbecoming of the office of the President of the United States. Could such deplorable efforts be explained as a feeble attempt by Obama to minimize his broken promises? As Presidential candidate, he repeatedly and solemnly pledged that he would recognize the Armenian Genocide. But when he became President, he hid behind insulting statements issued in his name year after year!
In his last four annual statements, Pres. Obama avoided carrying out his campaign promises by claiming: “I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915. My view of that history has not changed.” But, he never bothered to tell the American public what exactly were his views in the past, what his views are today, and what happened in 1915! He cleverly downplays the significance of the Armenian Genocide by calling it “my own view of what happened in 1915.” Yet, on January 19, 2008, then presidential candidate Obama, seeking the Armenian community’s campaign contributions and votes, had no qualms to call these events by their proper name. Back then, he confidently stated that “the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view,” and promised that “as President,” he would “recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
Sadly, Pres. Obama is not the only member of his administration who has not kept his campaign pledge on this issue. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, two of the highest officials of the country, had made similar promises to recognize the Armenian Genocide when they were Senators and presidential candidates. While Vice President Biden has remained eerily silent, Mrs. Clinton has gone from being a proponent of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide to its leading opponent. After becoming Secretary of State, she actively lobbied to defeat a proposed congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide!
After four years of this senseless charade by the White House, the Armenian American community has two good reasons for asking Pres. Obama not to make any more statements on the Armenian Genocide.
First, by breaking his word for four years in a row and playing verbal games with genocide, Obama has lost the moral standing to speak on this highly emotional and painful topic! How can the President of the United States lecture anyone around the world about human rights, democracy, and justice, when he himself has so crudely violated the trust of his own people and lost all credibility? He should stop torturing himself, his staff, and Armenians worldwide by not issuing insulting “Remembrance Day” statements. It makes no sense for Pres. Obama to issue an annual statement that Armenians don’t want, don’t like, and are offended by it!
Second, another U.S. President, Ronald Reagan, has already acknowledged the Armenian Genocide in a Presidential Proclamation in 1981. The Armenian Genocide was also recognized by the House of Representative in 1975 and 1984, by the Justice Department in an official filing with the World Court in 1951, and by 42 U.S. states. Therefore, the Armenian community has no need to beg Pres. Obama or any other political candidate to recognize that which is already and repeatedly recognized.
Genocide is too sacred to be a subject of crass political trading. Those who acknowledge the undeniable fact of the Armenian Genocide do so, not as a favor to the victims, but to restore their own credibility and moral integrity!
i’m sick and tired of the politicians, if certain presidents and many countries already did recognize the genocide it is time for us armenians to move on to step number 2 the government of armenia should file a suit against the republic of turkie in the international court and demand restitution and reparation and full negotiation in order to solve this problem other wise we will hear the same cd over and over again
There is nothing to “negotiate”
They should return the stolen lands “Western Armenia” & pay restitutions (.)
i agree with you Heghapokhagan
“I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915. My view of that history has not changed.”
Nothing positive comes out of manipualting history, Mr. President it is time to change your view, ONLY TRUTH STANDS THE TEST OF TIME
Don’t ever give another dime to a presidential candidate that says he’ll recongize the genocide. It is ALL lies. Instead send it to Armenia
I agree, we have to make our moral and national obligations to send our hard earned money to our brothers and sisters in Armenia steadily. And we need to make sure that every presidential Candidate who needs our vote, will receive it only and only when he officially recognizes the Armenian genocide after he becomes President. ( No more nice guy. You scratch my back first)
I do not agree with Harut Sassounian. This subject has been so politicized that not uttering the word “genocide” the US president gives the opposing side a legitimacy in continuing the denial.
A US president is neither obliged nor has any “contract” with Armenians to say anything on April 24. I, personally am not offended when the US president says that the Armenians went through the worst human atrocities ever witnessed in the early part of the 20th century. To not admit the value of such a remark coming form the US president would simply mean an emotional outburst by Mr. Sassounian, and politically not very smart.
What President Reagan might have said in the past is totally irrelevant. If any pressure on Turkey needs to be applied, today, is for the US president to use that single-bullet weapon at a time which would be politically convenient for the national interests of the US.
I think having that weapon on its disposal has earned the US great capital, I don’t see why they would “spoil” it without getting something in return as a result. Not to understand this would mean not to be politically mature.
I think it is incumbent on Mr. Sassounian to explain to his readers what does Armenia, or Armenians have
to offer the US for them to tilt the balance in our favour?
Please do not say ” it’s the right thing to do”.
Thank you Zareh! You gave a good lesson to learn. I hope our nation can understand this.
If so, then US president shouldn’t have gotten involved in Bosnia!…. you don’t know what you are talking about
You don’t seem to understand what lies behind US reluctance to recognize the genocide, and the importance of doing so. The one thing that embolds Turks in their denial most is the US refusal to recognize it. If Turks saw that they could not intimidate other states so easily they would not be so aggressive in their denialist propaganda.
Also, as long as the USA claims to be the “light of the world” intervening in other countries’ internal affairs (Libya, Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iran etc. etc.) in the name of “freedom”, “justice”, “democracy”, “human rights”, they DO have a moral obligation to call a genocide a genocide and condemn it accordingly, including denialist Turkey.
Do you know that it is the Jewish lobby that is behind the US denial of Armenian genocide? Are you aware that todays killings of Armenians by Turks (Dink, Sevag Balikci, the women in Samatya etc.) are connected to the successful Turkish denial of genocide?
No offense, but your input is naive at best!
PS. Obama is the most dishonest and manipulative bullshitter president the USA has had since.. well I don’t even remember. He’s good at holding speeches and that’s all. No wonder he fools so many European leftists, they are simple retards.
“I think it is incumbent on Mr. Sassounian to explain to his readers what does Armenia, or Armenians have to offer the US for them to tilt the balance in our favour?”
World’s second biggest US embassy is in Armenia, the biggest being in Iraq. That means Armenia allows the USA to control Armenia because wire tapping the whole country and all of its citizens is what the Americans are doing from there. And this in a country that officially is Russia’s ally and thus enemy of the NATO! What more can we offer!? Our wives and mothers!?!
“Please do not say ” it’s the right thing to do”.”
If you call yourself the light of the world in terms of democracy. freedom and human rights… well, then it is the right thing to do. Doesn’t mean they will do it, and doesn’t mean we should keep silent about their NOT doing it, but it IS the right thing to do.
Don’t ya think?
But you will, pathetically , believe the next crook candidate that says they will recognise….wait and see
Obama doesn’t torture himself , we are torturing ourselves with unimportant maters. Who cares what he or any other president says? Think like a wise man and, leave primitive approaches and ideas behind. Like Hrant Dink said, ” We know what happened to our ancestor and the whole world knows”, that is going to be our motto. We don’t need to beg to anybody. We have pride and dignity. Enough to the leaders with primitive ideas. Get real and move ahead!
türk oldugun belli.
We have the right to call Obama a hypocrite and liar. We don’t expect he’ll change. I would never vote for any US presidential candidate, that doesn’t stop me from trying to embarass those who are caught lying.
Obama is a liar and we should point that out as often we can, and hope that it’s atleast a TAD embarassing to him.
After all he leads a country that illegaly invades other countries to spread “human rights”, yet he supports genocidal Turkey.
Let’s not refrain from making fun of that!!!