PRES. BUSH'S APRIL 24 STATEMENT... FROM BAD TO WORSE
26-04-2005 14:15:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
I did not support George Bush's re-election last year
knowing full well that the neo-cons (neo-conservatives)
occupying some of the top echelons of the Bush administration
would never allow him to utter the words "Armenian Genocide."
Nevertheless, seeing the growing anti-American hysteria in
Turkey in recent months, some Armenians naively believed that
Pres. Bush would teach the Turks a lesson by using the term
"Armenian Genocide" in this year's April 24 statement.
Last Sunday, Pres. Bush issued another one of his infamous
"Armenian Remembrance Day" statements (his fifth in as many
years in office), even though every year we ask him not to say
anything at all, if he cannot say Genocide.
A close reading of the President's statement reveals that
things have gotten much worse than we had realized. The issue is
no longer whether he uses the term genocide or not. It turns out
that the neo-cons in the Bush administration are actually
exploiting the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in order
to pursue their sinister political aims.
This administration has reached such a low point that
neo-cons in control of the White House are basically willing to
ignore every principle this country was founded on to ingratiate
themselves to the Turks for the sake of pursuing their own
narrow agenda in the Middle East, despite the fact that the
Prime Minister of Turkey does not hesitate to accuse the U.S.
troops of committing genocide in Iraq!
Once again, the President's handlers have put in his
statement just about every euphemism in the English language to
avoid saying genocide, such as forced exile, mass killings,
terrible event, Great Calamity, horrible loss of life, human
tragedy, and suffering.
Besides resorting to verbal gymnastics, the President, in
his April 24 statement, makes unrelated and inappropriate
references to the war in Iraq and calls on "the Government of
Armenia to advance democratic freedoms..." He then goes on to
talk about his commitment to a "peaceful settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" and "a deeper partnership with
Armenia that includes security cooperation..." The President
forgets that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide has
nothing to do with Iraq, Karabagh or U.S. security
arrangements.
The most sinister part of the President's message is his
indirect reference to the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation
Commission (TARC) and his more direct reference to a study the
latter commissioned on the Armenian Genocide. The President
said: "I applaud individuals in Armenia and Turkey who have
sought to examine the historical events of the early 20th
century with honesty and sensitivity. The recent analysis by the
International Center for Transitional Justice did not provide
the final word..."
The neo-cons and others in the Bush administration are
still pushing the dead carcass of TARC. Despite their elaborate
efforts to deceive Armenians into accepting a fake
reconciliation, the overwhelming majority of Armenians did not
fall for their trick. Before there can be reconciliation, there
has to be truth and justice - both of which are absent from the
agenda of the neo-cons and their cohorts! The President, in his
desperate efforts to avoid using the term Genocide, is caught in
the ironic situation of describing the ICTJ study as not "the
final word," even though his own government paid for TARC which
in turn paid the ICTJ to commission a study on the Armenian
Genocide. The ICTJ found that the Turks did commit genocide
against the Armenians. By applauding those involved in TARC and
ICTJ, the President cannot but accept the conclusion of this
study. David Philips and others involved in TARC and ICTJ should
be concerned that the President of the United States is
impugning their credibility!
To make matters worse, Pres. Bush, in his April 24
statement, is endorsing the new Turkish ploy of setting up yet
another group to study what took place in 1915, by expressing
the "hope that Prime Minister Erdogan's recent proposal for a
joint Turkish-Armenian commission can help advance these
processes."
The Foreign Minister of Armenia as well as all Armenians
immediately rejected this latest attempt by the Turks to shop
for a new venue that would provide a cover for their lies. The
historical record is clear. There have been Turkish tribunals
and countless reports and studies by the United Nations, the
European Parliament, the independent Permanent Peoples' Tribunal
in Paris, and many statements by hundreds of genocide and
holocaust scholars. The Armenian Genocide is a proven fact of
history. What is needed is the moral courage to face the truth,
not more studies, ad nauseam.
Back in 1981, Pres. Reagan issued a Presidential
proclamation which used the term "Armenian Genocide." Therefore,
Pres. Bush would not be saying anything new, should he use those
words again. In fact, Pres. Bush does not need to make a
statement recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Let's not fall for
the Turkish/neo-con trick and get eternally stuck on the issue
of trying to prove the facts of the Genocide over and over
again. Let's just go directly to the next stage: our demands for
reparation and return of territories!
Finally, as far as the Turkish leaders are concerned, if
they have any sense of shame at all, they would have no reason
to celebrate, just because Pres. Bush avoided using the word
genocide in his April 24 statement. No self-respecting nation
would be happy, when the President of the United States issues a
formal declaration accusing it of "the forced exile and mass
killings of as many as 1.5 million Armenians."