Armenian-Americans Should not Allow Obama and Clinton to
Bury Genocide Bill
10-03-2010 18:00:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
LOS ANGELES, MART 10, NOYAN TAPAN-ARMENIANS TODAY. It was
bad enough that Pres. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton had failed to keep their campaign pledge to reaffirm the
facts of the Armenian Genocide. They sunk to a new low last
week, when Mrs. Clinton announced that she and the President
opposed adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by the full
House, following its passage by the Foreign Affairs Committee.
When asked by journalists why she and the President have
reversed course on this issue, Mrs. Clinton unabashedly replied:
"Well, I think circumstances have changed in a very significant
way…. We do not believe that any action by the Congress is
appropriate and we oppose it." She added that the administration
does not believe the full House "will or should" vote on the
resolution. How can the facts of a genocide that took place 95
years ago change overnight? In reality, nothing has changed
except Secretary Clinton’s moral compass, assuming she had one
to begin with!
It is shameful that the Obama administration is caving in
to threats from a third world country that needs the U.S. more
than the U.S. needs it. As Aram Hamparian, the Executive
Director of the Armenian National Committee of America said last
week: "Turkey does not get a vote or a veto in the US Congress!"
Neither does the U.S. President nor the Secretary of State, on a
non-binding congressional resolution.
A White House spokesman announced last week that the
presidents of Turkey and United States had spoken by phone on
the eve of the Committee vote. Soon after, Mrs. Clinton warned
Committee Chairman Howard Berman that "further congressional
action could impede progress on normalization of relations"
between Turkey and Armenia. Strangely, Mrs. Clinton seems to
have appointed herself as supreme arbiter of what’s in Armenia’s
best interest, while Armenian-Americans and Armenia’s leaders
have repeatedly declared that they support the adoption of the
genocide resolution. Indeed, Mrs. Clinton has put herself in the
ridiculous position of knowing better than Armenians what’s good
for them!
After claiming for months that the Armenia-Turkey Protocols
have no preconditions and not linked to any other issue, Mrs.
Clinton now asserts that the Protocols pave the way for a
commission that is supposed to study the facts of the Armenian
Genocide. "I do not think it is for any other country to
determine how two countries resolve matters between them," she
stated. This confirms the worst fears of Armenian opponents of
the Protocols. Clearly, the Secretary believes that ratification
of the Protocols would prevent consideration of the Armenian
Genocide issue by third parties. This is precisely what the
Turkish side had been stating, to the dismay of most Armenians.
Interestingly, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made a
similar announcement last week, expressing his surprise that the
Armenian Genocide resolution is once again on the agenda of the
U.S. Congress. All along, the intent of Turkish leaders has been
to stop third parties from raising the Armenian Genocide issue,
as they drag out the Armenia-Turkey reconciliation process.
It was no accident that almost all Congressmen, who spoke
against the genocide resolution in the Foreign Affairs
Committee, used the lame excuse that their opposition to this
bill was prompted by a desire not to undermine the Protocols
which ostensibly would bring Armenian-Turkish reconciliation.
Despite their sugar-coated rhetoric, those who opposed the
resolution and supported the Protocols were in fact acting
against Armenia’s best interests on both counts. The Protocols
are now dead and buried anyway, thanks to Turkey’s refusal to
ratify them, unless Armenia accepted extraneous preconditions.
While Armenian-American voters cannot settle their score
with Pres. Obama this year, since he is not on the ballot in
November, 18 of 22 opponents of the resolution are!
Armenian-Americans should do everything in their power to
prevent the re-election of all those who voted against the
genocide resolution on March 4: Russ Carnahan (D-MO), Gerald
Connolly (D-VA), Michael McMahon (D-NY), Mike Ross (D-AR), Brad
Miller (D-NC), David Scott (D-GA), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ron Paul (R-TX), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Mike
Pence (R-IN), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Connie Mack (R-FL), Jeff
Fortenberry (R-NE), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Ted Poe (R-TX), Bob
Inglis (R-SC), and Dan Burton (R-IN). Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and
John Tanner (D-TN) are retiring from Congress. Gresham Barrett
(R-SC) is running for Governor, while John Boozman (R-AR) is a
candidate for the U.S. Senate. The latter two should be opposed
in their new campaigns.
In addition, Armenian-Americans should campaign against the
re-election of Steve Cohen (D-TN), Ed Whitfield (R-KY) and Kay
Granger (R-TX), for sending a joint letter to Foreign Affairs
Committee members urging them to vote against the genocide
resolution. All three are members of the congressional Turkish
Caucus.
The next culprits are CEO’s of five major American
aerospace and defense companies: Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing
Co., Raytheon Co., United Technologies Corp., and Northrop
Grumman Corp. They sent a joint letter to the Chairman of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee urging him to reject the
Armenian Genocide resolution, in order not to jeopardize their
sales to Turkey. These CEO’s have committed not only an immoral
act by placing a higher premium on profits -- blood money --
over human rights, but also ignored the fact that Turkey cannot
forego its purchases from their firms, because by doing so it
would only weaken itself. Armenian-Americans should counter
these firms by staging demonstrations in front of their
headquarters and factories. Those employed by these firms should
communicate their anger to the CEO’s of these firms.
Stockholders should go to the next annual meeting of these
companies to make their concerns known and seek removal of the
CEO’s. Similar protest actions should be taken against the
Aerospace Industries Association, which represents more than 270
member companies. The AIA sent a separate letter to Congress
against the Armenian Genocide resolution.
The Congressmen and companies who opposed the resolution on
March 4 should pay a heavy price for their immoral act. Ignoring
their negative votes and letters would encourage them to oppose
the resolution again, when it reaches the House floor. If
Armenian-Americans could cause the defeat of just one of these
scoundrels in November, the rest of them will get the message
that voting against genocide recognition can cost them their
political careers. They will then think twice before casting
such a vote.
As far as Pres. Obama and Secretary Clinton are concerned,
Armenian-Americans should not allow them to dictate to the U.S.
Congress. Given the fact that most Americans are disillusioned
with the failed policies and unfulfilled promises of the Obama
administration, all elected officials nationwide are seriously
worried about their re-election. This is the perfect time to
demand action from politicians and punish those who do not
cooperate. Armenian-Americans should contact their
representatives in every congressional district throughout the
country, even in remote areas, and tell them that unless they
support the genocide resolution, they will not get their vote in
November. Politicians would rather listen to the voices of their
constituents than to Pres. Obama who is the main cause for their
seats being in jeopardy. Therefore, the fate of the resolution
is ultimately in the hands of Armenian-Americans. If they work
hard and get enough congressional supporters, Speaker Pelosi
would have no choice but to bring the resolution to the House
floor, regardless of what the administration tells her to do.
Otherwise, voters who are angry on many other issues could toss
out of office the incumbents, jeopardizing her own speakership!
Armenian-Americans should not forget to express their
profound gratitude to Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and 22 other
Congressmen who voted for the resolution on March 4. They are:
Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa),
Donald Payne (D-NJ), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Eliot Engel (D-NY),
Diane Watson (D-CA), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Gene Green (D-TX), Lynn
Woolsey (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Shelley Berkley (D-NV),
Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Jim Costa (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-MN),
Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Gus
Bilirakis (R-FL), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Donald Manzullo
(R-IL), and Edward Royce (R-CA), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), and Ron
Klein (D-FL). The Armenian community should enthusiastically
support their re-election.
Finally, some Turkish circles are consoling themselves
simply because the resolution was adopted by a difference of one
vote. Since House Committee members who opposed the resolution
for unrelated reasons explicitly stated that they did not
dispute the facts of the Armenian Genocide, the vote could have
been 45 to 0, not 23-22, in terms of genocide acknowledgment --
a great victory for the truth and a major defeat for Turkish
denialists and their backers. No one should be surprised
therefore, if in the coming days Turkish leaders cancel the
multi-million dollar contracts of their failed lobbying firms!
By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier