While President Bush and several of his predecessors have
avoided characterizing the organized mass killings of Armenians in 1915 as
genocide, it has recently come to light that 57 years ago the United States
government officially recognized the Armenian Genocide in a document submitted
to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court.
This half a century old reference to the Armenian
Genocide was discovered by Prof. William A. Schabas who posted it on the
website "PhD Studies in Human Rights," on June 4, 2008. Prof.
Schabas, a world-renowned expert on genocide and international law, is director
of The Irish Center for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland,
Galway.
This document, filed by the Government of the United States
with ICJ, is included in the May 28, 1951 ICJ Report titled: "Reservations
to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide."
The specific reference to the Armenian Genocide appears
on page 25 of the ICJ Report: "The Genocide Convention resulted from the
inhuman and barbarous practices which prevailed in certain countries prior to
and during World War II, when entire religious, racial and national minority
groups were threatened with and subjected to deliberate extermination. The
practice of genocide has occurred throughout human history. The Roman
persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the
extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding
examples of the crime of genocide."
This is a very significant statement as it was made by
the American government of that time with the sole intent of telling the truth,
without taking into account any political or other considerations. Neither
Armenians nor Turks had lobbied for or against the U.S. statement. In other
words, it was simply made on the basis of historical facts.
How different is the situation today when the White House
readily caves in to threats and pressures from the Turkish government to
prevent the House of Representatives from passing a commemorative resolution on
the Armenian Genocide!
Now that this critical filing by the United States
government before the International Court of Justice has been discovered, it is
no longer necessary to exert excessive efforts to try and reaffirm the facts of
the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. Congress, particularly since the House of
Representatives adopted Resolutions 247 and 148 in 1975 and 1984 respectively,
to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
Furthermore, there is no particular reason to insist that
the next President of the United States acknowledge the Armenian Genocide since
President Ronald Reagan, back on April 22, 1981, issued Presidential
Proclamation Number 4838 which stated: "Like the genocide of the Armenians
before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it - and like too
many other such persecutions of too many other peoples - the lessons of the
Holocaust must never be forgotten."
Of course, should an elected official issue a statement
reaffirming the facts of the Armenian Genocide, such an acknowledgment would be
most welcome by Armenians worldwide. On the other hand, should a public
official either deny or refuse to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide,
Armenian-Americans would have good reason not to support his or her election.
Regardless of whether one agrees with Pres. Reagan's
politics, most people acknowledge that he was a man of principle. His
successors - Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush -
failed to display such moral leadership. During their presidential campaigns,
they misled voters by pledging to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, and broke
their promises after the election. These three recent U.S. presidents went far
beyond not keeping their word; they did everything in their power to prevent
the adoption of congressional resolutions on the Armenian Genocide. The names
of these infamous denialists should be etched in perpetuity on a special
"Wall of Shame," so future generations will not forget their reprehensible
behavior.
On the basis of the official statement submitted by the
Government of the United States to the World Court in 1951, combined with the
two House resolutions adopted in 1975 and 1984, Pres. Reagan's 1981
Proclamation, and resolutions adopted by more than forty U.S. states and
hundreds of U.S. cities, Armenians should now classify the United States among
the more than 20 countries that have officially recognized the Armenian
Genocide.
All those who claim that the United States has not
recognized the Armenian Genocide are misrepresenting the U.S. government's
clear record on this issue.
This e-mail June 19th, 2008 does not include the name of
President Obama, who thus far has not kept his promise to Armenian Americans
either!!
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