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 LOS
ANGELES--Over 10,000 people demonstrated at the Turkish
Consulate in Los Angeles on April 24, demanding an end to
Turkey's ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide and voicing
sharp disappointment at US President Barack Obama for breaking
his campaign pledge to properly recognize the crime against
humanity in his address to the Armenian-American community.
The demonstration, organized annually by the Armenian Youth
Federation (AYF), is a symbolic focal point for the community
and represents its year-long struggle to gain proper recognition
and justice for the deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million
Armenians by the Turkish Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.
The protest converged with global expectations pertaining to
President Obama's numerous campaign pledges to reaffirm the U.S.
record on the Armenian Genocide. Turkey had repeatedly
threatened to retaliate against US interests in Iraq and
Afghanistan in response to U.S. recognition of its crime.
This year, the United States had the best chance in a generation
to help end the cycle of genocide with President Obama having
been a forceful proponent of genocide recognition and
prevention. “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully
about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all
genocides. I intend to be that President,” Obama said during his
campaign.
“But today, the President broke his promise to bring change to
the White House on the issue of Genocide,” said one
demonstrator, holding a sign that asked why Obama retreated from
his pledge. “The President's failure to accurately characterize
the Genocide after having spoken forcefully about ending the
Genocide in Darfur will undermine his credibility when speaking
about the issue of genocide.”
Many at the demonstration shared this disappointment, angered by
the fact that Turkey was again able to coax the United States of
America into silence.
Obama's failure to speak truth to power angered many Armenians
this year, who had begun their day optimistic that he would
rectify the wrongs of previous administrations, according to Avo
Shanlian, who served as a monitor at the demonstration.
For decades, the government of Turkey has been engaged in a
pro-active, relentless, and shameless campaign to deny the
horrors it committed during the Genocide. In the last thirty
years, Turkey has redoubled its efforts to erase history,
leveraging high-level contacts in the defense industry; enticing
support from journalists who propagate Turkey's “importance as a
key ally”; and hiring professional lobby firms and such high
profile former congressman as Dick Ghephardt, Bob Livingston,
and Denis Hastert to bribe US representatives and leaders into
staying silent.
“Turkey's threats to retaliate against us for speaking against
genocide tells us more about Turkey and its own domestic
problems than it does about the Armenian Genocide, which we all
know to be an established fact of history,” said Saro Haroun, a
spokesperson for the AYF, who spoke to reporters covering the
demonstration about Turkey's annual attempts to prevent the US
from reaffirming its record on the Genocide.
Another demonstrator,
Ileen Izekelian,
said America's stand against genocide must be driven by
moral values, not political interests. Turkish officials, from
the President to the Foreign Minister, had repeatedly warned
President Obama to steer clear of the issue or face retaliation
by Turkey. Ankara threatened to sabotage US efforts to leave
Iraq and break off negotiations with Armenia over the
establishment of diplomatic relations and the lifting of its
illegal blockade.
Ankara has been using its talks with Yerevan to scuttle
international recognition of the Armenian genocide, explained
Sarkis Semerjian. “Throughout the entire process, Turkey
has been placing preconditions on Armenia, demanding Yerevan
drop efforts to recognize the Genocide and agree to establish a
historical commission to ostensibly examine the events of
1915-1923.”
Such a commission seeks to question the veracity of the
Genocide--a crime widely accepted by historians as a settled and
indisputable fact.
Last Friday's protest came two days after the Armenian and
Turkish Foreign Ministries issued a joint statement announcing
the two governments had agreed on a “roadmap” for normalizing
bilateral relations. The cryptic statement is seen as a tacit
green light to Obama to not recognize the Genocide, a move most
in Armenia and its worldwide diaspora have categorically
condemned as a diplomatic blunder.
“Given its past practice and the obvious timing of this
agreement just prior to April 24th, Turkey's motive is
absolutely clear--to defer, delay, and defeat U.S. recognition
of the Genocide,” exclaimed Arek Santikian, another spokesperson
of the AYF.
“I am skeptical of Turkey's willingness to sincerely engage in
meaningful dialogue. It's hard to believe that Turkey has in any
meaningful way altered its longstanding belligerence toward
Armenians, which it oppresses within its own country by making
it a crime to discuss the Genocide,” he said, expressing
disappointment both with Obama and Armenian President Serzh
Sarkisian. “The release of the statement on the eve of the 94th
anniversary of the Genocide and right before Obama was expected
to recognize the Genocide is a blow to Armenia, the Armenian
people and worldwide efforts to end the genocide in Darfur.”
Many at the event described Obama's April 24 statement as a
“retreat” from American values and a setback to the vital change
he promised to bring to Washington during his campaign.
Hilton Sorkazian likened the President's handling of the
situation with how the Bush administration tiptoed around the
issue every April 24. George Bush repeatedly reneged on his
campaign pledge to recognize the Genocide. Placating Turkish
interests, Bush personally lobbied members of Congress in 2007
to prevent them from passing a resolution reaffirming the US
record on the Armenian Genocide.
“Our struggle does not begin or end with one day; it does not
being or end with the Turkish Consulate; and it does not begin
or end with any statements by Barack Obama,” exclaimed the
Chairman of the AYF, Vache Thomassian, in a speech during the
protest.
Thomassian honored the memory of Ghazaros Kademian, a Genocide
survivor who regularly attended the demonstration until his
death earlier this year at the age of 102. “It is for Ghazaros'
generation as well as our future generations that we fight [for
recognition and prevention].”
"The community's struggle is built on a desire for justice for
the lives that were lost, the properties that were taken and the
lands that have been occupied," he continued, stressing that
Turkey's assertion that Genocide recognition will stifle
reconciliation with Armenia is a hoax. "No pathetic attempt to
normalize relations between Armenia and Turkey can be sincere
without recognizing the Genocide."
Speaking to Asbarez after the protest, Thomassian said the AYF,
and the Armenian- American community, now look to Barack Obama
to end the semantics by speaking truthfully on the issue by
properly condemning and commemorating the crime. “We urge our
President to make a speedy and public correction to his
Administration's policy on the Armenian Genocide.”
Shunt Jarchafjian,
a member of the AYF Central Executive who delivered a speech at
the protest in Armenian, told Asbarez he expects Obama to
work toward the adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution
introduced in Congress earlier in March.
“The resolution has over a hundred co-sponsors now and the
community should redouble its grassroots efforts to ensure that
support for the bi-partisan legislation grows to secure its
passage,” he said. "Obama missed yet another opportunity and
should now give full support to congressional efforts to
recognize the Genocide."
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