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  • A 'Private' Visit To A State Monument

    A 'PRIVATE' VISIT TO A STATE MONUMENT
    ARA KHACHATOURIAN

    asbarez
    Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

    It was, indeed, a first for a US Secretary of State to visit
    Dzidzernagapert Armenian Memorial Monument. What was, indeed, puzzling
    about the visit was that it was dubbed a "private" visit by one of
    the most visible-public-officials in the world.

    While in Yerevan, Hillary Clinton visited Dzidzernagapert, laid a
    wreath and paused for a moment of silence in what the US Embassy
    officially described as "a sign of respect for the 1.5 million
    Armenians who lost their lives in 1915."

    A curious and novel concept in diplomacy has emerged. A US secretary
    of state makes a very public and official visit to a country and
    opts to visit its most recognizable monument in "private." I always
    thought a private visit was exactly that-private. It did not accompany
    photographs of her at the eternal flame, or videotape of her, in
    which she is heard to be in awe of Mount Ararat.

    Does this mean that Hillary Clinton "privately" recognizes the
    Armenian Genocide but publicly-and officially-goes out of her way
    to deny it? Or, did she think that the mere gesture of visiting
    the monument would absolve the US from having to change course and
    actually recognize the Genocide. Truly you jest Madame Secretary!

    Let's contrast her "private" visit to a very public tour of the
    Schindler Factory Museum, which a news wire describes as capturing
    "in stark images and artifacts the suffering of Jews at the hands of
    Nazi Germany" two days before going to Armenia.

    Her tour culminated in a very "public" announcement of a $15
    million pledge by the US to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to
    help finance an endowment to preserve and safeguard the remains of
    the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

    The pledge "illustrates the significance of the Auschwitz-Birkenau
    site, helps commemorate the 1.1 million victims who perished there,
    and demonstrates America's commitment to Holocaust education,
    remembrance and research," a State Department statement said.

    "The preservation and continuation of Auschwitz-Birkenau is essential
    so that future generations can visit and understand how the world can
    never again allow a place of such hatred and persecution to exist. It
    is also an important educational tool to show those who doubt that
    the Holocaust ever existed that indeed, tragically, it did," the
    state department statement said.

    Two different messages in one trip. And, who said the US was
    inconsistent in its foreign policy?

    Of course-and not surprisingly-the Armenian Assembly of America was
    quick to thank Clinton for her visit and failed to point out that the
    manner in which Clinton, the US Embassy and the State Department framed
    this historic visit completely diminished its broader significance
    to the specific issue of the Armenian Genocide and the broader issue
    of US's commitment to human rights.

    This dual-messaging approach, which was articulated by President Obama
    and is now being fostered by Secretary Clinton, creates dichotomies
    in US policy. Clinton visits Dizidzernagapert "in private," yet the
    wreath she lays at the monument says that it is from "Secretary of
    State Hillary Clinton." In his April 24 message, President Obama is
    quick to point out that his personal beliefs on the Genocide have
    not changed, but falls short of setting the record straight.

    This makes one wonder: Was Clinton's Dzidzernagapert visit and her
    comments about Turkey's failure in fulfilling the Armenia-Turkey
    protocols an effort to appease Armenia or an opportunity to articulate
    the current US posturing on Turkey?




    From: A. Papazian
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