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Berman Letter Condemning Armenian Genocide Denial

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  • Berman Letter Condemning Armenian Genocide Denial

    BERMAN LETTER CONDEMNING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL

    http://www.internationalrelations.house.go v/press_display.asp?id=725
    Thursday, April 15, 2010

    Washington, DC - Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign
    Affairs Committee, this week sent a strongly-worded letter to his
    House colleagues rejecting what he called a "morally-blind" argument
    denying the indisputable historical evidence of the Armenian Genocide.

    Here is the text of the letter:

    Dear Colleague,

    As you may be aware, members of the Turkey caucus are circulating a
    sign-on letter to Speaker Pelosi urging that the Armenian Genocide
    Resolution (H. Res. 252), recently passed by the Foreign Affairs
    Committee, not be brought to the full House for a vote. The authors
    argue that passage of the bill by the House would do "irrevocable harm"
    to U.S. national security, "derail ongoing efforts" by Armenia and
    Turkey to normalize relations, and harm the U.S. economy by putting
    American exports to and investment in Turkey at risk.

    I disagree with many points in the letter, but I take particularly
    strong exception to the use of the phrase "so-called 'Armenian Genocide
    Resolution'", which casts doubt on the historicity of the Armenian
    Genocide. In doing so, it flies in the face of the overwhelming weight
    of unimpeachable historical evidence and the virtually unanimous
    opinion of genocide scholars. In fact, the man who coined the term
    "genocide," Rafael Lemkin, considered the World War I-era massacres
    of the Armenians to constitute genocide, and he cited that genocide
    as the event that triggered his interest in genocide.

    I also reject the various national-security arguments cited by
    opponents of the Armenian Genocide resolution. I believe that
    US-Turkish security relations are founded on mutual interests and that
    Turkey is not about to discard the immense benefits it derives from
    bilateral security relations for the sake of "punishing" the US for
    a non-binding resolution, however much it may resent that resolution.

    For example, would Turkey risk losing real-time intelligence on PKK
    movements in northern Iraq? Highly doubtful. Moreover, the history
    of Turkish responses to acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide by
    other governments and parliaments suggests that negative fall-out
    would be limited and short-lived, at most.

    In addition, I dispute the argument that passing H. Res. 252 would
    derail the Turkish-Armenian protocols. The protocols have been
    gathering dust in the Turkish parliament since they were signed in
    October, and particularly in light of the preconditions established
    by the Turkish leadership, there is little likelihood that they will
    be ratified any time soon.

    Finally, I take issue with the assertion that passing the resolution
    would harm the U.S. economy. It strains credulity to believe that
    Turkey would reject U.S. investment and stop buying all U.S. products
    in the event that the House adopted H. Res. 252. In a more general
    sense, I am deeply disturbed by this morally-blind line of argument,
    as it could be used to justify inaction on any number of human rights
    issues around the world.

    Although I don't accept the arguments of those who anticipate potential
    harm to U.S. national security should the House pass the Armenian
    Genocide Resolution, I respect those arguments. What I can neither
    accept nor respect is any claim, direct or implied, that one of the
    greatest crimes of modern history did not happen.

    Sincerely,

    Howard L. Berman Chairman Committee on Foreign Affairs

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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