President Obama Not to Recognize Armenian Genocide for Eighth Time

 White House National Security Council officials informed the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) this afternoon that President Obama will refrain from properly commemorating the Armenian Genocide, as he had promised to do as a candidate,  in his eighth and final "Armenian Remembrance Day" statement, set to be released in the next few days.

 "It seems President Obama will end his tenure as he began it, caving in to pressure from Turkey and betraying his commitment to speak honestly about the Armenian Genocide," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian, who met with the officials along with Government Affairs Director Kate Nahapetian. 

"President Obama's unwillingness to reject Turkey's gag-rule on the Armenian Genocide or otherwise confront the growing regional wave of anti-Armenian aggression - particularly at a time when both Ankara and Baku are placing targets on the backs of Armenians in Artsakh, Armenia, Turkey, the Middle East, and across our Diaspora - represents something far worse than simply a betrayal of his own promise. His reckless retreat from America's anti-genocide commitments - under pressure from Turkey and Azerbaijan - in the face of their open incitement, outright aggression, and other classic genocide red flags - emboldens Erdogan and Aliyev to escalate their hostility, raising the very real risk of large-scale anti-Armenian atrocities.  This, sadly, is President Obama's legacy - silence on the Armenian Genocide, complicity in Turkey's denials, and encouragement of Azerbaijani aggression," continued Hamparian.

Prior to his election to the oval office, President Obama was clear and unequivocal in promising to properly characterize Ottoman Turkey's murder of over 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children between 1915 and 1923 as genocide. In a January 19, 2008, statement he wrote: "The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide."

President Obama has broken that pledge in annual Armenian Remembrance Day statements issued on or near April 24th, the international day of commemoration of this crime.

The U.S. first recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1951 through a filing which was included in the International Court of Justice (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."

President Ronald Reagan reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide in 1981. The  U.S. House of Representatives adopted legislation on the Armenian Genocide in 1975, 1984 and 1996.  

 To recall, in 2000 the California State Legislature adopted a law extended until the end of 2010 the deadline for filing lawsuits against insurance companies that had failed to pay benefits to heirs of Armenian Genocide victims. In 2011 the term was extended for another 10 years. The Armenian attorneys won the cases against the New York Life and AXA Insurance Companies, and the companies paid compensation to the descendants of the Armenian Genocide victims.  However, the German insurance companies, which also had hundreds of Armenian clients in the Ottoman Empire, are doing their best to avoid paying the sums. They challenged in court the California Legislature's action by claiming that the reference to the Armenian Genocide in the California bill is an encroachment on the foreign policy prerogative of the federal government. After the Court of Appeals satisfied the claim, the Armenian lawyers appealed the decision at the Supreme Court.

 Before the Supreme Court decides whether it will hear the insurance claims case, it applied to the Obama Administration for a brief detailing the U.S. government's position on the Ninth Circuit's 2012 decision striking down a California law extending the statute of limitations on Armenian Genocide-era life insurance claims. The Administration asked not to hear the case.