Armenian lawyers' association: Obama recognized the Genocide

March 4, 2010 - 11:29 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - It’s erroneous to think that the U.S. President did not recognize the Armenian Genocide because he did not use the term Genocide, according to the Armenian lawyers' association.

“The term Genocide is comparatively new, introduced in the international practice by Polish lawyer of Jewish descent Raphael Lemkin in 1944. Before, each nation that survived genocide gave it its own name – Holocaust, Mets Eghern. Barack Obama used the term Mets Eghern which is identical to a more modern term Genocide,” the association said in a statement.

The Armenian lawyers' association also emphasized that the term Mets Eghern was used twice and was qualified as an attempt to exterminate the Armenian nation. “It’s obvious that the U.S. President put the same meaning into the term Mets Eghern as we, Armenians, do... We appreciate highly the congressional initiative and call for adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution,” the statement said.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.