ANCA: it's a sad spectacle to see Clinton hiding behind cynical appeals

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) sharply criticized remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who dismissed the murder of 1.5 million Armenians as a "historical debate," and argued that U.S. affirmation of this crime would open a "dangerous door."

“The Obama-Biden Administration - with Secretary Clinton's latest remarks - continues to dig itself deeper and deeper into a hole of complicity in Turkey’s genocide denial,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

“It's a sad spectacle to see Secretary Clinton hiding behind cynical appeals to scholars - the overwhelming majority of whom have already spoken forcefully against Turkey's denials of the Armenian Genocide - to divert attention from President Obama’s, Vice President Biden’s or her own promises to properly recognize this crime and, more broadly, to divert attention from the White House's failure to meet its moral obligation to stand up against a foreign government's veto of our defense of human rights,” he continued.

Responding to a question from a participant of a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, who asked why the U.S. does not recognize the Genocide, Clinton characterized the Armenian Genocide as an historical issue and not a political one.

“I think it’s fair to say that this has always been viewed, and I think properly so, as a matter of historical debate and conclusions rather than political. And I think that is the right posture for the United States Government to be in, because whatever the terrible event might be or the high emotions that it represents, to try to use government power to resolve historical issues, I think, opens a door that is a very dangerous one to go through. So the issue is a very emotional one; I recognize that and I have great sympathy for those who are just so incredibly passionate about it,” Clinton told the audience.

Secretary Clinton’s remarks are diametrically opposed to her statement issued almost four years ago, to the day, as a Senator. In this statement, she boasted that she was “alone among the Presidential candidates” to have been a cosponsor of the Armenian Genocide Resolution and pledged “as President, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.” The statement went on to stress that: “Our common morality and our nation’s credibility as a voice for human rights challenge us to ensure that the Armenian Genocide be recognized and remembered by the Congress and the President of the United States.”