U.S. administration won't challenge Congressional Armenian Genocide resolution

PanARMENIAN.Net - In April 2009, President Obama spoke eloquently on the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, said the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Armenian Genocide Museum of America and member of the Trustees Board of the Armenian Assembly of America.



"He, Vice-President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton and others within this administration, such as Samantha Power, have strong records and have gone too far on U.S. genocide recognition to sustain an implicit use only policy; they are in no position to challenge a Congressional Armenian Genocide resolution. I also don't think they want to do that," Van Krikorian told PanARMENIAN.Net



"The decision to not explicitly use the term genocide in the President's statement only means that we, and our friends who are dedicated to genocide prevention in and out of Congress, will push the resolution on a bipartisan basis. Ironically, more people in the United States and around the world will learn about the Armenian Genocide and President Obama's record in that effort and though our ongoing Armenian Genocide museum development in Washington, DC, than they would have if President Obama had simply repeated the words Armenian Genocide, and moved on with seeking reconciliation and a better future between Armenians and Turks," he said.



"We have excellent leadership support in Congress for the resolution now and are adding cosponsors to H Res 252, which will continue to do so before it goes to a vote. Everyone knows we are not giving up. For its part, Turkey has added former House speaker Republican Dennis Hastert to its stable of lobbyists, at $35,000 a month. However, he is actually on record acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, so we were surprised at that choice - the 30 pieces of silver analogy is too obvious," Mr. Krikorian said.