USA should have acted with the same conviction on Genocide issue as Canadian government

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Congress of Canadian Armenians (CCA) expresses its disappointment with the statement issued earlier today by United States President Barack Obama, which failed to label the crimes committed against the Armenian people in 1915 as genocide. His omitting to use the word is in stark contrast to the views he expressed during the election campaign when he stated: "As President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide."

President Obama used the Armenian term "Meds Yeghern" or Great Calamity. Although this is an important step, the CCA joins with American Armenians and other Armenians around the world in urging him to take the final step by recognizing the Genocide decisively at the earliest possible opportunity.



Here in Canada, both Houses of Parliament have voted to affirm that the atrocities of the early part of the 20th Century were genocide. The House of Commons passed the following resolution on April 21, 2004: "That this house acknowledge the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and condemn this act as a crime against humanity."



In his April 21, 2009 letter to the CCA on the occasion of an event in Ottawa to commemorate the House of Commons vote, Prime Minister Stephen Harper reaffirmed his government's support of the resolution, stating: "I am honored to have this opportunity to extend my warmest greetings to all those attending the Congress of Canadian Armenians event to mark the 5th anniversary.



The United States stands in an ever-diminishing group of countries that have yet to officially acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. The CCA is disappointed that President Obama did not act with the same conviction on this issue as the Canadian government.