Hillary Clinton: formation of historical commission in progress

March 22, 2010 - 23:41 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - I don't think anyone has forgotten about the Armenian Genocide, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. Yet, as she noted in an Interview with Vladimir Pozner on Russia's Channel One, "but what has happened that is of great import is the work going on between Turkey and . In fact, I was in last fall with the foreign ministers of Turkey, Armenia, Russia, France, other countries to witness the signing of a set of protocols to normalize relationships between Armenia and . And in those protocols, there was an agreement between the two countries to establish a historical commission that would look at all of the issues that are part of the past."

"And I think that's the right way to go, I think, to have the two countries and the two peoples focusing on this themselves. I have said many times we can not change the past we inherit. All we can do is try to have a better future," she concluded, adding that formation of historical commission is in progress.

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.