Sassounian: 10 Reasons Why Obama Should Travel to Armenia on April 24
KIRLIKOVALI: 10 Reasons Why Obama Should NOT Travel to Armenia on April 24
on March 24, 2015
- Obama would pay tribute to hundreds of thousands of compassionate American citizens for having raised over $117 million—today’s equivalent of over $2 billion—to aid destitute Armenians in the aftermath of the genocide.
Please note that not a single cent of that enormous amount of aid went to destitute Muslims, mostly Turks, my family among them. This “American Aid” is a sad case of “selective morality” where help is given not to all those who needed it, but only to those who were co-religionists. This is how racists the outlook was in American those days.
Initiated by Morgenthau and supported by President Woodrow Wilson, Near East Relief helped rescue and care for 132,000 Armenian orphans.
Beware of numbers given by an Armenian propagandist. But even if we assume that the figure of 132,000 Armenian orphans is true, that does nothing for the more than a million Turkish orphans, my father among them, who were poor, destitute, sick, and without much hope. Morgenthau was too racist to ask for any part of that help to be given to those children who were of the “wrong ethnicity” and “wrong religion”. This massive aid is a shame in the history of racism in America.
This massive charitable effort was the first international humanitarian outreach in U.S. history.
First international humanitarian outreach in U.S. history? How about help given to the Philippines and Cuba? These Armenian propagandists are too dependent on deception and misrepresentation. Even if it were the first outreach, though, does it excuse the “selective morality” aspect of that help?
- By visiting Armenia on this occasion, Obama would be reaffirming the longstanding U.S. acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide
But also destroying the US-Turkey relations just to honor a discredited political claim and hurt US interests in order to uphold Armenia’s interests
—a settled historical fact recognized as genocide by:
Armenian diaspora, Armenia’s scholars, and their supporters
– the U.S. government in a document submitted to the World Court in 1951;
But other US records refute Armenian claims:
1- George Montgomery, a member of the U.S. delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, had presented a detailed tabulation in 1919, showing a total of 1,104,000 Armenians alive, apart from those who had already immigrated to other countries.
2- 29 March 1919 report of the Paris Conference subcommittee on atrocities, chaired by the U.S. secretary of State Lansing, lists Armenian losses as “…more than 200,000…” Even this number is exaggerated as they got their information from the Armenian church. The Turkish Historical Society documented the deaths of 53,000 Armenians using Ottoman police reports field on site, of which number only about 8,400 are reported as victims of massacres.
3- Nielsen, Fred K., American-Turkish Claims Settlement Under the Agreement of December 24, 1923 and Supplemental Agreements between the United States and Turkey: On December 24, 1923 Opinion and report (1937).
– the House of Representatives in 1975 and 1984;
But other US Congress’ records refute Armenian claims :
1- “American Military Mission to Armenia” (General Harbord) Report 1920 and the Annex Report Nat. Archives 184.021/175 which refers to “…refinements of cruelty by Armenians to Muslims…”.
2- US Senate Resolution, Nov. 10, 1919 – Doc 151, p.8 : 1,293,000 Armenians alive and accounted for.
3- Joint U.S. Congress Resolution No. 192, April 22, 1922 relative to the activities of Near East Relief ending 31 December 1921 which has unanimously resolved that a total of 1,414,000 Armenians were alive. This makes killing of 1.5 million Armenians an impossibility, since the total Armenian population was around 1.5 million at the time.
– President Ronald Reagan in a Presidential Proclamation issued on April 22, 1981;
Same president lashed out against Armenians terrorists because of JCAG killing a Turkish diplomat in Los Angels (Kemal Arikan in 1982) and distanced himself from Armenians
– 43 out of 50 U.S. states;
They were all one-time, resolutions with no legal impact that were passed with intense Armenian lobbying. So, they can hardly be considered American support for Armenian case.
– two dozen countries, including France, Italy, Russia, Canada, Holland, Vatican, Switzerland, Sweden, Argentina, Lebanon, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, and Venezuela;
All non-binding resolutions passed because of intense Armenian nagging. Please note that most relevant countries like the US, the UK, Sweden, Israel, Spain, and the UN did not agree with Armenian claims. Armenian, after 100 years of lies, slanders, intimidation, and terrorism, could only manage have a handful of nations pass “one time, non-binding resolutions” . Only 10% of the UN member nations have passed those meaningless, non-binding resolutions. That is hardly a success or “sweeping support” for the baseless Armenian political claim of genocide.
– several international organizations, including the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities;
Here is another Armenian deception. UN- Sub-Commission only agreed to “receive” the Armenian claim; which in diplomatic parlance, means “I do not agree with you, but out of my kindness, I will have your claim in my files.” It is a polite rejection of the Armenian claim.
the European Parliament;
Some in the political parties, as a gesture against Turkey, more than as support for the Armenian claim, did support the unfounded Armenian claim. These political maneuvers mean nothing when it comes to judging history. Politicians are not historians.
and the International Association of Genocide Scholars.
Genocide Scholars is an invention of the Armenian lobby, specifically the creation of Zoprya Institute, notorious for its hate for all things Turkish. Genocide Scholars are mostly not historians; they are mostly retired teachers, unemployed psychologists, sociologists who agree to promote “the official Armenian narrative” in exchange for favors (book deals, panesl, films, honorariums, etc.) They deceive public with a perception created for them by the “Genocuide Industry” who employ them as key note speakers in staged events where Turkish views are censored.
The Centennial could well be Obama’s last opportunity to regain the trust of the Armenian-American community by honoring his solemn pledge as Senator and presidential candidate to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.
- Obama could lay the foundation for improved Armenian-Turkish relations based on truth and justice, in line with a pending resolution in the House of Representatives, and his previous April 24 statements, declaring that “a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our interests.” Obama’s visit would also encourage Turkish human rights activists to continue their arduous task of assisting the government of Turkey to reckon with the darkest pages of its past.
- The U.S. president could take advantage of this visit to urge Turkey to lift the blockade of Armenia, while taking a glimpse at the biblical Mount Ararat just across the closed border.
- In response to mounting attacks by Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabagh (Artsakh), Obama could stress Washington’s strong support for a peaceful settlement of this thorny conflict.
- Obama’s visit would help balance Armenia’s relations with the West, particularly after its membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, and in view of Putin’s planned trip to Yerevan on April 24. Armenia has enjoyed close relations with Western Europe and the United States, and has participated in international peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, and Lebanon. More recently, the appointment of former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan as Armenia’s Ambassador to Washington underscores the importance Yerevan attaches to its relations with the United States.
- Since Obama, due to the Ukraine crisis, is not planning to travel to Moscow to take part in the World War II Victory Day celebrations on May 9, he would have the opportunity to meet with President Vladimir Putin in Yerevan, in a less conspicuous atmosphere.
- Obama’s visit to Armenia would be a significant gesture of goodwill toward the Armenian-American community. Last week, 16 major Armenian-American organizations sent a joint letter to the president urging him to participate in the Armenian Genocide Centennial events in Armenia.
- Obama would be making a historic first U.S. presidential trip to Armenia, preceded by several high-ranking American officials: Secretary of State James Baker III in 1992; Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2001; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2010 and 2012, when she laid a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, as all U.S. Ambassadors have done on every April 24, since the country’s independence in 1991.
