Obama's Home State Becomes 42nd to Recognize The Armenian Genocide

[Hope And Change]

Obama's Home State Becomes 42nd to Recognize Genocide

Monday, April 6, 2009

Hawaii Officially Marks Atrocity During President's Visit to Turkey

HONOLULU, HI -Hawaii, home to President Barack Obama, became the 42nd U.S. state to recognize the Armenian Genocide, with the State House of Representatives earlier Monday adopting a formal measure (HR192) that both condemned this crime and noted Turkey's ongoing denial of this atrocity.

The measure, which was adopted unanimously on the day of the President's trip to Turkey, declares April 24th as a "Day of Remembrance in Recognition of and Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide of 1915." The "Aloha State" proclamation makes Hawaii the 42nd state to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

"Hawaii's recognition today of the Armenian Genocide reflects the broad-based and growing tide of civil society support throughout the United States for a strong, moral American stand against all genocides," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "In this spirit, and keeping faith with the citizens of Hawaii and the forty-one other states that have officially marked this crime, we look forward, in the coming days, to the President honoring his pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide."

The legislation, HR192, states that, "approximately 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children living within the Ottoman Empire's borders were killed in a brutal genocide," and that, "the Armenian Genocide remains unacknowledged by the Republic of Turkey to this day." The measure also notes that, "this body joins with Hawaii's Armenian-American community and all Armenians worldwide in recognizing and honoring those who were killed and persecuted during the Armenian Genocide, and urging people throughout the world to never forget these horrific crimes against humanity."

http://www.asbarez.com/index.html?showarticle=41218_4/7/2009_1#AMC=Open&ASBSC=Closed">The full text of the Hawaii proclamation

I hope President Obama keeps his campaign promise and recognize the Armenian Genocide.

[FrenchieCat]

1. Author of the 2006 book, "Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide...."

commented on President Obama's speech.....

Turkish genocide scholar applauds Obama

Taner Akcam is a longtime advocate for human rights for minorities in his native Turkey, as well as an academic authority on Turkey's handling of the genocide issue. He is a professor in genocide studies at Clark University in Worcester, and author of the 2006 book, "Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and The Question of Turkish Responsibility."

Akcam said of Obama's speech to the Turkish Parliament in Ankara: "I think he really pushed the borders, in a very positive and very smart way."
....

Akcam said Obama went as far as any president could go in addressing a foreign country's legislature. During the presidential campaign in 2008, Obama said that the killings of the Armenians amounted to genocide. Before addressing the Turkish Parliament, Obama said that he had not changed his views, which were "on the record."
....

Akcam said that Obama had in effect said, "'it is not important what I think -- which is a clever way of saying I believe it was genocide -- but I encourage you to talk to your neighbors, and am happy that you are developing your relationship with Armenia.' More than that, one could not expect."

Akcam said it was especially effective for Obama to note that the United States had also worked through contentious and vexing issues including slavery. "It was very clever because he put the United States in the center. He said, 'look, I am coming from a country where even people like myself couldn’t vote. And we have our history of mistreatment of native Americans. But now I am speaking as a president."

Akcam himself was investigated in 2007 under that provision of the Turkish penal code when he aligned himself with the late Hrant Dink, the assassinated Turkish activist who had recognized the Armenian genocide. No charges were filed then. But Akcam had been jailed in several times in the 1970s. He escaped from prison in 1977 after serving one year of a nine-year sentence, and received asylum in Germany. He taught in Minnesota before moving to Clark.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/worldly_boston/2009/04/turkish_genocide_scholar_appla.html

[HughMoran]

2. Good.

Sucks being Armenian sometimes - nobody wants to talk about the forgotten genocide.