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During Television Interview, Schiff calls Establishment of "Reconciliation Commission" an "Unfortunate Development
GLENDALECongressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.-27) in an interview Tuesday
evening
on Horizon Television's Community Forum program, pledged his continued
support
for an Armenian Genocide resolution in Congress and discussed his upcoming
trip
to Armenia, which he said will allow him to closely gauge the economic,
socio-political and domestic situation there.
Schiff will lead a delegation Monday to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh,
where he
is scheduled to meet president Robert Kocharian, foreign minister Vartan
Oskanian, prime minister Andranik Markarian, His Holiness Karekin II, the
Catholicos of All Armenians and the leadership of parliamentary factions. In
Karabakh he is scheduled to meet president Arkady Ghoukassian, foreign
minister
Naira Melkoumian and other officials.
The five-day trip is sponsored by the Armenian National Committee of
America-Western Region.
During the interview, Schiff also pledged his continued support for the
passage of a Genocide resolution in Congress.
In discussing the Armenian Genocide resolution in Congress, Schiff said that
he and his colleagues are currently seeking ways to best address the
introduction of a resolution in Congress.
He added that the momentum built last year should be utilized to effectively
bring forth a comprehensive recognition and commemoration resolution.
However, the Congressman expressed concern over the establishment of the
so-called Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission, viewing it as
"unfortunate development."
"I am concerned about how this commission was developed. There is a great
schism developed within the Armenian community now over the desirability of
such a reconciliation commission. It strikes me as odd that a commission
set up
to discuss reconciliation excludes the giant issue of the Genocide," Schiff
told host Ara Khachatourian during the live broadcast.
"It would be akin, in my view, to having a reconciliation after World War II
between Israel and Germany but say that we can't talk about the Holocaust,"
added Schiff.
"Part and parcel of why there has been no reconciliation is the fact that
Turkey has not recognized the Genocide," explained Schiff, adding "I can
certainly understand why there would be a desireI think appropriateto have
other issues discussed at the same time, but to exclude such a fundamental
issue, seems to me will doom the commission to failure."
The Congressman also expressed concern over the way in which the commission
was established, saying that in his estimation there was really no effort to
garner a broad diversity of viewpoints from the community in creating the
group.
"The Turkish appointees all have, I think, a strong background in denial of
the Genocide. Within the Armenian community, there was not an effort to seek
broad support. If reconciliation is going to be effective, it has to
represent
the body of opinion within the Armenian community, and I do not think this
commission does that. So when you add to it the fact that it has created
this
divisionthis distraction from the goal of recognizing the GenocideI think it
has been an unfortunate development," said Schiff.
Schiff added that the reconciliation commission created some confusion among
some Congressman, vis-à-vis the Genocide resolution.
"There may be some members who are genuinely confused," said Schiff, who
explained that since the president Armenian Assembly of America is involved
in
the creation of the commission, certain members in Congress might be
inclined
to think that the effort had broad community support.
Most importantly, however, Schiff warned that members of Congress who want
to
side with Turkey and deny the Genocide can use the creation of the
commission
as a tool to thwart efforts in Congress to successfully pass a Genocide
resolution.
"I think.... you have an unfortunate opportunity for those members that want
to side with Turkey and want to continue to deny the Genocide, they have an
out. They now can say that the Armenian community is supporting this
reconciliation commission, they've [the community] agreed to go forward
without
a discussion of the Genocide, why do we want to have one in Congress when
representatives of the community themselves don't think it's that important
to
have [the issue] on the agenda," explained Schiff.
He added that those same pro-Turkish Congressmen might "follow the lead of
the
this reconciliation commission, or at best say we [members of Congress]
ought
to defer consideration of recognition of the Genocide resolution until this
reconciliation commission finishes its work."
To this end Schiff expressed his skepticism regarding the commission. "To
begin with, part of my skepticism is when the speaker last year withdrew the
resolution from the floor, he sent a letter saying he thought the Armenians
should get together with the Turks and explore what the facts were. [In
doing
so, the Speaker] raised the question of whether the facts were the facts,
with
which I didn't agree. But it also made the suggestion of this
Turkish-Armenian
commission. I don't know whether this commission has anything to do with
that.
If it does, it doesn't even follow the mandate in the speaker's letter, in
that
it's excluding the one issue he said it must consider. But I think the
speaker
proposed that commission frankly as a way to avoid the resolution, and I
think
this commission, whether it springs from that or a completely separate root,
may have the same impact, and I think that will be extremely unfortunate."
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