Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Armenian-Americans counting on Bush
by Jennifer Hamm, Staff Writer - LA Daily News, January 21, 2001
Posted: Tuesday, January 23, 2001 00:40 am CST

After failing to convince the last Congress to designate the mass killings of Armenians as a genocide, Armenian-Americans are gearing up to get the measure passed by the new House.

"We'll begin pushing it from day one," said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Fresno, who will soon introduce a resolution.

A number of variables will have to break in favor of the Armenian-American community if a resolution recognizing a genocide of 1.5 million Armenians during the fall of the Ottoman Empire is to pass.

Leaders within the Armenian-American community are keeping a close eye on assignments to the International Relations and Rules committees, which will have to approve the measure before it goes to a vote of the full House.

"We still have strong friends in relevant places," said Peter Abajian, director of the Western Region Office of the Armenian Assembly of America. "But the committee assignments are not yet fully in place."

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, said he will co-sponsor the new resolution.

"I certainly intend to be very aggressive... But the Turkish lobby is very strong," Schiff said. "I expect a very tough fight."

Indeed, there will be another battle, said Osman Tat, director of public affairs for the Assembly of Turkish American Associations. Tat agrees that many people died on both sides of the conflict but said Armenians have long inflated the death tolls.

"There are so many holes in the argument," he said. "If this was a genocide, you wouldn't have to work that hard to prove your point."

Supporters of the resolution spent months moving the measure through a maze of committees only to see the full House vote canceled less than an hour before its consideration.

Former President Clinton asked House Speaker Dennis Hastert to pull the measure, saying that American lives were in danger if the resolution passed. Some believed the president's action was the result of pressure from the Turkish government.

However, there are early signs that a similar resolution could build momentum during the upcoming session. Just last week, France became the first major Western nation to call the massacres a genocide.

The new Bush administration has also indicated some support. During his campaign, President George W. Bush sent letters to many Armenian-Americans implying he would support a genocide resolution.

Garry Sinanian, a field representative for the Armenian Council of America, said that letter sealed his vote.

Angry that the Clinton administration failed to ever characterize the killing of Armenians from 1915-18 as a genocide, Sinanian spoke with many local Armenian-Americans and encouraged them to vote for Bush.

"That was the turning point of Armenians voting for Bush," he said. "Whoever I reached, they didn't have a doubt in their mind that they were going to vote for Bush."

But Abajian said he's seen other presidential candidates make the same promise during the campaign and then fail to do anything.

"Now our job is to see to it that President Bush follow through on his promise," he said.

Passage of the resolution would begin to close the most painful chapter in Armenian history.

"It's a defining factor of the community," Abajian said. "My grandparents came to this country because they were driven out by the Ottoman Empire. They didn't pick Detroit as their home."

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