Dean Vows Support For Armenian Genocide Recognition
22, August 2005
Armenialiberty.org
By Emil Danielyan
Former U.S. presidential candidate Howard Dean ended a two-day visit to Armenia at the weekend with a pledge to drum up greater support among fellow Democrats in the U.S. Congress for legislation recognizing the genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.
Dean, who now heads the Democratic Party’s governing National Committee, criticized the administration of President George W. Bush for its failure to publicly refer to the 1915-1918 mass killings and deportations of Armenians as a genocide. He said Washington should not fear antagonizing the government of Turkey, a key U.S. ally which strongly denies that the massacres were part of a premeditated effort to exterminate the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire.
[...]
Dean went on to express his support for a draft congressional resolution that calls on Bush to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide” in his annual messages to the U.S.-Armenian community. “The Democrats do not control the House [of Representatives] or the Senate or, unfortunately, the White House,” he said. “But when I get home I will be speaking with the Democratic leadership of the House and ask them to support this resolution. And if we get a few Republicans we can pass it.”
The resolution was formally introduced on July 14 and has since been sponsored by 112 congressmen. Many of them are affiliated with the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, the largest bipartisan ethnic coalition in the U.S. lower chamber. Most of the 142 members of the Caucus represent California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Massachusetts -- the traditional Democratic strongholds that have the highest concentration of Americans of Armenian descent.
[...]
Dean, who many Democrats hope will help to revive their party’s fortunes, admitted that the existence of the influential Armenian-American community was a key reason for his decision to visit Armenia.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Armenialiberty.org
By Emil Danielyan
Former U.S. presidential candidate Howard Dean ended a two-day visit to Armenia at the weekend with a pledge to drum up greater support among fellow Democrats in the U.S. Congress for legislation recognizing the genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.
Dean, who now heads the Democratic Party’s governing National Committee, criticized the administration of President George W. Bush for its failure to publicly refer to the 1915-1918 mass killings and deportations of Armenians as a genocide. He said Washington should not fear antagonizing the government of Turkey, a key U.S. ally which strongly denies that the massacres were part of a premeditated effort to exterminate the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire.
[...]
Dean went on to express his support for a draft congressional resolution that calls on Bush to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide” in his annual messages to the U.S.-Armenian community. “The Democrats do not control the House [of Representatives] or the Senate or, unfortunately, the White House,” he said. “But when I get home I will be speaking with the Democratic leadership of the House and ask them to support this resolution. And if we get a few Republicans we can pass it.”
The resolution was formally introduced on July 14 and has since been sponsored by 112 congressmen. Many of them are affiliated with the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, the largest bipartisan ethnic coalition in the U.S. lower chamber. Most of the 142 members of the Caucus represent California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Massachusetts -- the traditional Democratic strongholds that have the highest concentration of Americans of Armenian descent.
[...]
Dean, who many Democrats hope will help to revive their party’s fortunes, admitted that the existence of the influential Armenian-American community was a key reason for his decision to visit Armenia.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home