Pres. Obama in Turkey: Excerpts on Armenian Concerns

It’s not a legal issue, it’s a historic issue? I guess the President of Turkey is really hoping that it’s not a legal issue, which in fact it is. The spoils of the Armenian Genocide is in the hands of the present day country of Turkey. Yes my dear President Gul, it is very much a legal issue and those spoils of the Genocide which belong to the Armenian people will have to be returned with interest once the world recognizes the truth.

As for this being an issue to be discussed by historians, I think we have been there and done that a few times already, the last being a joint committee known as The Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission, established in July 2001 at the State Departments initiative and concluded in April 2004. If memory serves me well, TARC asked the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) to conduct a study on the Armenian Genocide and their report concluded that Genocide took place. In the end the State Departments creation failed because Turkey did not recognize the Armenian Genocide and TARC folded in 2004 with no palpable results.

Now I understand that Obama does not want to piss off the Turks right now since he wants something from them, but “might” does not sound very promising to me with the outcome of the next round of TARC and ICTJ or another 3rd party investigation.

I also don’t understand why Obama thinks Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh) should be a condition or component of Turkey’s coming to terms with the reality of the Armenian Genocide. Other than the fact that in 1921, the perpetrators of the Genocide were working with the Azeris to strike the Armenians from the East to finish off what they started and fortunately their top leaders were terminated by my grandfather's team before they could depart for Baku to carry out their sinister plans, Artsaskh really has nothing to do with Turkey coming to terms.

Today’s Artsakh issue should be its own issue that needs to also be resolved, but not mixed in with the 1915 Genocide issue as all it will do is leave room for Turkey to complicate the issue that is very easy to understand.

If Obama does not recognize the Armenian Genocide this April 24th on an official level, then don’t hold your breath and add his name to the long list of people who have not kept their promise to the Armenians who voted them into office.