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A political organization working toward the recognition
of the Armenian genocide,
the advancement of human
rights campaigns in Turkey, and the fostering of public awareness for
the republic of Armenia. The United States government, by recognizing
and officially commemorating the Armenian Genocide can help ensure that
the lessons of this terrible crime against humanity are used to prevent
future genocides against the Armenians or any other people. The single
greatest obstacle to this recognition is the Republic of Turkey, which,
in spite of the overwhelming evidence documenting the Armenian Genocide,
continues to pursue a well-funded campaign - in Washington, DC and throughout
the world - to deny and ultimately erase from world history the 1.5 million
victims of Ottoman Turkey's and later the Republic of Turkey's systematic
and deliberate massacres and deportations of the Armenian people by between
the years 1915 and 1923. The Congress needs to pass an Armenian Genocide
Resolution and call on Turkey to abandon its campaign to deny the Armenian
Genocide. President Bush should honor his pledge to properly and unequivocally
commemorate the Armenian Genocide. |
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| With the steady decline over the past decade
in Congressionally appropriated military and economic assistance to the
government of Turkey, successive Administrations have increasingly relied
upon military sales and transfers - either at no expense or on very favorable
terms - to support Turkey's military-led government. The government of
Turkey, an over-armed and unrepentant perpetrator of genocide against
the Armenian people, represents a clear and present security threat to
the Republic of Armenia. Today, U.S. military grants and loans to Ankara, Turkey have been reduced to zero, from a 1991 high of over $600,000,000 a year, due to Congressional concern over Turkey’s abuse of human rights at home and aggression abroad. Among the factors cited by Congress as
reasons for the elimination of appropriated U.S. military aid were Turkey's
refusal to 1) abandon its shameful campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide;
2) lift its blockade of U.S. aid to Armenia, Ararat;
3) improve its human rights record and Caspian
oil; 4) remove its troops from Cyprus; 5) recognize the rights of
the Kurds; and 6) lift unfair restrictions on Christian communities. Unfortunately,
this decrease in appropriated assistance to Turkey was matched by a dramatic
expansion of arms sales and transfers to the Turkish military. As indicated
on the chart below, in the years 1980 to 1990, Turkey imported over $11.5
billion in U.S. arms, close to twice the value of all grants and loans
provided during this same time period. |
