Armenian Families React To Genocide Ruling

MASSENA - Although a congressional committee last week approved a resolution branding the World War I-era killing of Armenians as genocide, local residents with family roots in Armenia don't expect any official recognition by the U.S. government to go much further.

The House Foreign Affairs committee endorsed the resolution, and, by a 23-22 vote, sent the measure to the full House, where its fate is uncertain.

But Massena resident Walter Basmajian, who had relatives that were killed, doesn't believe the resolution will go any farther. His father, he said, escaped and went to Argentina, and other families made their way to the United States and Canada.

"The president won't recognize it. Obama said during his campaign he was going to recognize the genocide and he never did it. Now he denies doing it. He won't do it. Congress is sitting on it. We don't have the population for the votes. There's a lot of Armenians here and in Massachusetts and California and that's about it. We don't have enough power," Mr. Basmajian said.

"In other words we don't have the pull politically to make this country pass it. A lot of legislators, a lot of congressmen are in favor, but the president won't let it go through. He won't do it. It's dead," he said.

An Associated Press report said historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. That was widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

But Turkish officials have denied it was a genocide, instead saying the toll had been inflated and those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

President Obama last April failed to brand the killings genocide in an annual White House statement on the day marking Armenian remembrance.

"They didn't want to call it genocide. (But) that's what happened. They say a lot of Turks were fighting. They say they lost a lot of people too and they won't consider it a genocide. A couple million Armenians were killed," Mr. Basmajian said.

Turkey withdrew its U.S. ambassador, Namik Tan, last week after the congressional committee approved the resolution. They have also warned that the resolution's approval could jeopardize cooperation between the United States and Turkey and could set back negotiations aimed at opening the border between Turkey and Armenia.

Mr. Basmajian said that's why the United States won't consider passing the measure in the long run.

"A lot of little countries did recognize it," he said, but if the U.S. goes along the same lines, Mr. Basmajian said there would be retaliation from Turkey.

"They won't let us use their property. The Turks have threatened this country. If they use genocide, they're in trouble. They won't do it or they're done," he said. "But it did happen, no question about that."

"Turkey will not be responsible for the negative results that this event may lead to," Turkish President Abdullah Gul told Associated Press reporters.

Ike Bogosian took a trip to Armenia and Turkey two years ago, and he said while local townspeople in Turkey were willing to admit what happened the government will never do that.

"They just don't want to do it. They know what happened. We know what happened," Mr. Bogosian said.

He noted that during his trip to Turkey he went to the village where his father lived and a nearby church.

"I was there and those people apologized to me. It's all political," he said. "They know what it was. The thing is Turkey is not going to admit to it. They know their people have been talking this way for so long. They'll do anything to avoid it. It's all political."

Mr. Bogosian said members of the U.S. government, including President Obama, have admitted that it was genocide.

"They all say it just to get in. Then they just forget about it, twist it around and say it's not the right time. When is the right time? They either did or they didn't do it," he said.

"When the chips are down, they'll play their own politics. They won't use the word genocide. I'm of the opinion, if they did it, admit to it. Look what happened to Germany. They admit what they did," Mr. Bogosian said.

"It's bothers me so much. There's no conclusion. They did it and they know they did it," he said.

George Mouradian, author of "Never To Die," calls it a blackmail effort by Turkey. His book, which he spoke about a few years ago in Massena, in part details Armenian history through the ages.

"I call it political blackmail myself. They've done it to France. When France passed it, Turkey came back and said we're going to cut off all contacts with your people," he said.

Like Mr. Basmajian, Mr. Mouradian says he feels there's little chance the measure could pass in the United States.

"There's so much pressure from the state department that they don't want it to pass. Even guys like Obama said he was for it years ago when he was a senator, and Hillary Clinton, the whole bunch of them. When it doesn't come down to the place where they are actually are in power, they can support it because it's a good humanitarian thing. Then when they get in a place of power they just completely turn around. There's so much pressure from Turkey," he said.

Mr. Mouradian said he believes that if Turkey acknowledged it was a genocide, they would be concerned about the possibility of restitution for the Armenian community.

"The big thing is, they're afraid what we're going to ask for. They're afraid to because once they do we can say, 'Now what are you going to do about it? You took away our lands. Are you going to give our lands back or give us money like Germany did to the Jews?'" he said.

"I think we will ask for something. What that happens to be, I don't know. My big contention is just give me a corridor to the Black Sea. That's all I want. There are people in our population, our spheres of influence, that want land back," Mr. Mouradian said. "I personally would be very happy about it, but that's just me."