WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian underscored the Armenian American community’s long-standing call on President Obama to honor his pledge to speak honestly about the Armenian Genocide, following Pope Francis’ powerful remarks during the unprecedented Vatican mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of that crime.
“Pope Francis’ historic sermon on the Armenian Genocide sets the stage for President Obama to honor his own pledge to recognize this horrific crime,” stated Hamparian. “By openly rejecting Turkey’s gag-rule against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, President Obama would, with a bold stroke, end a truly shameful era of complicity in Ankara’s efforts to deny the truth and obstruct justice for this crime. Such a principled position by President Obama would put America back on the right side of this issue, while also advancing U.S. regional interests in fostering a better future for Armenian-Turkish relations based upon an honest reckoning with the past.”
Prior to his election to the oval office, President Obama was clear and unequivocal in his pledge to properly characterize the murder of over 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children from 1915-1923 by the Ottoman Turkish government as genocide. “The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide,” stated then Senator Obama in a January 19, 2008, statement.
Click here for the full text of that statement.
Since his election in 2008, President Obama has yet to honor that pledge, succumbing to Turkey’s threats. President Obama is expected to make a statement on the topic on April 24, 2015, the international day of commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.
Earlier today, in remarks delivered at the opening of the commemorative mass, Pope Francis clearly and unequivocally reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide, stating, “In the past century our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered “the first genocide of the twentieth century”, struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks. Bishops and priests, religious, women and men, the elderly and even defenceless children and the infirm were murdered.”
Pope Francis went on to state that, “It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honour their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!”
Pope Francis’ remarks with English Subtitles.
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ANCA Statement on Pope Francis Reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide
WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian offered the following comment regarding Pope Francis statement reaffirming the Armenian Genocide, made earlier today during an unprecedented Vatican mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of that crime.
“Turkey underestimates, at its own risk, the power of our worldwide movement – a profoundly moral movement inspired by truth and driven by our shared hope for a fair and enduring peace based on a just international resolution of the Armenian Genocide,” stated Hamparian.
In remarks delivered at the opening of the commemorative mass, Pope Francis noted, “In the past century our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered “the first genocide of the twentieth century”, struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks. Bishops and priests, religious, women and men, the elderly and even defenceless children and the infirm were murdered.”
Pope Francis went on to state that, “It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honour their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!”
The full text of Pope Francis’ remarks are provided below.
At the end of the mass, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, thanked Pope Francis for his reaffirmation of truth, and stated, “International law spells out clearly that condemnation, recognition and reparation of a genocide are closely interconnected.” He went on to note that the Armenian cause is a cause of justice, and that justice is a gift of God. “Therefore, the violation of justice is a sin against God.”
In his remarks, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, stated “Our ancient people were uprooted from their cradle and historic homeland and scattered around the world. Our centuries-old Christian heritage was torn down, destroyed and seized. However, nothing — neither suffering, nor persecution or even death — forced our people to renounce their sacred faith.”
The complete centennial mass and proceedings are available on video on the Vatican’s YouTube Channel:
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English Translation of the Greeting of the Holy Father
Mass for the Faithful of the Armenian Rite
12 April 2015
On a number of occasions I have spoken of our time as a time of war, a third world war which is being fought piecemeal, one in which we daily witness savage crimes, brutal massacres and senseless destruction. Sadly, today too we hear the muffled and forgotten cry of so many of our defenceless brothers and sisters who, on account of their faith in Christ or their ethnic origin, are publicly and ruthlessly put to death – decapitated, crucified, burned alive – or forced to leave their homeland.
Today too we are experiencing a sort of genocide created by general and collective indifference, by the complicit silence of Cain, who cries out: “What does it matter to me? Am I my brother’s keeper?” (cf. Gen 4:9; Homily in Redipuglia, 13 September 2014).
In the past century our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered “the first genocide of the twentieth century” (JOHN PAUL II and KAREKIN II, Common Declaration, Etchmiadzin, 27 September 2001), struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks. Bishops and priests, religious, women and men, the elderly and even defenceless children and the infirm were murdered. The remaining two were perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism. And more recently there have been other mass killings, like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia. It seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to the shedding of innocent blood. It seems that the enthusiasm generated at the end of the Second World War has dissipated and is now disappearing. It seems that the human family has refused to learn from its mistakes caused by the law of terror, so that today too there are those who attempt to eliminate others with the help of a few and with the complicit silence of others who simply stand by. We have not yet learned that “war is madness”, “senseless slaughter” (cf. Homily in Redipuglia, 13 September 2014).
Dear Armenian Christians, today, with hearts filled with pain but at the same time with great hope in the risen Lord, we recall the centenary of that tragic event, that immense and senseless slaughter whose cruelty your forebears had to endure. It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honour their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!
I greet you with affection and I thank you for your witness.
With gratitude for his presence, I greet Mr Serž Sargsyan, the President of the Republic of Armenia.
My cordial greeting goes also to my brother Patriarchs and Bishops: His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX, Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics; and Catholicosates of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Patriarchate of the Armenian Catholic Church.
In the firm certainty that evil never comes from God, who is infinitely good, and standing firm in faith, let us profess that cruelty may never be considered God’s work and, what is more, can find absolutely no justification in his Holy Name. Let us continue this celebration by fixing our gaze on Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, victor over death and evil!
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Արամ Համբարյան. Թուրքիան թերագնահատում է մեր համաշխարհային շարժման ուժը
(news.am) Ամերիկայի Հայ դատի գրասենյակի գործադիր տնօրեն Արամ Համբարյանը մեկնաբանել է Հռոմի պապ Ֆրանցիսկոսի խոսքերը Սուրբ Պետրոսի տաճարում։
Այդ մասին ասվում է կազմակերպության հայտարարության մեջ։
«Թուրքիան թերագնահատում է մեր համաշխարհային շարժման՝ խորապես բարոյական շարժման ուժը, որ հիմնված է ճշմարտության եւ արդարության ու ամուր խաղաղության մեր ընդհանուր հույսի վրա, որ Հայոց ցեղասպանությունը միջազգայնորեն ճանաչվելու է»,- ասել է Համբարյանը։
Նշենք, որ Հռոմի պապ Ֆրանցիսկոսը պատարագ էր մատուցել Վատիկանի Սուրբ Պետրոսի տաճարում եւ հայտարարել էր, թե մեկուկես միլիոն հայերի զանգվածային սպանդը «20-րդ դարի առաջին ցեղասպանությունն էր»: