‘Anguish and Policy’ Over Martyrs Day Resolution

I am writing in response to your editorial (April 30); “Anguish and Policy,” concerning the Armenian genocide resolution. As the author of the resolution and one of its strongest proponents in Congress, I feel compelled to clarify the record and clear up the misconceptions that the editorial further perpetuates.

Perhaps the greatest misconception is that the purpose of our efforts to get this resolution passed is to denigrate Turkey. Your editorial states that “those seeking designation (of Martyrs Day) see it as a part of a campaign to force the government of modern-day Turkey to acknowledge what (Gov. George Deukmejian) calls the ‘historical truth’ ” and that the “resolution is a thinly veiled attack on a faithful and effective ally.”

This resolution does not force Turkey to do anything nor does it accuse Turkey. Rather it is a simple commemorative resolution, which observes April 24 and commemorates the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915-1923.

To truly understand the efforts by the Armenian community to get this resolution passed, one needs to understand why the resolution was introduced in 1983. In August 1982, the State Department published in its monthly Bulletin an article regarding terrorism. The article made reference to the Armenian genocide and included a footnote, which stated that the facts surrounding the genocide were ambiguous. Needless to say, the Armenian community found this to be an affront, if not an insult.

How was it that up until this time there had never been any questions as to what was U.S. policy on the Armenian genocide? Presidents, Congress and the United Nations have readily acknowledged and confirmed the genocide. Congress chartered the Near East Relief organization, which contributed about $113 million to aid the Armenian genocide survivors from 1915 to 1930. Both the House and the Senate have had resolutions confirming the genocide as well. In 1920, Senate Resolution 359 stated that “the testimony adduced at the hearings conducted by the subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations have clearly established the truth of the reported massacres and other atrocities from which the Armenian people have suffered.”

Some 55 years later, the House passed Resolution 148, which observed April 24 of that year as a day of remembrance for all the victims of genocide, “especially those of Armenian ancestry who succumbed to the genocide perpetrated in 1915. . . . “ And in 1979, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights issued a report that mentioned “passing to the modern era, one may note the existence of relatively full documentation dealing with the massacres of Armenians.”

The genocide is an important chapter in the history of the Armenian people. It was an era when the Armenian people were almost destroyed. Today in the Los Angeles area, and throughout the United States and the world, people of Armenian descent have contributed greatly to their communities. I feel that it is only appropriate that we seek to commemorate this tragedy, not only for Armenians, but for mankind.

TONY COELHO

Member of Congress

15th District

Merced