Armenian National Committee of America Chairman Ken Hachikian posed ten questions to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide, in his February 9 letter to the Department of State expressing the Armenian American community’s outrage over her recent dismissal of this crime as “a matter of historical debate.” The ANCA’s six-page letter features ten direct questions to the Secretary from ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian about this and prior Administrations’ century long failed policy of attempting to appease Ankara by compromising America’s stand on a fundamental issue of human rights, Asbarez reports. Hachikian explained that: “Honest and open responses to these questions, in addition to bringing a badly needed measure of transparency to American policy on the Armenian Genocide, would also serve as a meaningful foundation for a reasoned discourse among government and civil society stakeholders about ending the era of the United States’ complicity in Turkey’s denials.” He added that: “More broadly, full and formal recognition of this crime – representing, as it would, a very public rejection of Ankara’s efforts to impose a gag-rule on America – would represent a meaningful step toward stopping the worldwide cycle of genocide that continues to plague humanity.” Earlier in a dear colleague letter circulated today, Congressmen Adam Schiff and Robert Dold, sponsors of the Armenian Genocide resolution, urged Members to join them in sending a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling on the Secretary to “disavow her ill-considered statement.”

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